This afternoon I will be undertaking my nineteenth session of radiotherapy … and I will only have another eighteen to do!
Being someone who likes to plan their time, I do find the fact that to date my treatment times have varied each day by up to four hours a bit difficult to plan around. I have to make sure that I arrive at the hospital fully hydrated, which means drinking at least 1.5 litres of water beforehand, and as it takes between twenty minutes and an hour to get there, I have to leave home at least an hour before my appointment. I have yet to be treated at the appointment time as even after hydrating as best I can, I usually have to ‘top up’ my fluid intake before treatment can take place.
The radiotherapy takes about fifteen minutes. Once I’ve been positioned on the treatment table by the radiotherapists, they leave the room and conduct a short CT scan, which they overlay on my original CT scan to ensure that I’m exactly in the right position. The X-ray treatment then takes place. This is performed using a linear accelerator, and once it is complete, I’m free to go home … usually after a swift trip to the loo!
To date, most of my appointments have been either early in the afternoon or later in the afternoon. If it is during the early afternoon, I either have to eat lunch before I go – which can interfere with my hydration – or delay it until I get back … which can be as late as 3.30pm. If it is during the late afternoon, my journey to the hospital often coincides with the school run and my journey home takes place during the rush hour.
To date, my worst experience was leaving home at 2.00pm and returning home just after 6.00pm, and on average the whole thing takes three hours. That said, at least I’m not having to travel up to Guy’s Hospital at London Bridge for my treatment, which would have taken far longer.
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Glad to hear thinks are progressing well , Tony
ReplyDeleteThe Good Soldier Svjek (Tony),
DeleteI’m certainly making progress, but I am finding the process leaves me feeling tired and lacking in motivation to do a great deal.
All the best,
Bob
Just a matter of getting through it and ticking them off one at a time, at least your are now into the second half. Glad to hear that progress is being made and fingers crossed your motivation returns.
ReplyDeleteDonnie McGibbon,
DeleteCheers! Today’s late session was by far the best I’ve experienced to date. The traffic was less of a problem than usual, and I had managed to hydrate just enough before I got to the hospital. Hopefully, I can maintain this trend … which will certainly help to raise my morale a bit and improve my motivation.
All the best,
Bob
Quite a process, Bob - but, if it means progress...
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Ion
Archduke Piccolo (Ion),
DeleteSome days are better than others … and on the day I wrote this blog post I had a particularly bad day. My route took me along roads that seemed to be afflicted with ‘pop up’ roadworks where uncoordinated traffic lights caused massive tailbacks … and when you got to the actual roadworks, all there were fenced off holes and no one doing any work!
All the best,
Bob
Hi Bob
ReplyDeleteI had the pleasure (quite a challenge really) of connecting a second hand NHS linear accelerator into the Edinburgh Vet School to the university network while I was working as the sites IT rep.
The spec for the construction of the room was greatly complicated by the need to have especially thick concrete walls along the line of the X-Ray beam as well as any cable runs penetrating the walls which were angled to trap any X-rays sneaking out.
Any additional equipment in the room had to be replaced every few months such as surveillance cameras as their electrics got fried in no time at all.
Glad your treatment is going well. You can now use your additional knowledge to spy out the cable layout of the room.
Jim
Jim Duncan,
DeleteThat is very interesting information. Before the linear accelerator is activated, the radiotherapists help me onto the treatment bed and position me exactly where they want me using my three tattooed reference points and a number of green and orange laser beams. Once that is done, they leave me and go behind a very thick wall that separates the controls from the linear accelerator.
Lying there (usually with my eyes shut) I can hear the CT scanner revolving round me. Once that done its job, there is an audible ‘clunk’ followed by what sounds like a very irate mosquito as the X-Ray part of the machine comes into operation. Once that’s done it’s work, there is another ‘clunk’ and the treatment table begins to move out and down. The radiotherapists then appear to help me get down.
The whole operation takes less than fifteen minutes from start to finish.
All the best,
Bob
Good to see your making progress, but it seems nothing is ever convenient. Still, small price to pay if it turns out to be a successful outcome. Best of luck the rest of the way!
ReplyDeleteMark Cordone,
DeleteYou are absolutely right. The result will be worth the inconvenience … but sometimes it’s difficult to remember that when you’re stuck in a traffic jam trying to get to or from the hospital!
All the best,
Bob
Best wishes Bob. Hope it went ok yesterday
ReplyDeleteMaudlin Jack Tar,
DeleteYesterday things went much better, and I hope that today will as good as yesterday.
All the best,
Bob
At least you're over the hump now Bob and can see the end in sight, which is always a good thing. Luckily the traffic in London was OK yeasterday when dropping off our daughter in he new rented shared flat, but at least it was only West Kensington and on our side of London so to speak.
ReplyDeleteSteve J.,
DeleteI think that SE London is particularly badly served by its road network … and even the slightest delay on one of our major roads can very quickly lead to near deadlock across the whole area. Matters have not been helped by the mayor’s decision to make the speed limit on great chunks of the South Circular 20mph! This has little impact during the Rush Hour … but at other times of day it makes no sense whatsoever.
I hope that your daughter enjoys her new flat.
All the best,
Bob
Bob,
ReplyDeleteGreat that your half-way there. Getting to appointments on time is a worry at times causing a fair amount of anxiousness- especially when your in a major city with a lot of traffic to deal with- travel times can be very unpredictable. I've been eating soft food for the past eighteen days- now I have my new top plate denture from the Dental Technician and things have returned to normal- all up for the Dentist to remove four remnant broken teeth and to have the full top plate Denture made cost $2000 AUS...a bit steep though well worth it to have my smile back. Best Wishes Bob. Cheers. KEV.
Kev Robertson (Kev),
DeleteYou are spot on about how stressful it can be trying to get to medical appointments on time. I leave myself an hour to do a journey that Google Maps tells me should take only twenty minutes … and the quickest I’ve done it so far is in about thirty!
It sounds as if getting your teeth done is almost as expensive as it is in the UK. It’s almost impossible to get dental treatment on the NHS these days and I’m dreading having any further problems with my teeth.
At least you’ll be able to smile again!
All the best,
Bob
Good to know you're over the hump now, as Steve J says. Traffic in London can be stressful at the best of times.
ReplyDeleteNundanket,
DeleteCheers! The traffic in London is getting worse, and if you live in SE London - as I do - it sometimes feels as if our wonderful mayor just wants to make things worse. He has announced that as from 2025 people using the Blackwall Tunnel - one of only four crossing points downriver from Tower Bridge - will have to pay a toll (probably £4.00) in order to finance the new toll tunnel from the Greenwich Peninsular to Silvertown. It will mean the the only free ways to get a vehicle across the River Thames downriver from Tower Bridge will be the Rotherhithe Tunnel or the Woolwich Ferry, neither of which is capable of coping with any additional traffic load.
Sorry for the rant.
All the best,
Bob
To quote the hero of the show Patriot,
ReplyDelete"If you can make it one step past halfway it's easier to keep going to the end than it is to quit and turn around."
Here's to taking it one treatment at a time Bob.
You can do it!
Mr. Pavone,
DeleteThere's a lot of truth in that!
Thankfully things have got better over the past couple of days, although the actual treatment is leaving me feeling tired and rather listless.
All the best,
Bob
Keep on, trucking on Bob. See you at VCoW mate!
ReplyDeleteGeordie an Exiled FoG,
DeleteCheers! My radiotherapy is due to end on the previous Friday, so I hope to be there.
All the best,
Bob