10 Down, 10 To Go :)

So, I have officially made it half way through my radiation which means I am just 10 appointments away from the end! I am super excited because from then on all I have is check-ups...hopefully. As I have mentioned before in previous posts, my recent goal has become prevention. I don't want Hodgkins to come back nor do I want to get any other kind of deadly or life altering disease, cancer or otherwise. I am proud to say I have been hitting the gym practically every morning for the last few weeks as a step towards living a new kind of lifestyle where Cancer and other fatal illnesses are less threatening, but there are still a few things I need to change around if I want to be truly successful. I'll get there, I promise, it is just hard to change everything at once and I don't want to loose motivation so I am taking one step at a time.
Now being half way through my treatments, however, just as the doctors predicted, side effects have begun to show. The best way to describe it would be a sunburn inside and out. My skin has taken on a reddish tint and has become a bit sensitive wherever I have been treated and my throat has become "inflamed" in the same way. What that basically means is that it hurts like heck to swallow anything. The pain starts in my mouth and goes all the way down too the pit of my stomach. It is really similar to what I was experiencing when I first started chemo minus everything tasting like metal. Luckily, today when I went in the doctors were able to give me some mouthwash to help with the pain. The mouthwash is able to numb my throat for an hour or so every time I take it so I am able to eat. The funny thing about this is that my swollen throat also causes me to get the hiccups really bad and quite often. A few times it has been slightly embarrassing. Let me just tell you it is really hard to try and talk to customers when every other word you are hiccuping. Ha ha. I look like such a dork. Oh well, it has become a joke between me and a couple of my coworkers. Hopefully the mouthwash will be helping with that too.
Anyway, I decided to have the radiation technicians take some pictures of me in my mask to give you guys a better idea of how my treatments work and just to have for my own personal record. I felt so awkward going in the room today holding my camera thinking that I was weird for wanting pictures, but apparently most patients ask for a few pics because before I could even finish asking them they new exactly what I wanted and were more then happy to do it. In fact, they almost had it down to an art. They new exactly how to have the lights and what shots to take. Ha ha. I posted a few of the pictures they took below. As you can see I look lovely in my mask. I do get to keep it once my treatments are over :). The big gray thing that is hanging over me is actually this really fancy hi-tech machine that not only gives my pin pointed treatments but takes X-rays as well. During my treatments, it is able to rotate around me so the doctors can get the perfect angle. Of course it is also the obnoxious thing shoots off the green lasers and makes all of the noise too, but it is pretty cool huh?




Alright, I think that is all I have for now. Next week I go in for my post chemo check up with Dr. Bhalla though. I will be sure to let you know what he says.

Ttyl.

Kenna!