Friday, June 5, 2009

Another Birthday celebration and another doctor visit

Last night my co-workers took me out to dinner and to a "make your own" spa night. It was really fun. The Paisley store in Kutztown is a bath and bodyworks sort of place except they make their own soaps, gels, scrubs and creams etc. We all did a lovely foot soak, scrub and lotion, then we made our own body creams. The owner gave us a tutorial on all the different oils and their aromatherapuetic properties. I made a body cream with a combination of English tea rose and bergomot and named it Lady Rose Grey as bergomot is in Earl Grey tea. It was fun having all my co-workers together and I appreciated those who stayed up past their bedtimes! My co-workers are all a little nuts, esp when we are all together. I can't believe I forgot my camera.
This morning I went to the Reading Hospital to consult with the Radiation Oncologist. He said small cell lung cancer has a proclivity for spreading to the brain. Since chemotherapy doesn't cross the blood brain barrier well, radiation will prevent occurance in 85% of patients. If I don't get the radiation there is a 50 % chance that tumors will grow in the brain.
According to this doctor, getting radiation therapy will be a walk in the park compared to chemotherapy. I will lose my newly acquired hair and may have some dermatitis on my scalp. It is low dose radiation. I will have 10 treatments: Monday through Friday for 2 weeks. The treatments only last 5 minutes a day. I don't know exactly when they will start because I have to get a base line MRI of the brain done first. They want to make sure there is no tumor activity there already, because they will treat it differently if there is. I really truly hope that there are no tumors in my brain.
Tomorrow my new cleaning girls come for the first time, we are going sailing in the afternoon and contra dancing in the evening. (weather and energy permitting)