The Radiation Chronicles: Fifth treatment

Friday June 26th and another beautiful sunny summer morning heralded my fifth, and hopefully last, radiation treatment.   My previous nights pain and emotion had remarkably dissipated, no doubt due to the rest achieved with the help of Tylenol-3's.  I was certainly in a better frame of mind, and wanted this process to be over as quickly as possible. So once more I'm in the waiting room outside the treatment area, when my name is called.  It's time for my last treatment

This time my session  has  a novelty -- I will be part of a teaching exercise.  For the past several weeks a young student has been both observing and working with the regular staff on my particular treatment.  I had first encountered this student during my CT mapping process some two weeks prior.  She was also present at several of my treatments this week.  Today she would be going solo, and I would be her victim patient.

Although the staff knows me by sight, they have always adhered to the formalities:  Ask the patient their date of birth.  Confirm that the treatment is for a specific condition.   Ask if the patient has any questions.  For a brief instant my mischievous side wanted to throw out a flippant answer to see how she responds, but wisely thought better of it.   She worked efficiently and methodically, dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's.  She situated my leg for its final treatment and retreated to the control room with her two proctors.  Ten minutes later we both had reason to smile:  my treatment was complete and the earnest young student had successfully completed her training exercise.

Now it was  reward time.  I presented the box of chocolates I had brought with me as a token of thanks to the student, with a suggestion to share with her coworkers.   Big smiles on everyone's face as I left the Radiation Therapy department, hopefully for the last time.  For me it is important to let those caring for me know how much I appreciate their dedication and efforts.  Little things, like a smile, a kind word of thanks, or even a box of chocolates lets people know you are grateful.

In the weeks to come my leg would feel better, and sometimes worse. There was improvement, but I suspect the damage is done.  Gone are my days of being able to walk for hours without efforts.  Now I walk with a limp, but my journey still continues.