I made it through Beethoven’s 9th (which was extraordinary), and Spider-Man made it through his treatment. When I walked into the radiation room yesterday afternoon, his little mask was missing from the wall. I asked the tech if he’d finished and she nodded, smiling sadly. She said that he’d wanted to take his mask home with him, and I teared up as they prepped me on the table. Things are becoming rather difficult and painful now. It’s funny–just as I’ve become adjusted to the actual radiation, to my seven minutes in the mask, the remaining 1,433 minutes of each day are proving much more challenging. I have open sores on my tongue and the walls of my mouth, which make it painful to drink, swallow, and even speak. I’m back on the liquid diet I was relegated to just after my surgery, and I pretty much have to force myself to get anything down. I saw my radiation oncologist, Dr. Higgins, yesterday (I see her every Tuesday), and she prescribed some new pain medication to help with these side effects. We will most likely increase its dosage with each remaining week of treatment. I’m having trouble envisioning the end now–envisioning myself making it to the end–but Spider-Man did it, so maybe I can, too.
Cancer, conundrums, cartoons
Well, then 