Radiation Update

Hi Y'all,

Today I will be finishing my first full week of radiation to the liver. I did a half week last week. I am also taking 3000mg of Xeloda a day.

Last week was very hard, probably because it was all so new. I have had a fear of radiation from the get go and been very grateful that I didn't have to endure that. I hate PET scans. I think it is being totally alone in that room that I don't like. I also had to come up to Durham from Columbia by myself. So I was probably being somewhat of a whiner. Then I got nauseous and that scared me because everything I read said the radiation shouldn't bother me for the first two weeks.

Well, I came back up this week and my husband was able to come with me, which made a world of difference. We have three teenagers and it is just hard for both parents to be gone Monday - Friday. I found out, during the doc visits, that the nausea is from the Xeloda and not the radiation and if I just take the Zoffran with the Xeloda, it should take care of it. I feel kind of dumb not figuring that out for myself. As the week progressed, I realized I need to take the Zofran 30 - 60 minutes before the Xeloda to ward off nausea but it worked and I have felt pretty good all week.

There are so many types of radiation out there. I have been trying to figure out exactly what kind of machine they are using on me and what it is exactly they are doing. I was nervous last week that it was just "old timey" radiation but in a new package. So I went to the machine manufacture site to look it up. It's not old timey but I came across the word Radio Therapy. On the website, it said this was palliative care. That was not a big comfort to me.

I asked Dr. Czito if I was receiving Radio Therapy and he said yes. I said, "Then it's palliative?" He looked at me and said, "Where did you get that idea?" Ben, my husband, said, "She Googles." Dr. Czito said, "Absolutely not. I am treating you from a curative stance. You have microscopic cells and despite everything that has gone on before, my intent is curative."

I'm not sure the Oncologist Dr. Morse would get on that train BUT NOONE has said that word to me from the get go. I prayed for encouragement yesterday and boy did I get it. Dr. Czito gets the Favorite Doc off the Week award. I understand the odds of a cure but it is just nice to hear someone say it.

Catherine