The Good, the Bad, and the Funny

I am starting radiation tomorrow!  While I'm nervous, I know I can't finish until I start so I am excited to get this show on the road.  During my final consultation on Friday there were some positives, a few negatives and one down right funny moment. 

First, the Good:  Apparently you burn extra calories while doing radiation.  Yes! I'm skeptical but wouldn't that be awesome!?!  My nurse was adamant about me needing to keep my calories up....no problem!  Well, hopefully it won't be a problem (see the bad). 

I will go in every morning, Monday-Friday at 7:15 for five weeks.  I'm really happy I got an early appointment time so I won't have to miss work.  It lasts about 20-30 minutes.  I'm hoping I'll be disciplined enough to keep up with using the treadmill every morning at 5:30 (more calories!).

The Bad:  This is going to be expensive.  I mean, in the grand scheme of things, I have very good insurance and I know it could be so much worse,  but those co-pays are going to add up fast when I'm going every day. 

The other bad part is the side effects.  Sounds like I could have some significant pain and since there are a lot of "high functioning" areas where they will be doing the radiation...some of my...um bodily functions could be affected.  Of course, there is the ever present promise of diarrhea, so that will be fun.  But, like I've said before, it is 5 weeks and I can do anything for 5 weeks. 

The Funny:  This part wasn't so funny at first but now it cracks me up.  When I went for my consult on Friday the nurse started explaining what I could expect in terms of side effects.  She said the first week would be ok but somewhere during the second week my breast would start to look very sunburned.  HUH? I said, "that's weird, why would my breast look sunburned?"  She said, "because that is where the radiation is going for your breast cancer" HUH?  "Um, I don't have breast cancer" (or do you know something I don't know??).  She says "Ooops!  What kind of cancer do you have?"  "Colon"...."oh, well then you are going to have a lot more side effects...let me get my paperwork on that!"  Good grief!  Luckily the radiation technicians had already done their job and they no where the radiation is going.


So that's all for now.  I'll update again soon.