|
|
Post by funkykikuchiyo on Jan 31, 2024 10:32:00 GMT -5
I'm a week and a half into getting some radiation treatment which will go on three weeks.
It is an interesting process. And, my dude brain sees it and realizes it is basically a giant CNC. They put tattoos on you so they can line up laser lines and reference lines, it gets cross referenced to some CT scans, and they're always coming out and scribbling on you with sharpie to make sure everything is aimed appropriately. The machine is massive, and must be built to some amazing tolerances - even some slack in a piece of threaded rod or a nylon washer compressing too much could be the difference between hitting a tumor and missing it, or hitting an organ you're not supposed to hit.
It started to make me wonder if these amazing machines are like other machines, wherein some dude sees it and says, "I could totally do that if I had THOSE tools...."
|
|
009
Wholenote
Take me to your leader!
Posts: 524
|
Post by 009 on Jan 31, 2024 10:59:37 GMT -5
(I'm sorry to hear that you're going through this....) I had radiation therapy coming up on two years ago, and, no, I did not think about the apparatus. Radiation to my pelvic area: we incorporated the 'empty bowel, full bladder' technique to minimize radiation "damage" to those respective organs. Laying there, I only hoped I'd make it to the rest room in time before having to peeing. If you are having radiation to your pelvic area, and are not already doing so, begin your Kagel exercises now. In my experience, post-radiation effects began about six months after completing the treatment. I hope all goes well.
|
|
|
|
Post by Auf Kiltre on Jan 31, 2024 11:09:01 GMT -5
Sorry to hear it, Funky. I hope your treatments are both short and successful. I recall the doctor at MD Anderson Cancer Clinic telling my wife that if targeted radiation was the path for her suspected lung cancer then he was confident she'd be "cancer free in 3 weeks". Fortunately a broncoscopy proved the spiculated nodules as benign.
Best of luck.
|
|
|
|
Post by Taildragger on Jan 31, 2024 12:32:58 GMT -5
Thumbs up funky! Think positive!
|
|
pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 558
|
Post by pdf64 on Jan 31, 2024 12:59:53 GMT -5
Radiotherapy is great, I really felt it delivered a KO to my cancer, such that 5 years later it’s still sleepy (hope that doesn’t jinx things  Yeah, the machines are amazing, awesome, I’m so grateful to the meditech people. I had a course a chemo a few months prior to the RT. |
|
|
|
Post by Leftee on Jan 31, 2024 15:55:31 GMT -5
🙏
|
|
|
|
Post by Laker on Jan 31, 2024 16:40:17 GMT -5
Best of luck Mr. Funky, hope it all goes well!
After my wife was radiated for breast cancer we found that it really alters the texture of the skin in the radiated area…kind of turns it to leather-like.
|
|
|
|
Post by funkykikuchiyo on Jan 31, 2024 18:47:22 GMT -5
Thanks!
My radiation is going pretty deep... lymphatic system in the abdomen, known as the "dog leg" or "hockey stick". The worst has been that the broader stuff hits my stomach/upper bowel, and the first time I didn't have any anti-nausea med. Imagine being really hungover, thrown on a row boat, it is foggy, and the wind kicks up. Right now I'm just really tired. It was either this or chemo, and they needed to be really sure it hasn't spread outside of this area to know radiation would work, and that seems to be the case.
|
|
|
|
Post by Sharkie on Jan 31, 2024 21:03:22 GMT -5
Sending positive vibes and wishing you all the best Funky! 🙏
|
|
krrf
Wholenote
Posts: 376
|
Post by krrf on Jan 31, 2024 21:38:19 GMT -5
Good luck man, cancer sucks ass!
|
|
|
|
Post by ninworks on Feb 1, 2024 5:37:56 GMT -5
Wishing you a speedy recovery.
|
|
|
|
Post by markfromhawaii on Feb 1, 2024 13:45:00 GMT -5
Take care and wish you a speedy and complete recovery. 🙏🏽
|
|
|
|
Post by 6l6 on Feb 1, 2024 15:24:01 GMT -5
Last week I had 42 permanent radioactive "seeds" inserted into my prostate. In six weeks they will have lost their radioactivity and I will begin 5 weeks of radiation therapy (15 min/day, 5 days/wk).
Prior to having the seeds inserted I had some special gel shots that forced the organs around my prostate away, lessening the chance for the radiation treatment to hit the wrong organs.
I also had a PSMA test that showed the cancer has not spread to any other organs (whew!).
Amazing technology and the cancer center is only 10 minutes from my home here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Onward and upward!
