My first week receiving radiation...and you probably want to know what its like. I’ll break it down for you.

You see, I’m receiving radiation so that my cancer doesn’t come back. Radiation is a pretty scary thing because it can actually CAUSE cancer. I am receiving my radiation therapy right in the top of my chest, so my heart and the tops of my lungs are somewhat exposed. Of course, they try to minimize the exposure as much as possible, but they’re there...they’re getting zapped.

This can increase my chances of getting heart disease. So not only will the rest of my life consist of yearly scans for cancer, they will also be closely monitoring my heart. A little discouraging, but my radiologist clearly stated that in my case the benefits of receiving the radiation far outweigh the risks. And speaking of my radiologist, he’s world famous. People come from all over the work to specifically seek treatment with him. He’s like the Michael Jordon of Radiology. I’m very fortunate to have access to him.

So, I had some scans last week before we started. They scan me six ways from Sunday in order to get the proper positioning of the radiation. My chin has to be at a certain angle with my forehead as I lay flat on the huge machine. There are these lasers that are constantly going across the room creating a grid that goes all over your body. A team of doctors stand over me (I have no shirt on, obviously) and not only admire my massive chest and arm muscles, they are writing all these lines and circles on me with these markers. It really looked like they were drafting some kind of football play: fourth down and goal, 3 seconds left...its for the game!

After my chest was a Picasso canvas one of the doctors told me they were ready to tattoo me.

Ummm...what was that now?

Tattoo me. Like, dip a needle in ink and stick it in. Like permanent.

I’m in a room with about $40 million dollars worth of medical equipment, and they’re taking this small needle, dipping it in ink and sticking it in me like we were trading tattoos in prision. So, now I have these “dots” on my chest. They’re really small, but very obvious when you look at them.

At this point, I don’t care what I look like...I just want to be healthy and done.

But yeah, I have dots tattooed on my chest...like a constellation or something.

These permanent dots are what the radiation technitions use to line me up every morning. I go to radiation every single day (Monday - Friday). Its a long way to drive (Chelmsford to Boston, 45-60 minutes) for a 10 minute procedure. But I have the opportunity of utilizing Michael Jordan, so I’ll deal with the driving.

I haven’t felt any of the side effects of the radiation yet. I’ve heard a lot of the fatigue, and I’m supposed to expect some throat iritation because of the radiation traveling up my throat...but we’ll see.