Raincheck for radiation therapy (not)

Doctor Hoebers

Friday morning my mother and I set off to Amsterdam the Anthoni van Leeuwenhoek hospital (a clinic speciallized in cancer.)

I had to pick up a cd-rom from the hospital in Hilversum at 8.30 and my appointment in Amsterdam was at 11.00.

For those who don't know this is virtually a mission impossible as driving from one end of Hilversum to the other alone normally takes half an hour. Let alone the traffic on the A1 on Friday before a long weekend. Monday was to be the Queen's birthday, when the whole of Holland goes out in the street, dressed in orange, to celebrate.

Well somehow my guardian angel gave me a swift route as we arrived in the hospital 45 minutes before my appointment. It was mind boggling to realize that all the patients in this hospital are cancer patients. (And this not being the only cancer clinic in the country). In 2005, 1900 people became new patients at the clinic. It makes you wonder about our lifestyles, or maybe even about if we were meant to live this long in the first place. Anyway after watching everyone in the waitingroom disappear, suddenly a Mill 'n' Boons doctor appeared and called my name. We talked about my condition and I wanted two things cleared up: Could it be possible that I had two types of cancer, and were they thinking about a specific type of cancer.

The first was negative, the latter was positive.

Apparantly they had not counted on me starting my radio therapy so I had to be rescheduled for later that afternoon. Too bad...I could not take a raincheck. First I was taken to the x-ray room where they super impose a gridline on your body. The purpose is to determine the exact spot to beam as not to damage any other cells. The gridline is then drawn onto you using coordinates. The magic marker lines are then traced with red henna tattoo. Having done all this the preperation is done.

I was given a tablet called Kytril. This tablet was supposed to counter-act a feeling of nausea. We made our way to the radio therapy area and had some time to kill. By this time lunch had struck and we were very hungry. Half a cheese sandwich did the trick as I was worried I might barf it out later.

Three gay radio laboratory assistants positioned me on my rocket ship.

They put my henna grid in line by superimposing the new grid (green light) on my body and making sure the 2 grids matched. I was to be beamed in 4 spots. Each took exactly one minute at a time. The treatment was over.

I was not scared but could not help noticing how everyone hid from the radiation whilst I lay down to receive it. Peculiar!

I was told that I was supposed to feel nauseous the first day and that there would be some oedema in the areas that were treated in the next couple of days. After 5 or 6 days I should feel a little better, and after a week and a half the pain should start to reduce.

I drove myself and my mother home on Friday. There was no nausea and late at night the oedema came. The next morning I woke up with much less pain than the past 10 weeks. And started my peaceful weekend alone at home...as usual. Could it be that radiation therapy is my thing?