Check out this link: http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/cedar-hills-residents-declare-purple-war-for-neighbor/article_ad23cfdf-26cb-5ee3-a724-f1e412ff7e82.html
It's absolutely amazing that I'd ever be in the local paper!
Purple Everywhere
Daily Herald picture
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
How Many Medical Personnel Does Radiation Take
How many different medical personnel does it take to get radiation treatments?
1. Laurie - receptionist to answer phone calls and schedule appointments.
2. Debbie - nurse practitioner(?) to do scans, make molds, and assist the doctors.
3. Dr. McAllister - radiation oncologist to review records and plan the treatment.
4. unnamed physicist - to help the doctor figure out how to shape the radiation beams so that only the exact areas that need radiation get it and nothing else is damaged in the process.
5. Dr. Blair - radiation oncologist to review treatment plan and ensure nothing gets missed.
6. DeAnn - nurse to get vitals and current status in preparation for weekly follow up appointments with one of the radiation oncologists to ensure everything is going well with the treatments.
7. Chad - radiation technician to position me exactly for each treatment and run the radiation machine.
8. Janelle - radiation technician to position me exactly for each treatment and run the radiation machine.
9. Steve - nurse practitioner to see me for follow up appointments after radiation is completed.
How many different medical personnel does it take to get radiation treatments?
9! That's all :-)
1. Laurie - receptionist to answer phone calls and schedule appointments.
2. Debbie - nurse practitioner(?) to do scans, make molds, and assist the doctors.
3. Dr. McAllister - radiation oncologist to review records and plan the treatment.
4. unnamed physicist - to help the doctor figure out how to shape the radiation beams so that only the exact areas that need radiation get it and nothing else is damaged in the process.
5. Dr. Blair - radiation oncologist to review treatment plan and ensure nothing gets missed.
6. DeAnn - nurse to get vitals and current status in preparation for weekly follow up appointments with one of the radiation oncologists to ensure everything is going well with the treatments.
7. Chad - radiation technician to position me exactly for each treatment and run the radiation machine.
8. Janelle - radiation technician to position me exactly for each treatment and run the radiation machine.
9. Steve - nurse practitioner to see me for follow up appointments after radiation is completed.
How many different medical personnel does it take to get radiation treatments?
9! That's all :-)
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Radiation Begins
After taking a few scans, making a foam mold of my lower half so I can lay in it and position my body in the exact same way every time, adding tiny black stickers to my body (because I beg not to be permanently tattooed), and a few follow up appointments with more scans, we're finally ready to begin radiation on Thursday, April 18.
Hooray! Initially, I was told that it would take at least 2-3 weeks before we began, but it's been only a week and we're starting. Hooray!
It will take 20 sessions, so I'm scheduled to finish on May 15.
Every day I drive to Provo, walk in the side door, wait in a separate back waiting room (where I never see anyone else) until one of the technicians comes for me, walk into the leaded radiation room, drop my pants (while they hold a small cloth in front of me for modesty), get positioned on the narrow table, wait for the 2-3 technicians to finalize all the tiny alignments with those stickers, watch the technicians leave and close the heavy leaded door behind them, wait approximately 11 seconds while the machine hums over me, count off another 30 seconds or so while the machine spins around my body so that it's now positioned under me, and count off a final 8 seconds for the last part of the radiation is delivered preciously where it needs to go.
Then it's a quick hop off the table, get fully dressed again, and I'm free to go again until it's time to repeat the process.
Tomorrow, same time, same place, every weekday until 20 treatments are finished.
It's not hard, difficult, or even that time consuming. The side effects are very minimal--just some redness that feels like a minor sunburn. I start applying Radiaguard (a lotion) about the fourth or fifth day, 2-3 times a day, and its works great.
It's the drive between Cedar Hills and Provo every weekday that quickly gets old. Oh well. If it prevents the Hodgkins from coming back, it's definitely worth it!
Hooray! Initially, I was told that it would take at least 2-3 weeks before we began, but it's been only a week and we're starting. Hooray!
