Tuesday, June 8, 2021

Radiotherapy Planning Session

I had a radiotherapy planning session yesterday. They had me lie on my back and position my arms above my head. I was lying on a sheet, and they pulled the sheet this way and that way to get me into the right position and used pads to hold me in place. I have to be in the exact same position for each of my radiation therapy sessions.

My left shoulder started hurting just a couple of minutes into this. They repositioned my hand on my head and added more pads to support my arm. I couldn't move my elbow low enough because my shoulder is still partially frozen. I hope my arm doesn't get radiated.

They used a marker to draw three marks on my chest -- left, center and right. The marks are used to align the machine when I get my treatment. The marks were covered with clear bandage to keep them from wearing off. In the past they used to tattoo patients. I'm glad they've stopped doing this.

The last step was to get a CT scan. It took only a few minutes.

My radiotherapy is scheduled to begin next Tuesday. The therapy is Monday to Friday for five weeks. Because of my shoulder problem, I wanted to postpone my therapy for another week. But Stanford will require me to get another covid test, so I said forget it.


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