Week 3 of radiation starts today. I’m inside the non-exact windows of time they give you for the side effects to start (8 treatments, two weeks, two and a half weeks…). So basically, I just add that to the side effects of the various pills I take on radiation days (12 ea.), to having cancer in general, or just chalk it up to it being what I’m feeling on that particular day. I did have a couple of days last week that I felt like were good examples of the extreme fatigue side effect. Pretty much any time I closed my eyes I fell asleep for at least an hour or two or more. Didn’t seem to matter if I was in the car (I haven’t driven much, if at all throughout this) or at home, I’d just be out like a light and maybe wake up for a few seconds then be right back out again. I figured it was best to chalk it up to my body needed the rest to repair and stuff, that works for me. I’ve been afraid and paranoid about being constipated throughout this whole thing even though it’s never been a problem so after a week with a bit more pain and pills than I had before I gave a few of my doctor’s recommendations a try. Let’s just say that I’m no longer that concerned with constipation and that it’ll probably be a while before I have that concern again. 🙂
I’m a bit less intimidated by the radiation machine finally. We’re not close friends yet, but I feel a little less like it wants to crush me like a bug when the arms move in, out, and around. I do wish there was some kind of light or even a little heat lamp that let me see or feel it doing something as the radiation part orbits me though. I’m not really feeling a lot of relief from it yet, but I can tell that it’s working in other ways. So far, my blood work and weekly check-ins with the doctor are going well, too. I still have some general swelling and pain in my lower abdomen that could be caused by the tumor or be a side effect of the radiation. Either way, I have a couple new prescriptions to try to deal with it more effectively so I’m looking forward to and hoping that they will work. I also finally broke down and got a doughnut pillow and now it stays with me inside and in the car. I never wanted one before and certainly never wanted to find out that it actually feels pretty good but here we are.
All in all, I’m settling into the daily radiation routine with weekends off as time goes on.
Current Interests: Watching it rain. Organizing prescription bottles (I write big letters in Sharpie on the tops so I can tell what they are looking from the top down) and taking pills. I like to put them in little medicine cups and pretend like they’re being dosed out to me sometimes. The Dan Patrick Show (RIP NFL Season 2023-24). The Saint (s5) I’ve been watching it awhile across various platforms. How It’s Made (s1) a favorite from when SL and I would watch it before school. Harley Quinn (aka Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy (s3e1)). Big Bang Theory s1-3. We started it over after watching the middle of it originally.