It will take 20 sessions, so I'm scheduled to finish on May 15.
Every day I drive to Provo, walk in the side door, wait in a separate back waiting room (where I never see anyone else) until one of the technicians comes for me, walk into the leaded radiation room, drop my pants (while they hold a small cloth in front of me for modesty), get positioned on the narrow table, wait for the 2-3 technicians to finalize all the tiny alignments with those stickers, watch the technicians leave and close the heavy leaded door behind them, wait approximately 11 seconds while the machine hums over me, count off another 30 seconds or so while the machine spins around my body so that it's now positioned under me, and count off a final 8 seconds for the last part of the radiation is delivered preciously where it needs to go.
Then it's a quick hop off the table, get fully dressed again, and I'm free to go again until it's time to repeat the process.
Tomorrow, same time, same place, every weekday until 20 treatments are finished.
It's not hard, difficult, or even that time consuming. The side effects are very minimal--just some redness that feels like a minor sunburn. I start applying Radiaguard (a lotion) about the fourth or fifth day, 2-3 times a day, and its works great.
It's the drive between Cedar Hills and Provo every weekday that quickly gets old. Oh well. If it prevents the Hodgkins from coming back, it's definitely worth it!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Setting Up a Radiology Appointment
Now that the Hodgkins is gone--again--I need radiation--again--to try and prevent those lymph nodes from getting cancer in the future. It's a way to try and stop the Hodgkins from returning (because it tries to return in the last spot it was in).
After lots of phone calls to check with Dr. Jay's IHC office, our insurance company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and Central Utah Clinic in Provo, I'm finally able to determine that I have to drive down to Provo for radiation, so I call to make that appointment.
It's a good thing that I'm used to standing up for myself because Dr. McAllister's receptionist tries to tell me it will be at least a week before he can see me.
I'm not willing to wait an entire week unless I absolutely have to.
What's the delay? He doesn't have a spare 30 minutes anywhere in his schedule within the next four working days?
Well, he likes to get and review all the information from previous scans, radiation treatments, and the referral from the oncologist before that first appointment. I can understand that, so what if I pick up all the information he needs and bring it to his office?
So I head to Salt Lake City and drive to the UofU hospital where the PET scan results from Huntsman are kept, find my summary statements from Mott's Children's Hospital at the UofMichigan from when I was 7, and stop by Dr. Jay's office for my radiation records from them.
Then I drive to Provo and hand deliver everything to Kathy.
I've been around the block a few times; I know how medical things work; and I know how to speed them up.
Amazingly, Dr. McAllister can now see me on Monday, April 15 at 1:00 pm.
Whew! It's like I have to beg for the treatments I know that I need.
After lots of phone calls to check with Dr. Jay's IHC office, our insurance company (Blue Cross/Blue Shield), and Central Utah Clinic in Provo, I'm finally able to determine that I have to drive down to Provo for radiation, so I call to make that appointment.
It's a good thing that I'm used to standing up for myself because Dr. McAllister's receptionist tries to tell me it will be at least a week before he can see me.
I'm not willing to wait an entire week unless I absolutely have to.
What's the delay? He doesn't have a spare 30 minutes anywhere in his schedule within the next four working days?
Well, he likes to get and review all the information from previous scans, radiation treatments, and the referral from the oncologist before that first appointment. I can understand that, so what if I pick up all the information he needs and bring it to his office?
So I head to Salt Lake City and drive to the UofU hospital where the PET scan results from Huntsman are kept, find my summary statements from Mott's Children's Hospital at the UofMichigan from when I was 7, and stop by Dr. Jay's office for my radiation records from them.
Then I drive to Provo and hand deliver everything to Kathy.
I've been around the block a few times; I know how medical things work; and I know how to speed them up.
Amazingly, Dr. McAllister can now see me on Monday, April 15 at 1:00 pm.
Whew! It's like I have to beg for the treatments I know that I need.
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