First week of treatment

Everyday for that week I had to get up fairly early to make the hour drive into the city. My appointments were always at the same time so I always knew what time to be there. It was hard to judge what time I needed to leave because sometimes we would get stuck in traffic and other times we would spend a long time just trying to find parking. Most of the time we were able to time it fairly good.

Every day I had to register at the front desk and be escorted to the tomotherapy part of the hospital. The doctors we so friendly and by the end of the week they pretty much knew my whole life story. They would always ask me "How is your nephew?", "How are your dogs/horses". They made me feel like a normal person (which is important to someone who always feels like they are different).

Throughout the week we went through the same routine... register at the front desk, walk down the quiet hallways to the tomotherapy area, sign in at their desk, sit and wait, go into the large room where the machine was, lie down on the table, get strapped into my mask, get moved into the machine, have the treatment done, get pulled out and unclipped, get escorted back to the main area, get in the vehicle, drive the hour to my Grandmas ranch.

After the first couple treatments I started to notice that I was feeling EXTREMELY tired. To the point that even while I was walking out of the hospital I could barely stay awake. I would fight to stay awake until we were out of the city then I would sleep the whole way to my Grandmas house. I would go downstairs and lie down on the couch and sleep most of the time until supper. I would wake up to eat then go right back to sleep. Sometimes I would sleep all night, and sometimes I would wake up for a little bit. I couldn't believe how much I was sleeping and yet I was still always tired.

I also noticed that my hair was starting to thin a bit. I mean it wasn't falling out in chunks like they told me, but it definately was thinning out. When I had baths I was extra careful and had to make sure not to scrub my scalp (they told me that would encourage my hair to fall out), I used baby shampoo, baby soap (my skin was really delicate), and I could only have a bath a couple times a week.

At the end of the week I was having my Friday treatment and I was very impatient. I was able to go home for the weekend because they don't do treatments over the weekend. Right after my treatment was over we jumped in the vehicle (okay I lied I didn't "jump" into the vehicle, but I was in my mind!) and headed for home. I couldn't wait to go home and see everyone. It had only been five days but I still missed my family, especially my nephew.