Tattoo Me

I had my first radiation appointment yesterday to discuss the treatment with the doctor. It was an encouraging meeting and he seemed very positive that the radiation would be able to kill the groin tumor and relieve the pain I've been experiencing in my hip. He gave me a copy of one of the CT scan photos that shows pretty clearly that the tumor is already in my hip bone. I thought I had understood from my oncologists that it was "beginning" to encroach on my hip bone. It looks very "encroached" in the picture. I'm surprised I hadn't been in more pain, frankly, although yesterday was a pretty miserable day, painwise. I didn't take a Vicodan for it in the morning because I knew I had to drive to the appointment. By time I finally took one, it was too late. I had been thinking that walking was helping with the pain, but I'm thinking now that it may have actually contributed to it so I think I will cut back on that activity.

Anyway, they had a slot available in the afternoon for the simulation set-up so I took it. The process took about an hour and I got my first tattoo -- three in fact! One on my belly and one on both hips. I will go in Friday for my first "treatment" which is really a dry run. The first real session will be Monday the 1st. The doctor sounded pretty convinced that side effects shouldn't be too bad since it should miss most of my bladder and colon. I will do 17 sessions and will finish on December 22nd. Just in time for Christmas! That schedule may get thrown off if I do surgery. The doc said that for the first few days as the tumor starts dying off, the pain level may go up with the swelling, but it should get better soon so I'm ready to get started!