Radiation Treatment, Day One

Today's radiation treatment went well. I didn't hear too much groaning from pain when he was placed on the table, or when he got up.

He honestly didn't need me there, but he still said he was glad I came. It's certainly no burden to go.

The radiation folks gave back the CDs of his CAT and PET scans today.


I was hoping we couldn't view them without some magic medical software, but that isn't the case. Pop 'em in the ol' CD drive, and they come right up.

That isotope dye really trips out a mass, doesn't it? My goodness. The colors are metaphorically appropriate, like angry blazes of white hot blobs surrounded by flames -- you'd have to be blind not to see these hateful, toxic growths. How is it possible these didn't exist a year ago, the date of his last spinal MRI?

Upon closer examination of the "films," I see the left side of the body on the right side of my screen. Therefore, I was mistaken when I said it was his right lung. It's his left lung. Now the mass in his left hip makes more sense.

One of his best friends works in a human biometric field and doesn't believe in doctors or medicines. They are visiting alone together now, and I'm sure the ex is getting lots of valuable information on the alternative routes... and that's good. It's his life and his choice, and I'll support any treatments and/or diet & lifestyle changes that he chooses.

There are so many questions, and only one guarantee -- no one lives forever. And even when you are able to live exactly perfectly right -- mentally, physically, and spiritually -- something can happen. If it's your time, it's your time.

This little pearl came to me only yesterday, when my little fractured-but-securely-ducktaped family unit went out for wings. Isn't it funny how random events lead to things people say... and something clicks?

Our waitress told an odd story about her cousin, a lifeguard, who once saved a drowning deer from rushing waters, only to have the panicked deer run tragically into oncoming traffic. Click.

At the conclusion of Day One, I think these palliative (that's the right word, right?) radiation treatments are more than worth the trouble. We can't do anything else until they are finished anyway, and that gives us a good solid 3 weeks before we begin the next plan of attack, and more time for the ex to decide what kind of attack it will be.