Just a Bump in the Road

On April 18th, I had a CT scan, lab work, and meeting with my oncologist scheduled. My CT scan was scheduled for 8:45 am at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Two days prior to the appointment, I received a phone call from someone in radiation asking me if I had my barium to drink. I told her I didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Apparently, I was supposed to drink something prior to the scan to help highlight the tumors inside of me. Anyway, it wasn't available at a pharmacy. Bummer. So, instead of arriving at the clinic at 8:30, we needed to be there by 7:15 am. Unfortunately, we have to leave 2.5 hours early from Manti to ensure we get there. So, I think we left just after 4:45 am. Getting up anytime before 8 is generally difficult for me. Oh well. I managed to make it haha We eventually made it to the clinic and fortunately we missed the majority of rush hour traffic. After arriving at the waiting room, I was given my two glasses of barium to drink... The nu...

On April 1st, 2019, I started my course of radiation treatment on my spine. After my spinal surgery, even though the surgeon was confident he had pulled out the tumor fully intact, there were still concerns that melanoma cells were left behind. In order to address this concern, I had a course of radiation on the cavity where the melanoma tumor was removed from my back. You can imagine that, after my experience with brain radiation, that I was quite concerned about what loomed ahead. Especially since I was told it would be five sessions that were 45 minutes long. I wasn't looking forward to move pain... Well, the day finally came to prep for radiation. Fortunately, I was told it would be nothing like my experience with the mask. Unfortunately, it required a different kind of discomfort. For my brain radiation, I was able to wear all of my clothes since the area of focus wasn't covered. This time, I was told all my clothes needed to come off EXCEPT for my underwear and socks. U...