Today was the first of my 25 radiotherapy sessions. I was scheduled for 45 minutes, but I think it took only 30 minutes. They had created a mold from the planning session I had last week. The mold holds my body in exactly the same position for each of my sessions. For this first session, the first step was to do x-rays, then they did the radiation.
My tumor was on the left side, so the radiation was aimed at that side. But my heart and lung are also there. While receiving radiation, I had to take a deep breath and hold it for about 20-30 seconds. I did this maybe 3-4 times. The machine, which is a linear accelerator, was repositioned each time -- right side, above, and left side.
The radiation oncology nurse told me afterward that out of the 40 Gy dose I received, about 5 Gy are absorbed by my heart and lung despite the breath hold technique. I don't know what kind of damage that will do to my heart, but I could get pneumonitis in my lung, treatable with steroids.
The nurse also said that I might feel pinching in my breast due to the radiation. It's actually nerve pain. I felt some in the first hour and again a couple of hours later. Great. As if I don't get enough nerve pain from T-DM1.
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