Being Marked

Adam has endured many things since his diagnoses in November. From radioactive dye for the scans, to chemo, transfusions and many many labs. However today he got to endure one more pleasantry. getting marked for radiation.

He had his initial appointment today with the radiology department at the Barrett Center at University Hospital of Cincinnati. They placed him is a machine, much like that of a CT Scan, and placed him in position according to where his tumors are located and proceeded to mark his neck and chest for the EXTERNAL BEAM RADIATION THERAPY. He thought they were actually going to use a needle with ink, similar to tattooing, but they used a sharpie...a black magic marker! I thought that was funny. So now he has these little black x's on his neck chest and belly.

He also had to have an Effimask molded today. This mask has to be worn during the treatment so that the parts of his body (Head, eyes, mouth) that are not affected by the cancer do not get radiation. This will prevent radiation burns and/or other possible damage to health cells. This process was quite interesting as well. It looked like a piece of plastic mesh that the technician placed in hot water, then put over his head, clamping it down to the table. After about ten minutes, WA LA, they had a mold of his face that they will created the mask with.

The actual treatments will begin next Thursday and will last for 10-14 days straight (Not counting weekends). So another turn in his road to recovery has begun.