Radiation: Demystifying The Big Bad Ray Room

I've been through radiation twice in the last three years and it's largely been a pretty benign experience. The first time was a bit of surprise as there was no time to get my head into a space where I was ready to go "under the ray". 

I had gotten an MRI on the morning of 26 December 2014 and had gone back to work around noon. A call came in around 3:45pm and it was my then oncologist Dr. Kevin ringing me to say that a very large mass was found on my spine. He told me that they needed to start radiation "right away". I asked what "right away" meant. He asked, "How quickly can you get down to Moll Pavilion?" I told him I'd be there in about 20 minutes. 

I called my boss and told him what was happening, called my partner and then got in the car and proceeded to leave messages for those closest to us so they knew what was going on. Lou got to Moll before I did and was already in one of the consultation rooms. I arrived in my usual fashion--cracking jokes and making friends with the staff. Lou was a mess. To make a long story short: they took me into a room, laid me out on a table, mapped my torso, marked me up with a Sharpie, made a mask of my face, put three little tattooed dots on my neck, walked me to another room and started my first session. That was at 8:30pm. Those tats... I'm so gangsta now!

The prep took a long time because of the location of the mass. I suppose it could've been a scary situation and will be for some, but I knew I was in good hands and I felt safe. The staff was so kind and effortlessly put me at ease.

I had ten sessions and lost some hair in some really funny and incongruous areas. The worst part was the radiation burn in my throat as that was its escape route out of my body. I spent a week or so having a difficult time eating and swallowing. It felt like my Adam's apple was flipping over and scratching the back of my throat with a razor blade. They prescribed a liquid called BMX (no, not the bikes--though the taste of it, I imagine, wasn't unlike licking a new bike tyre) that I had to take 30 minutes before I ate. It really didn't help me. I'm not going to lie. Honestly speaking, though, that was the worst part of it. 

Cut to September 2017...

I just finished another round of radiation. This time it was on a mass that was discovered in my humerus. The process of mapping and marking was much faster as the procedure was done on my arm. I laid on the table and between my torso and the table was a light blue bag that wasn't unlike a beanbag pillow. The bag took the shape of my back and arm so that the position would be easier to assume when I went under the ray again. 

I started the ten-session journey a few days later and the staff, this time at Hillcrest, was really wonderful. We had a lot of fun talking about television shows, enjoying the classic rock that was playing in the room and laughing about our workdays. 

I'm waiting for the eventual "sunburn" that comes after the sessions have ended. A little fresh aloe will fix that right up. Thankfully, the radiation won't leave any throat burns this time.

For those of you who haven't experienced radiation, here are a couple pictures of the amazing apparatus that delivers the ray. That whole giant thing spins around the table, like a hand on a doorknob, focusing the beam from above, below or from the side. Absolutely fascinating!

If you are scheduled to undergo radiation or were at all curious as to what it's like, those are my two experiences. And if you are going to undergo radiation, know that I will be there with you in spirit and everything is going to be A-OK!