Started Radiation

Well yesterday I went to my radiation doctor. This was my first appointment and I wasn't sure on what to expect. I went in, and the doctor examined me. The bulk of my tumor is in my chest. I still wasn't expecting the doc to come in and drop my gown to my waist. haha So I sit there quite cold while he pushes and prods on my neck and upper chest area. I felt quite exposed even though I should be used to this by now. I get asked several questions. Do I have difficulty swallowing? Any new problems to speak of? Etc....No. I swallow fine thank goodness. The doc says he thinks we'll do 3 1/2 weeks of radiation. It's 5 days a week. I have to go and be marked for radiation. Basically the radiation is localized. It will be targeted to the area that needs it. There are bad things that can come from radiation...so they don't want to expose areas to it unnecessarily. It can damage my heart...my lungs and other things. The side effects are scary! Fluid around the heart, heart rate slowing down, irregular heartbeat, lung scarring, difficulty swallowing due to damage to the esophogus. Now they told me they have to tell me these things, just like the side effects listed on a bottle of any meds. But still! I had fluid around my heart at the beginning of this cancer thing. It scared me to death. They decided it was just caused by the tumor and should go away. OK but we haven't had it checked since then. My question is what if that fluid is still there and this treatment causes more fluid? Well I am probably being paranoid but I pray that doesn't happen. OK, next they layed me down on the table where I get the radiation. I layed on this cold white pad. It was big and felt like an ice pack before you break it. It was weird. Anyway, they made me lay perfectly straight then looked at my spine and it got 100% straight by pushing me this way and that. Then they took that white pad and scrunched it up around me then I heard whirring. The pad started to scrunch up really tight around me like a cast. It was weird and cool at the same time. I will lay in that mold each time I go. It keeps me straight and alligned. Like I said, targeting only the area needing radiation is extremely important. So after this they mark me...with permanent marker. This keeps me alligned each time as well. They put tape over these marks and if they fade they will remark them. I cannot wash these off. SO attractive let me tell you. So, I get marked and then they take me to another room where I get a CT scan. That didn't take too long. I am eager to hear the results of this since I have NEVER had one in all this. I had an MRI but no CT because of the pregnancy. Anyway after all this I start the actual first treatment Wednesday. Should be interesting. It's going to be really interesting to see how we can afford the gas for this trip each day. At $3.00 a gallon 5 days a week and a 1 1/2 hour drive each way. Yikes. God provides though. It will happen somehow. Here's a pic of me marked for radiation. I hope people don't think I am making some weird religious statment by tattooing my chest. haha It's not permanent! lol