By the end of November I was back meeting with Dr. Hughes again about the beginnings of my radiation treatments. I also began the stand alone herceptin infusions – with zero side effects (thank you).
My first introduction to the radiation techs who would become my daily friends for 28 treatments was on November 30th when they had me measured and marked for their work. They made a mold of sorts that I would lay in each day to place my arms and head in just the right position. And they tattooed my chest with marks for aiming the radiation.
Radiation treatments began on December 6th and were scheduled to be finished on January 16th. But I couldn’t seem to take the straight path anywhere. On the 13th I got to see three nurses in the infusion center go “oh no – that’s not good” as they tried to draw labs. Result = another unscheduled trip to radiology to have a test done on the port which was found to be leaking and therefore needed to be replaced. Back to radiology on the 20th for that procedure. First they want to move the port from the right to the left but no-can-do because of the radiation work. Then they wanted to put the port in a different place on the right but no-can-do because of the blood clots. Ended up with the new port in the same pocket as the original. The only really good news was that the Doctor had to clear one of the veins to make sure the port would work and that made about half of the varicose veins on my chest disappear by late that same day. And the port proved functional the very next day as herceptin treatments continue.
I did take advantage on one “snow” day and so the final treatment date was actually January 17th as it was a better day to schedule a quick luncheon celebration. On the Facebook group I had been using to keep everyone informed of progress, I invited everyone to set their alarms and silently meet me at 1:00 PM each day. My techs began calling everyone my invisible friends and we all thanked everyone each day for joining us. And so radiation is done.