I'M DONE!

HURRAY!

Just wanted to thank everyone for your kind words of support. I have completed my radiation therapy (also know as “XRT”) today and was pleasantly surprised with a certificate to commemorate the event!

I know the truffles from Stubbe Chocolates will never be thanks enough for all the wonderful care and special attention I received from the fabulous Radiation Therapists in Suite 08. They made the month of July 2003 so much fun and I really did look forward to my visits! Thank you one and all!! I’m going to miss you!

One more time! Today was amazing. First we showed up EXACTLY on time and no sooner did we park ourselves on the waiting chair, when Sajida came out to get us! Zip, zip...time was flying by today.

Julie also did a quick “tour de magie” for the girls today. CLICK HERE TO ENJOY SOME PHOTOS OF THE "BIG DAY"!

We’re off to BC Thursday 31 July (at time of writing, in a few hours!) so we will send you more update notices once we get back.

Cheers, Suley

The Home Stretch!

ALMOST THERE ...
So I’m plugging along with my radiation treatments...as of today (27 July 2003), I only have three more to go! Then, on the 31st, Julie and I will be flying off to BC to attend a magic conference (PCAM); we return to Toronto on the 11th August 2003.

Treatments have been going very well. I have had some of the side-effects, most notably was/is a VERY sore throat. Unfortunately, the radiation causes the inside of my throat to feel like there is sunburn in there! It was very difficult to swallow food or liquid for about a week; but now it seems the throat is on the mend. I liken it to having hemorrhoids in the throat. NO FUN!! The doctor gave me some stuff to numb it, but, too bad for me, it didn’t “hit” the spot where it was most irritated. Anyway, I managed to get some food down, painfully, but the upside is that I’ve lost a bit of weight(!) AND, I get to have ice cream when Julie is not looking. She gives me these ice cubes ... as if. Nevermind, I’m on the mend now and the next part of my treatment means my larynx gets protected now.

Taken from Lymphoma Research Foundation Radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy) uses high-energy x-rays to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors. Radiation is a local therapy, which means it only affects cancer cells in the treated area.

Where we last left our hero (since Update 3...):
Well, first good news to report is that the SARS screening is getting much faster for us to get into the hospital now. No need for masks anymore either, which is nice! I do the same routine...show up, scan my card to let everyone know “I’m here!” and then I wait. Some times I barely sit down and I am called into to get my treatment. Other days, I can wait...once, I had to wait an hour. But that was because a machine was down for maintenance so there was a bit of backlog. I don’t mind. As long as I get all my treatments before we leave for BC I’m happy!

NEW SHEILDING
Michelle and Cynthia were kind enough to show and explain to me how things were going to differ slightly; new shielding was one of them. The “T” shape protects the mouth and spinal cord from the rear and the other shape my left lung. My old shielding got melted down and reset into this new shape, which protects me when I get blasted from underneath. Remember the metal make up of this stuff, cerrobend? The shapes are configured to match me perfectly, of course, with this amazing technology. The clear slide that the cerrobend is attached to is like a giant sample slide you’d stick under a microscope... and the zapper is the microscope in this case.

MY POINT OF VIEW
I lie down on the table trying to help the ladies place me in “the sweet spot”. Once I’m down the ladies get me all lined up according to my tatoos and their laser lights. We had the Dave Matthews Band today for auditory accompaniment. I’m getting marked up and waiting for them to switch down the lights to use the laser lights. My neck sits in this cup to help extend it back and allow the chest area greater unencumbered zapping surface.

Once I am lying down and marked up, I mustn’t move. I just stare up and the technicians move me into place. The table moves so I just hang out staring up at whatever is above me. I am totally in their hands and I trust them completely.

When my neck rests on this form (which is covered by the paper) and is stretched so that my upper torso is extended, the distance is measured to ensure all is properly in place. [13.5 is the distance between chest and chin.] Tilting the neck can be uncomfortable at times, but the ladies ensure all is as great as can be for me under the circustances. But there is a great aid to help them...

There is “visual therapy”; a back lit image that is on the ceiling...however, because of the placement of the zapper and my neck, and because I am NOT to move one millmetre, I never get to enjoy it while I’m lying down. Nice of those ergo guys to think of us patients though!!

