In Sandra's Shoes

Ahh!

No more nose clip. No breathing tube. No extra lip gloss to keep my lips moisturized during the radiation treatment. No computer screen to watch monitor my breathing while the radiation is being administered. No button to push while I'm holding my breath. No coach talking me through each step.

The last days of my radiation treatment just got easier.

Today, I received the first radiation boost treatment. After 28 treatments where the entire breast was targeted, I now receive radiation just in the area where the cancer had been located. An attachment with a cutout especially designed for my treatment placed on the machine and lined up precisely with what was seen on x-rays. The attachment narrows the beam so it is concentrated in one area.

Yesterday, the radiation therapist circled the area with a blue marker and placed a thin, clear plastic disc on the area and drew cross lines on it.

When I went in this morning, they told me it would be much easier and shorter. No more radiation delivered six times in short intervals. Just one delivery of about 15 to 20 seconds with me lying very still with my arm resting above my head and breathing normally.

While the delivery has gotten easier, the fatigue I've felt in the last few days has not gone away.

Thanks to JC Lamkin for sending a link for coping with fatigue experienced during radiation therapy. Much of what is suggested, my radiation oncologist also told me to do. I'm trying. Click here to read what it says.

Countdown...4 days.