Radiotherapy week 2

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!

I am slight a bit delayed in my greeting, but I hope everyone is enjoying this festive time of the year with their family and friends.

My throat started to give me discomfort later last week, and today it's beginning to give me pain when I swallow. I go to the hospital every weekday for the radiotherapy, but I no longer feel nausea. It's either I somehow overcame the fear of the hospital of it was just a cold I had last week. (Although I still do not wish to imagine myself going through chemotherapy ever again...) With the healthy mind and soul, I have been spending my day like a normal young woman taking a break from busy life, doing whatever I feel like doing, which has been filled with spontaneity, restfulness, and excitement. Spending time according to your will and feel is such a luxurious time. Time is more than just money.

お地蔵様
(Jizo, a guardian deity of
transportation safety)
was wearing a knit cap!!  

Last week I went to a friend's house in Tokyo with my family to attend a holiday party. It was my first and the last time to visit Tokyo in the year of 2011. I used to go to Tokyo often to visit friends or attend events when I'm in Japan, but this time Tokyo seemed much further away than I've ever felt before. Because I still get tired easily, I was excited for the party but at the same time anxious that I may not make it through the party.

Fortunately, I was able to make it to most part of the party. It was a lot of food, sweets, and laughter. It reminded me how fun it is to spend time with friends and family. Special thanks to Sakurai family :)

Please stay warm, everyone. And spend rest of the 2011 with minimum amounts of regret, to welcome the new coming year.

よいお年をお迎えください。

Radiotherapy week 1

Lunar eclipse on 12/10/2011

Radiotherapy has been alright so far. It's better than chemotherapy for sure, but it's not a fun experience still. I wish all treatments are exciting in some way that it could reduce psychological stress on patients.

Each appointment of radiotherapy takes about 15 minutes, where the 1 minute is used for actually radiating my body, and rest of the time is spent for preparation of the machine. Fortunately, there has been no long waiting time involved for radiotherapy; radiology department knows how to schedule patients well :P

There is no pain involved in the therapy, but it maybe because I caught cold or more from psychological stress from being at hospital everyday that I have been feeling noxious all week.

Although I am scheduled to be at the hospital on the weekdays, I realized that I won't have any full consecutive 5 days that I have to go to the hospital. Next week there's a holiday for Emperor's birthday, then the week after is new year's break that the hospital is closed. I hope my nausea will disappear completely soon and no side effects appear at all, so that I can be in the festive mood soon!

Radiotherapy...0/15~20

Leaves changing colors!! 

First radiotherapy appointment

Today I had an appointment with my radiology doctor to discuss about my treatment plan. The Radiology Department was a lot less crowded; my appointment time was at 10 am, I arrived there at 9:50 am thinking that I will wait for 1~2 hours, but I got to see my doctor at 10:15 am!! Amazing. 

Here are the details on my radiation therapy plan:

• Total of 15~20 radiation will be done, one treatment everyday starting from next week Wednesday
• The radiation strength of 20 to 30 Gy will be applied to the area where my lymphoma first appeared (left lower neck, left chest, and left armpit

Possible side effects:

• Throat sore (so no alcohol for another 3 weeks :( )
• Skin where the radiation was applied will turn red temporarily
• The radiation treatment may also affect salivary gland, which may permanently decrease the amount of saliva production
• The radiation treatment will increase the chances of the onset of cancer in the future, like in 10~30 years

After the doctor's appointment, I got to make a mask for the radiation treatment. I didn't know what to expect, but it was indeed interesting. I'll write about my experience in the next posting. 

もみじ... Japanese Maple

Radiation

Now I think back, I have been taking long flights (normally 8+ hours flight) at least twice a year since I was fourteen, I have done 2 CT scan so far, and now I will be going through radiation therapy. Not only that, I live in Japan now, where the Fukushima nuclear accident has not yet been resolved. That's a lot of radiation I've been and will be exposed, more than what an average human being would be exposed in his/her lifetime. Will this onset another cancer later in my life? I certainly hope not. 

And guess what?

My internal medicine doctor (who I had been seeing every week) told me that my blood count is sufficient for me to start eating anything. This means I can start eating sushi everyday, again! Nevertheless, my doctor said I should still avoid crowds so I can decrease the chance of catching cold.