The Radiation Suite

Hi everyone, a quick update..

I am doing okay, my skin is starting to show signs of sunburn, and my left breast aches a bit. But I am still plowing through.

I took some pics of the radiation room so I can explain better. This is Tammy, she is one of the techs. This is the table that I lay on. The blue thing is the stirrup that they put my arm in.

They cover the black part with a sheet, so it is some what comfortable. The circular thing above the table is the what gives the radiation. It comes a lot closer and rotates around me to get the right angle.

This is called a "block", it is a piece of Plexiglas and has lead shapes on it. It is inserted into the radiation lens part and it "blocks" the areas of my body that they don't want to get hit with radiations. This is pretty interesting since they hand make these for every patient (I have 2) in house.

This is called a "compensator" I believe it is brass. It is suppose to compensate and bend the radiation field?? I think? I just like these ones better (they are prettier). I know just like a girl. I have 3 fields that use these.

This is me on the table, Sharon covered me up, but in reality, I have to take my arm out of the hospital gown when we do the radiation.

This is my last field, my electron radiation field. This is the one that was giving everyone so much trouble. It is VERY close to me, we call it "my own personal mammogram" because the "cone" (the metal rodded thing) actually pushes my right breast down to correctly radiate my left.

So that is what I do everyday (Monday - Friday) for about 17 minutes a day. Thanks for taking the tour of my radiation suite, I hope to see you all back soon....