Sharon took the day off work and we left early in the morning. Our first stop was in Brockville at a used book store where I found several books I had been looking for. Sharon then took me to a wonderful bakery called Tait's where we had deli sandwiches, then on to Kingston. We HAD to stop at the ladies discount store where I bought 5 pairs of slacks, (white, purple, gray, gray mix and blue jeans) a striped long sleeve shirt and a black and white T all for $100.00! They carry name brands like Alia and Tan Jay and Nygard.
Then we went to the hospital for my appointment at 2:45. Heather came and got me at 3 and took me to a waiting room and gave me 2 glasses of water to drink because if the bladder is full they can see things better in the catscan. Dr. Shenfield then came and explained the side effects (fatigue is no 1 then diarrhea, nausea and vomiting etc. as they aim at the abdomen which includes the stomach and intestine)he suggested I take Metamuscil before each session. and I signed the consent form. Then another Heather came and explained more about the catscan and treatment and having the bladder full before treatment lessons the side effects. I had the cat scan at 4 and they put tape on you and then do measurements then scan again and more measureing and give you 4 tiny pinprick tattoos. These show the technician where to aim the radiation. My first treatment is May 9 and I will check into Quinte Lodge then and will stay there each week Monday to Friday. I am to have 25 external and 3 internal so it will be 5-7 weeks as they don't do anything on holidays.
1 comment:
Hi Pat,
I just got to read about your external RAI treatments and how they are preparing you for it, and the fact that you will be staying at the Quinte Lodge from Monday to friday until you have the 25 external beam treatments, to be followed be the 3 internal RAI. I think you said that you bought some books, so that hopefully will keep you occupied for awhile and maybe get you interested in something while you are whiling away your time waiting for the treatments to get over with. Will you be allowed to knit while you are in there? It seems that you are allowed to go home on the weekends, so I guess the Quinte Lodge is a good convenience so that you don't have to travel back and forth every day for the 25 external treatments. When you get to the internal treatments will you be isolated? I have had internal RAI twice, and both times I had to stay away from babies and pregnant women and people in general for a certain amount of days, and the second treatment was larger so they put me in a lead lined room in a hospital in Boston as I was to be completely isolated. After I took that internal RAI a man came into my room dressed very strange and had a large black "thing" in his arms and sort of aimed at me. He scanned me from head to bottom of my stomach and it was a detector to see if "I" really swallowed the capsule. Good gosh, I just don't know where they think it went if I didn't swallow it. I got very frightened when I saw him come in as they didn't tell me about this and that somebody would be in with a Geiger Counter to check me over. He had to come in my room at about 8 or 10 intervals and scan me to see how much had left my body as they couldn't release me until I reached a certain point that had come out of my body. They told me that it comes out in the form of water--sweat, urine, any water that comes out of my body. Well, that's part of my little story--I will continue on sometime in the future. It is just good to know that you are getting such good care. I keep you in my prayers every night.
I know you're mind is far away from RAKS right now, but they are trying to pull themselves together and Barbara has returned after being sick for about 4 months. She never really told anybody exactly what was wrong, but she said she had four operations as the first one didn't heal right and they had to keep trying to correct it, whatever "it" was. We have joined in with a group called "My Memories" and I don't know much about it. A few of the girls have taken your challenges and are keeping them going for you. You see, we all have faith that you are coming back and join the group again, but only after you are well back on your feet and feeling good.
I will say good night for now as it is almost 1 a.m. here my time, and I had to go to Boston today to have a bone density test and a cat scan, getting ready to see my endocrinologist next week for my annual visit. I've reached a point that if all is well that I don't have to go more than once a year unless I should have a problem. You will reach that point also Pat, you are a strong person and you are definitely a survivor, so keep the faith and get some reading in and hopefully some knitting in if allowed.
Hugs and Prayers,
Bernie
Thursday, May 05, 2011 12:15:34 AM
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