So today I got to radiation on time, but they were running late. I am happy that Dan came and told me that they were running late today. Not an issue. I appreciated that he told me waht was up, though. So I finally got in to treatment. Today was x-ray day, so treatment was just a bit longer than normal. No harm, no foul. In any case, I found out that Dan had to work until 10p yesterday because the other LINAC machine was down. So he worked a 13 hour day. I hope that he gets OT! And tonight... he gets to pick eggs from his neighbor's chicken coop! Nice... fresh eggs. Wonder if he's going to make an omlette!
After treatment, it was time to meet with the doctor. I didn't have to wait long to see anyone. Shortly after the nurse left, Dr. Faisil Siddiqui, her resident came in. We chatted a little bit about kids. He has two boys.. 3 and 9. The reason for the 6 year gap... medical school for both he and his wife. Turns out that his son goes to school with Natali Marmion's son, Luke. Natali works at KATU and I used to work with her. It's amazing how small this world is. :) We were talking about T-ball and the like... and how quickly kids grow up. Then the other doctor came in (I don't remember her name) and we started talking about kids. She has two kids. Then Dr. Siddiqui left and went to get Dr. Marquez. Finally she came in and had a big smile on her face. It's always nice to see a smiling doctor. I threw my hands in the air and said that it's a party! She laughed and then got back to business. I had a question about a bump on my breast. It turns out that she thinks it's a wrinkle with the tissue expander and she's not worried about it. She did mention that my skin is looking really good and it's holding up well. I think she was surprised at how well it looked. I told her that I have been spreading calendula on my skin like no tomorrow. I see Dr. Marquez next Wednesday. She said have a great weekend. I said I am looking so forward to it. She said my skin will be happy too, to have three days off without treatment.
Oh, I did sit down with Dr. Siddiqui to talk about my treatment plan. I have a histogram, but the histogram keydidn't have colors to match up with the lines. So we went over the plan on the computer. I will post it later this week or so... Then we talked about radiation to the thyroid. He said that sometimes radiation will affect the thyroid and I may have to take a hormone replacement. He told me that they should check my thyroid in a year. If it's low, then I'll have to go on medication. The thyroid controls metabolism and my energy level. Interesting... but the good news is, it's just a blood test and I can get it done at my primary care. So I don't have to see a specialist for that.
Fact #16: Radium Girls! No, it's not a music group. In the first half of the 1900s factories hired women to paint dials on watches and instruments. The glow-in-the-dark paint contained radium. The women were told the paint was harmless. So they would lick their brushes to create a point, thus ingesting the toxic substance. Some even painted their teeth and nails! Needless to say, later on down the road, the ladies developed radiation poisoning in their mouths. The women began to suffer from anemia and necrosis of the jaw! Crazy! (Thanks Rebecca & Beth!)
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| Radium dial painters. (Thanks wikipedia!) |
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