Adventures in Arizona: 1 Down, 29 to Go

I had my first of 30 radiation treatments this morning and it was actually quite uneventful. Mark went with me for this first one just to be there but I'll be going to the rest alone because there really is no point for him to tag along. It's not like he's allowed back there with me. Even the nurses go across the hall.

When I had my simulation 2 weeks ago, I also got 5 tattoos the size of pin pricks. These tattoos are to help line me up in the same position each time I go for a treatment. After the nurses took me back to my treatment room, I laid on a table below the machine that would be giving me the treatments (not sure how to describe this, I want to say it shoots a beam). The two nurses lined me up with a few lasers around the room in order to get me to the position they determined would be best during the planning simulation. After that, they took a few x-rays to make sure "everything looked ok" as the nurse said and then we were set for the first part of my treatment. It was done in three stages that might have lasted about a minute each. In between each one, the nurses came back in the room and adjusted something and then left again to finish the treatment.

All in all, I was there for probably 30-40 minutes today but they were talking through everything with me. They said it will typically only take about 15 minutes.

1 down...

I also got the report back from the BRAC Analysis (genetic testing) I had done on January 28th and everything was normal. This doesn't affect recurrence risks but definitely reduces the chance of me getting another primary cancer (like ovarian or another breast cancer) down the road to the same chances as anyone else. They did say that if there are other genes found at a later date that may indicate higher risks, I might consider getting tested because of my age and family history but for now, this is good news. Especially for my siblings, nieces, and potential future children.

And now for the FUN PART. Mark and I got to visit NC the last week of January for a long overdue trip to see friends and family since all my treatments and such had been getting in the way the previous 8 months. Luckily for us, we got to see almost our entire immediate family (with Britt Jones being the one exception). Angie, Ryley and Harper made the trip to NC so we could see them. Tres was in town for a few days before he moved to DC to start a job. Cris came into town Friday night after his first week at his new job in Charlotte. Brad, Kathryn & Wynn came to town on Saturday and we finally got to meet our nephew in person. And of course, Dad, Carolyn, Robert, Ginni, Baker, Lilli and Emerson all live in Winston so we got to see them too. It was almost like Christmas all over again.

And of course I took my camera and snapped a few pictures of the cute kiddos.