On my web site you can see the details of the WORK STATION, THE THROAT GUARD, X-RAYS, & TATOOS.

July 2003 - RADIATION

The Saga Continues...
I've finished, finally, six months of chemo. It was Dec 2002 (during the run of our theatrical show, The Conjuror) to May 2003. I even got to see Vegas despite my treatments in Toronto! Love my doctors for insisting that we go! All very good now that that is finished...but was caught off-guard when I was told I still had radiation follow up to do! We have to go to BC at the end of July so wish me luck that nothing gets cancelled!

3 July 2003 was the beginning of 20 radiation treatments, that are scheduled to happen Monday through Friday, for four weeks; until the 30 July 2003. The whole month of July consists of daily visits to the radiation ward, level 2B (below), at our fabulous cancer facility, Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH).

It’s all computerized there now...I just have to go in, scan my appropriately-coloured green appointment card to let the technologists in Suite 8 (the newest suite, but of course!) know I’ve arrived - and in turn the computer pops up a message letting me know if they are on time or delayed. Very handy. Out of the 5 treatments I’ve had, I haven’t waited very long at all!

SESSIONS: The first day was the longest...lots of measuring, double-checking, then triple-checking to make sure I was the right patient, in the right area etc. They had to ensure that I was getting the right kind of treatment (zaps in the right areas) so there was a lot of laying EXTREMELY still on the elevator-type bed.

It all begins with me lying down on the bed in a general vicinity. After that my job is to let them move me into place. I am not to “help”. They line up the tattoos with lasers...three sets of lasers give them the “triangulation” points. The technicians (Mary in green and Sherrill in blue) are marking my tattoos with a pen so it is easier to see. The 4 tattoos they gave me are are tiny blue dots: two on my chest and one on each arm

The huge dial on the wall with the arm is the blaster. It can move 360 degrees, which is essential for me as they blast me from above and from underneath.

The lights are dimmed. The table moves up and down, towards and away from the giant dial. You can see a bit of the laser light cross-section on my arm. This is the dial moving under me. ABBA can be heard in the background!

Now it’s fully underneath. To protect the areas that don’t need radiation [some areas of the heart and lungs], they stick in a shield that has been custom designed from an intelligent CT scan that was used to develop my radiation therapy. This shield is made from special thick stuff; a low melting point alloy metal called “cerrobend” which is a mixture of Bismuth, Lead, Tin and Cadmium. The technicians remember it as “BLT with Cheese”!

A closer look at the zapper and the shield that is slotted in underneath it. It’s this mammoth chunk of cerrobend that blocks unnecessary zapping to my body!

The zapper, close up, with the shield in place. You can just see the bottom part of the cerrobend.

THE ZAP: Once, I’m in place everyone leaves the room; they shut the sliding door (seal me in!) and I’m all alone. My job is not to move so I try to breathe without moving. Whatever. Mechanism whirl into place; a light in my right peripheral vision switches on [like the one outside a dark room or film studio that instructs "No Entry"], hummm. Eyes shut. Heart beat. The zapper speaks to me: “EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEpp.” 3 zaps [1 long, 2 short] on each side; first from the bottom, with the shield in place. Then someone comes in, removes the shield, rotates the giant zapper so it’s above me and we repeat it all over again. All in all, the actual zapping only takes about 30 to 40 seconds but the fussing and setting and checking takes time. Overall visit duration: 15- 20 minutes. One doesn’t smell anything; one doesn’t see anything, one doesn’t feel anything from the laser blast. No side effects either for me.

Making new friends all the time. The technicians change daily ... but some make repeat performances. This is Cynthia who has been there all the days. I’ve also been taken care of by Ray (Julie thought that was the perfect name for a radio technician!) and Hollin. They’re all great!! I also like the music they’ve got playing for me, too ... ABBA got ousted by Kylie the other day! By the way, we really are smiling under those masks!

9 July 2003: Saw a different radiology oncologist today who was filling in for my regular guy. He seemed relaxed about how I was doing. I haven’t had any thing to complain about either, so it was a short visit. He warned me that I was really cutting it tight to have my last radiation on the 30th and then have travel plans for the next day - in case a machine breaks down etc....so he put in a note in the computer to make sure I can complete the treatment and make that flight!

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for the next update...

The original post for this was on my website: www.fengsuli.com/update and this was Update 3.