Radiotherapy

Hey everyone. It's been almost a month since I last updated - and my reason behind that is simple: I've been having radiotherapy! Today, I want to talk about my expriences with radiotherapy and how it compares to chemotherapy - Namely, R-CHOP.

I have undergone twelve out of fifteen cycles - I finish on Wednesday and am happy to be finished. However, the experience as a whole wasn't bad at all! The worst part of it is the travelling, as I live about 40 minutes away from the hospital.

Let's talk about what radiotherapy (in my case) entails, first of all. Radiotherapy starts with you being brought up for planning sessions and you are lined up on the bed, X-Rays are taken, etc. You are given three small tattoos so they can find where the laser should be hitting every time you are there. These tattoos, like normal ones, are permanent but they don't hurt much to get them. Just a quick sting and that's it.

From there, you're brought up for radiotherapy and the first three days you get images as well as the treatment. Then, the images only happen once a week! It only takes around fifteen minutes per day.

You are lying on the bed with a special foam cushion under your legs, and lined up to where they need you to be - they usually have to move you millimeters to get it EXACTLY where they need it.
Then you lie on the bed, the radiographers (radiotherapists? radiologists?) leave the room and the radiation is turned on. A large machine moves around you and you just lie there while you recieve this treatment. It takes around five minutes and you're finished! Then, you're free to go.

There is no infection period with radiotherapy, unlike chemotherapy. It's weird knowing that you're not as susceptible and don't have to be quite as careful. At the same time, it's very different and you have to get used to it - You don't have any sickness, although you do become very tired with the radiotherapy and depending on where you're having treatment, you may also have symptoms that your consultant will explain to you. All in al, radiotherapy was much easier for me than chemotherapy and I am sure most people find this, too.

Hope you're all well,
Lana xx