The Cancer File

The Cancer Diary-The Pre-treatment Process

Seventh of fourteen columns

The diagnosis is complete. There is no profit in grieving over lost treatment options; focus must be on how best to negotiate the road ahead.

Three-dimensional conformal therapy is the standard approach to radiation treatment.

Proton and high-density therapies are beyond experimental, but they are not commonly available. These latter options will be more developed and more accessible to future patients than they are to me.

The standard approach, according to my research, has been applied with consistent success. I brought that view to my urologist’s office on the day following the clinic examination.

He agreed.

Highly trained technicians under the supervision of a radiologist will apply treatments, which will take place at the cancer clinic located in Peabody’s Industrial Park.

A pre-treatment process comes first.

A technician greeted me, led me to a conference room, reviewed my file and explained possible side effects and remedies after which she led me to the treatment area.

The routine began: Into the dressing room, off with the pants, on with the hospital Johnny and into Dr. Frankenstein’s chamber.

A flat narrow table awaits, perhaps eight-feet long, at the open mouth of the huge CT Simulator machine.

A confident, obviously experienced technician made me comfortable on the table and discretely placed a sheet over my lower body; I dropped my underwear sufficiently to expose my abdomen.

She then placed a device around my lower legs effectively locking me into position (It is of paramount importance that one lie completely still).

The idea of the procedure is to map out the precise location of the prostate and the cancer. A computer memorizes these things as my body moves backwards into the mouth of the machine so that its eye can see what it needs to see.

One’s body is not totally enclosed by the inner tube of the CT Simulator and a feeling of claustrophobia is, at best, fleeting. I dozed off while my body was being studied.

There is no pain involved; I was reasonably comfortable throughout the procedure.

The last step is the placement of tiny tattoos on one’s body that will be used to guide the computer when actual radiation treatments begin.

In less than a half hour I was ready to go to lunch with my bride. Before doing so it was explained to me that the clinic had three machines. Patients are scheduled in 12-minute intervals.

I was given only two time options (a gruesome and frightening reminder of how busy they are treating cancer) and I chose one that interfered least with my routines.

Next comes the blocking procedure during which my body will again be studied; a physician will lay out the precise areas of treatment, plus those that are to be shielded against radiation.

That will be, I believe, the last step before actual radiation treatments begin.

In the next column I’ll take you through the blocking procedure and the first of what ultimately will be 40 radiation treatments, seven shots per treatment willingly taken – 280 shots of electromagnetic waves of energy that one would normally avoid like a plague.

Having cancer, reading about it and learning what it can do to an otherwise healthy human being are the circumstances that make the acceptance of such a treatment regime appear reasonable.

I don’t look forward to being bombarded with radiation. Who would? But like the rest of you, my life has been spotted with “must-be-done” tasks.

So what’s new?

Like a good soldier, I’ll lower my head and take my lumps.

Brave? No. Realistic!