It was a piece of cake. Actually this time it was a little more involved than it will be in the future because they wanted to take some low energy x-ray pictures of the chest area to be sure the tattoos were pretty enough and in the right place, and they wanted to draw more pictures on my body. I guess they didn't get enough body art on this shriveled up frame last time. They said that they wanted to outline where the beam will be hitting, but I think they just wanted to draw on something and the doctors took their papers and crayons away.
The pictures were not sufficient to tell if there had been any change since last time, so I choose to believe that the nasty tea that Glendon and Howard have prescribed for me, and the garlic recommended by several books that people have been kind enough to force me to read have been working. I only hope the garlic is working. I have lost two friends already.
The radiation itself took less time that it did to get ready and consisted of 2 shots of 10 MeV x-rays lasting about 20 seconds each. The only disagreeable thing about the process was the music they were playing - presumably to calm me down. So I told them it would be OK if they chose not to play that stuff. They were very accommodating; right away there was silence. Hard to improve on silence, you know, especially when the machines make enough noise that it interrupts the "music." I also remembered to ask them to tape my right eye shut. It was much better than when we did the PET scan.
So the schedule is tomorrow, Monday, Wednesday, then every week day until the 17th, when it will be over. There should be nothing of interest to report, with the exception of a minor sunburn toward the end of the series.
Probably the next entry will be after we have the appointment with Dr. Grossman on the twoth of January. At that point we expect to learn what kind of poison he wants to feed me and when that will start. Until then, have a Happy New Year!
MJ Gee
So glad it was an easy process today. You're saying the smell of the garlic has already driven away two of your friends? They must have been vampires... :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for keeping us posted! Love you, Dad!
-Kim
How are you supposed to take the garlic? If it doesn't need to be raw try roasting it by cutting the top off to expose the bulbs, bathe in olive oil, sprinkle with salt, wrap in tin foil and roast at 415 for an hour. Excellent, more mild flavor.
ReplyDeletePresident Gee, I will never forget when you said in a Zone Conference (in Chelyabinsk, I believe) that "silence is the best music." This blog post reminded me of that. :) Glad they were accommodating to your request. My prayers are with you throughout this process.
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