Exhale

Finally.  Now that I am past the Swine Flu and surgery, and PICC line and a debilitating Lyme flare, I have a chance to tell you that Dave’s radiation is over.  We can exhale until his 3 month follow-up MRI.

We stayed with my dad, about 30 minutes from the Cyberknife Center that did the radiation.  Overall it went smoothly. I had so many fears that never materialized.  I am so thankful that it is over and that it went as well as it did.

The week before his radiation we went for the day and got cat scans, an MRI, met with the doctor (who looks a lot like Stephen Colbert), admissions, and the coordinator.  And they made Dave’s mask, which looks like a tricked out Jason from Friday the 13th mask.

See what I mean?  It is very “Spiderman meets S&M”.

Every day for five days we would drive to the center.  Half way there, Dave would take a prescribed happy pill to keep him from becoming unglued while being partially strapped down to a table.  Dave is quite claustrophobic.  Having said that, I think I would have wanted to take the pills, too.

When we got there each day, Dave would lay on this table

the staff would put in our healing CD (Music as Medicine, by Nawang Khechog –big shout out to my friend Melanie who sent it to me many months ago), and then disappear behind a huge lead door.  Then this machine would zoom around his head and give him targeted radiation to the tumor.

All the while, the machine took non-stop x-rays so that if he accidentally shifted too much, the machine would be notified and would not radiate the wrong area.  This machine is quite precise.

It was very humbling to see all the patients at the center, because we knew most of them did not have a non-cancerous diagnosis and many were there because a prior cancer had metastasized.  We met some wonderful patients who were in the midst of fighting for their life but had incredible attitudes.

One man was missing his nose and had a bandage over it.  He had a really warm personality and I could tell he was a staff favorite from the way they greeted him when he came in.  One woman told us how she is being treated for cancer and her husband had just been diagnosed the prior week.

We also met some wonderful people who work at the center.  Especially my instant friend Anita, who helped me emotionally more than she probably realizes, and even entertained Cooper while I sat in on a visit with the Doctor.   It really made us dread the treatments less, and Cooper looked forward to going since they had a pumpkin display, vending machines, puzzles, and a drinking fountain.

His favorite  day, however, was when they put up a couple of tables for Breast Cancer awarness.  Besides a bowl of candy which got his attention, they also had prostetic breasts on display.   At a somewhat quiet time (and in a building that echos), my boob-obsessed child grabbed a breast and yelled “nursie, nursie!”  Thankfully the ladies at the table had a great sense of humor.

We are so thankful that we can close the door to this chapter of our lives and look forward to a healthier 2010.

Onward and upward!