My Cancer Adventures: Goodbye Chemo, Hello Radiation

Yes, you read that right. I’m officially done with chemo. My PET scan came back negative for any active lymphoma cells. So for those keeping track, I was able to get away with (yeah, I’ll put it that way) 4 rounds (or 8 treatments) of chemo instead of the 6 rounds (12 treatments) that were initially planned. I didn’t ask, but it seems like my lymphoma died off better than expected.

Now I move on to radiation to be extra sure the cancer cells are wiped clean. According to my chemo doctor and my new radiation doctor, ABVD chemo followed by radiation is a tried and tested method for treating the classic form of Hodgkin’s. I’ll have four weeks of radiation, going in to be “zapped” every weekday morning. Yesterday I had my radiation consultation where I was also fitted for my mask. (Watch the video below from my mask manufacturer and this will make more sense.) This mask keeps me in the same position for every single treatment so the radiation always hits the intended spot every time (and not something else). They warned me that getting the mask made would feel really weird and it did. I thought it would feel more like plastic being stretched across my face but it felt more like a mesh of extra stretchy spaghetti and not so much like plastic. It was weird. It’s also pressed right down on your face, so luckily I’m not claustrophobic.

For those wondering, radiation treatment is pretty harmless. I’m not radioactive or glowing afterward. Other parts of my body aren’t really affected either. The treatment is basically a just a beam that’s slightly more powerful than an x-ray that’s also pinpointed to a specific spot (for me, this is my neck/shoulder area). I really just have a few possible side effects. Because of the proximity of my problem area to my throat, I could have some irritation to my esophagus - basically a dry throat and trouble swallowing. At the spot of treatment, I’ll also have some skin irritation. I’ll just need to apply lotion and keep it out of the sun. Lastly I may have some fatigue, especially toward the end of treatment. This shouldn’t be as bad as the fatigue from chemo however.

Lastly if your mind has gone to me replicating the Spiderman origin story, you’re not alone. I thought of that basically immediately. Besides the logistics of training a spider to perfectly sit on my neck, the radiation isn’t strong enough to do anything that super. Well, I mean it does of course treat cancer - which is pretty damn super if you ask me.

My Cancer Adventures: A PET Scan Primer

In case anyone ever wondered what it's like to get a PET scan, it's a lot of hurry up and then wait. While preparing for my most recent PET scan, I thought I’d write out this quick run through of what the process is like:

Step 1: Technically, the first step is to fast for at least 4 hours. As I had a 9:30 appointment the other day, I woke up early to have breakfast at 5am and then went back to bed.

Step 2: Drive to the hospital, check in at the reception desk, sit in the waiting room, and wait to be called back to the PET scan area.

Step 3: When first in the PET scan area, you get weighed and then get to choose one of two lovely medical grade lounge chairs.

Step 4: Sit in your chair, get your finger poked, and have your blood sugar measured.

Step 5: If your blood sugar level checks out, you then get a small IV injection of what is basically slightly radioactive sugar water. This makes things stand out on the scan.

Step 6: Then you wait for 45 minutes for the sugar water to flow through your system. Hopefully you've brought something to do or read because there's no wifi.

The lovely waiting area view.

Step 7: After the 45 minutes, you're all set for the scan. Well, ok, they have you go to the bathroom first. Once you're on the scanning table you're there for 15 minutes and there’s no chance for a potty break.

Step 8: If you wearing a top with snaps or zippers (metal), you'll have to take that off and put on scrubs. (It will mess up the scan.) With a metal button on my pants, they always give me the option of changing into scrub pants or just pulling my pants down to my knees and covering up with a blanket. I just do the blanket method as it's easier. I also take anything out of my pant pockets at this point. My phone, keys, etc wouldn't mess up the scan since it's below my knees (it only scans your knees up) but it's a precaution so those items don't fall into the track of the moving table. Apparently people have gotten their keys stuck.

Step 9: You lay on the table flat on your back with your arms back above your head. It's a pain for me to get comfortable and still be able to fit my arms through the opening of the scanner. Still it's not as bad as my first scan which happened right after my surgical biopsy and I had very little arm flexibility. My left arm was completely asleep at the end.

Step 10: Basically you just lay there for 15 minutes as the table moves back and forth. You can close your eyes, but you don't want to move. Putting yourself in into nap or zen-like state is definitely recommended.

Step 11: Once the 15 minutes is up, the moving table will be back in the starting position and the tech will announce that you can move and relax. They'll check that the scan came out alright and then you're free to go. You know, once you pull your pants up or change out of your borrowed scrubs...

And that my friends is how a PET scan works. I believe this in now in order:

Does NBC still do these?