6
|
|
|
|
Post by oldnjplayer on Feb 2, 2024 6:43:33 GMT -5
good luck and quick recovery....
|
|
|
|
Post by Rick Knight on Feb 2, 2024 9:54:09 GMT -5
Good luck to Funky and 6l6. I had prostate radiation about a year and a half ago. Other than being a bit tired toward the end, the process was pretty smooth. At my 12 month follow up last November, my PSA was 0.010.
|
|
|
|
Post by funkykikuchiyo on Feb 2, 2024 19:50:04 GMT -5
Dang 6l6, that's intense! If I were you, I'd try sitting on a potato and see if I could bake it with my radiation... hahaha
I've heard prostate related radiation is a bit easier, but it may vary depending on stage 1 or stage 2. My first two weeks were kinda rough because they hit a really broad area, since I am stage 2 and it is in the lymphatic system. Next week they'll just hit the tumors, and I'm told that will be a breeze, even though they're cranking the machine up to a higher setting for it.
|
|
pdf64
Wholenote
Posts: 558
|
Post by pdf64 on Feb 3, 2024 5:04:04 GMT -5
Cancer, and the current state of applied medical science, made me appreciate how lucky I am to be alive here and now. In many, perhaps most places of the world, or for the vast majority of human history, I’d have suffered an agonising death several years before the 60th birthday I’ve just enjoyed.
|
|
|
|
Post by Rick Knight on Feb 3, 2024 8:32:49 GMT -5
Cancer, and the current state of applied medical science, made me appreciate how lucky I am to be alive here and now. In many, perhaps most places of the world, or for the vast majority of human history, I’d have suffered an agonising death several years before the 60th birthday I’ve just enjoyed. According to my cardiologist it's possible that in the near future my cancer might have been treated with something - I think he said Ultrasound - that is easier on the body than radiation. Amazing things going on. |
|
|
|
Post by funkykikuchiyo on Feb 3, 2024 11:30:36 GMT -5
Cancer, and the current state of applied medical science, made me appreciate how lucky I am to be alive here and now. In many, perhaps most places of the world, or for the vast majority of human history, I’d have suffered an agonising death several years before the 60th birthday I’ve just enjoyed. According to my cardiologist it's possible that in the near future my cancer might have been treated with something - I think he said Ultrasound - that is easier on the body than radiation. Amazing things going on. I read an article about a treatment that uses a vaccine-like mechanism. The body attacks mutated cells all the time, but it stops once they've divided enough times and you get tumors, so they use the cells from your own body and make a one-off vaccine-like thing they give back to you so your body can fight the cells on its own. Obviously great for everyone, but I think about a relatively new problem where early detection is sometimes too early. You see this with breast cancer, where stuff is found so early that people go through with double mastectomies out of caution, but the survival rate doesn't really improve. An intervention that is less violent (for lack of a better word) would be great to take the stress out of that. My co-worker's wife went through that last year - it was such early detection that it is colloquially called "stage zero". |
|
|
|
Post by LTB on Feb 4, 2024 19:30:20 GMT -5
Hope all goes well and it rids you of the cancerous tumor funky!
|
|
|
|
Post by rickyguitar on Feb 4, 2024 23:33:08 GMT -5
Expecting a great outcome bro.
|
|
|
|
Post by gato on Feb 5, 2024 5:42:37 GMT -5
The only radiation treatment I've had was years ago to kill off my out of control thyroid. Radiologist had me swallow a radioactive horse pill the size of my thumb, and then leapt back as if I had just pulled the pin on a grenade. For the next 10 days I was in semi-isolation. Couldn't be within several feet of anyone, use the same bathroom ... the radiation did a number on my digestive system .. I wonder if the toilet bowl glowed in the dark?
Positive vibes at you dude.
|
|
Vman
Wholenote
Posts: 194
|
Post by Vman on Feb 5, 2024 17:01:22 GMT -5
Thoughts and prayers for a complete recovery for each of you. You've got the right attitudes and that's half the battle. Send it packing!!
|
|
|
|
Post by Larry Madsen on Feb 5, 2024 22:58:44 GMT -5
All the best from out here in the Mojave.
May your medical team be at the top of their game. 👍🏻
A friend at work was telling me about his colon surgery. It was done “robotically” through five small incisions.
He told me the surgeon sits at a console looking at screens that put him (virtually) inside the patients body and controlling the process from that perspective.
Pretty amazing technology they use … no doubt.
|
|
|
|
Post by funkykikuchiyo on Feb 6, 2024 11:18:25 GMT -5
Heard something tangentially that low magnesium levels are a problem in cancer patients, and radiation tends to drop them way down. Some symptoms include fatigue and nausea, so I may experiment with a fancy supplement and see if it eases things.
|
|
