Friday, November 16, 2007

Well, my Radiation Oncologist

knows me pretty well already. I met with him yesterday and told him about my nausea. He listened calmly, changed position in his chair, and then nicely said, "Fatigue isn't typical this early in the treatment of radiation, but I have experienced patients that have a lot of anxiety and adrenaline (sp) around the change in protocol. See, radiation is easy compared to chemo and with the change, people get nervous, and then about 3 treatments in start to relax and, consequently get very tired for a few days. Does this sound like you?" I looked at him and said, "Apparently, you have met me before...." I wanted to say, "SHUT UP!!!", but I thought the better of it. So, with that knowledge, I have started to relax. I slept really well last night - no vomiting thank goodness. I am also going to set up an appointment with my social worker. She is good at reframing things for me and getting me back on track. After my radiation appointment, I went up to visit my buddy Bob. I think it is HILARIOUS that I can go into the treatment center and say, "Where's Silent Bob?" and EVERYONE knows who I am talking about. We talked for a bit, laughed, I met another one of his cancer buddies, and just had a good time. He gave me a T-Shirt yesterday that has a half filled glass of water and says "Half Full" (not half empty). He said something like, "This personifies you." and I was happy for it. Sometimes I loose track....cry....wonder what this cancer has in store for me and then something happens like Bob and my T-shirt and I am remember that is just that simple - half full - nothing more, nothing less - half full. Thanks Bob. Love, Ang

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