Alf's Amsterdam RT status

RT number 8 today so almost one quarter of the way there.

I saw the doc earlier in the week, when I told him my BMs have become what my dad used to call "wet and windy" he said I can stop taking the two daily magnesium oxide tablets. (If doing this then makes me constipated I must start taking them again but then only one a day)
He said it's also okay for me to carry on using the silicon gel in the area on my keloid scars.
Some guys have mentioned getting patches of brown skin or burn like areas on for instance their buns, but when I asked if this might happen to me he told me he did not expect my skin to get damaged as the area being targetted is well below the skin and that that sort of thing usually only tends to happen with things like breast cancer where the tumour might be very close to the surface.

My wife came with me to the hospital in Amsterdam yesterday and was invited to sit in the computer control room during the session and watch what happend via the CCTV etc and tell me about it. She also came into the room before the rays were turned on and took a photo of things once I was set up so I could see what it all looks like. (I only seem to know what the ceiling looks like)
I was surprised at how high off the ground I am, and she was surprised at how long I had to remain completely still, and thought it must be very uncomfortable - she's right.
We both thought one of the nurses looked really funny when bending right over little Alf and peering closing into my pubic hair to try and find the middle tattoo.

My tattoos have had crosses drawn over them with marker pen so they can be found more easily, and I have also had two circles drawing nearby which I think have something to do with where they take the reference photos. (New reference photos due to be taken today)
The marker pen is fairly permanent, but some of it rubs off on hands and clothing so white shirts and shorts should be avoided.

One of the nurses always has very cold hands and is always apologising while rubbing them to try and warm them up before touching me to ease me into the right alignment - it sort of makes it look like she is looking forward to getting her hands round my waist. Trouble is the last thing I want to do is laugh.

I am being zapped from seven directions. Looked at in terms of the numbers on a clock face the machine starts at 5, then does its stuff at 3.30, 1, 12, 11, 8.30 and finishes at 7. (It takes the reference photos at 3 and 9)

It's been okay on the train journey too. The view out of the window has not been too bad either as the route goes through one of the areas of bulbfields and the tulips are out at present. Though as this is where they grow the bulbs rather than the flowers they cut the heads off the tulips after a few days to make the bulbs swell, which means on one day you go past a red or yellow field and the next day it's all green! (They do it with a machine like a lawn mower with the cutting blades set at about 18 inches off the ground, so it can happen very quickly)

I'm still managing to combine my normal routine with the RT, though I may be feeling a little tired today, but then again I was awake a lot last night for no apparent reason.

The only inconvenient aspect for me is that my sessions seem to be at different times each day so I have to plan everything differently each day.

Alfred

Alf,

Thanks for the update and it sounds like it is going well, all things considered. At some point I began to count them down and the feeling of getting close to the end helped keep me going. I teased the radiation Therapist that I was going to design a more comfortable table and patent it so that I could make millions of dollars. You would think that something other than metal would have been discovered by now. It was hard on a 61 yo's back. Hope your sleep gets better and keep us posted.

Michael

Many thanks to Alf and 142 with your continued input as to how the RT is coming along and how you are coping.

Alf, I would think that Holland should be quite beautiful this time of year. Would love to visit Keukenhof someday.

Yesterday must have been most interesting with the Canadian celebrations and all, especially in the Wageningen area,which is not far from my birthplace and yes, I can recall the Canadian troops coming into our vilage, handing out candies and something we never had before, oranges.

This coming Monday, May 10, I'll be on Day 1 of my 35 IMRT treatments. Not looking forward to it at all but I guess we got to do, what we got to do.

Good luck to you both and I'll be thinking about you on Monday while I'm trying not to piss all over their fancy equipment.

Jerry in Canada.
.

Alf, thanks for your updated report on your journey thru the radiation treatments. Details are always interesting and welcome. Thanks for sharing and may you have a continued easy path to the end of your plan.

Alf, the last time I had a full bone scan, I was staring at a 12" LCD watching some kind of movie to keep me from getting bored to death, kind of neat

Alf Sounds like things are goiing OK. I'm on day 18 of 38.For me the leg lift to let them remove the foam form is the worst.Full bladder and incontence makes it hard, I switch to a big pad on the way into the hospital for the inevatible major leak which lasts until I stand.The stop at the bathroom after RT is the best part of the day.I've been drinking 1 liter of water 30 minutes before treatment. Good Luck DICK

142 : Just back from session #9. I asked about the type of beam and she said it is PHOTON treatment and that as far as she knows there is still no Proton machine in Holland though two facilities have plans to get one. (So that PRO on the screen must have related to something else)

My bowels are clearly now irritated. I had BM after breakfast today and before I left home at 11.00 and then had to rush to WC for another one on arrival at the hospital at 1300, and have a dull ache on both sides about two inches below my navel.

Alf

Yes David WCs aplenty!
My use of trains is precisely because of the WC being available and I use it each day each way. That makes things much easier and "safer" than being in a car on some of the busiest roads in the country that are reguarly gridlocked. It went a bit wrong today mind you as the tracks were blocked by a broken train so my train went no further than the first stop. I had to run (!) to a different train that could get to a different part of Amsterdam via a different route and then I had to change again to get to my normal station from the opposite direction. There are luckily so many trains in this area that even with a problem like this I was still only 10 minutes late at my station. I was thus still on time at the hospital.
I would The WCs on the train are not at all clean though and I would not want to have to do a BM on a train, so I have also worked out that I can get out at Leiden or Schiphol and use the very good very clean WCs at those stations in a real emergency and then catch an alternative train about 15 minutes later. (I have also timed things to arrive at the hospital each day early enough to be able arrive 15 to 30 minutes later and still be on time for the RT)

Feeling tired though.

Alf

Alf, I thank you for the report --- and the news of the arrival of our PM Harper.

Looking forward to reports of continued success. Perhaps I can convince Penny my duty to my friends here requires me to be in Holland to ride the train with you for your last one. Hmmmmmm? Well, if I'm not with you, my thoughts will be.

Sheldon AKA Sleepless

Alf, I am jealous that you live in a land of so many effecient trains, its sad here in the US, a country that was built by the great railroads of the past, and all we have left is the banqrupt and broken down Amtrax system. But thats a whole other story.

You are doing great, and I will be so relieved when you get through to that last treatment.

David in SC

Yes the "table" is raised for the session ie it is low for me to get on and off, and I have pillows under my head, but I still find it difficult to use. It seems so much harder to sit up after lying dead still for 10 to 15 minutes on a very hard surface than it is to get out of bed, I can still spring out of bed like I did thirty years ago, but getting off the table makes me feel like I'm suddenly an old man for two or three minutes.

Little Alf moved from left to right yesterday half way through of his own accord, so I hope the technicians watching on the CCTV didn't think he was waving.

Yes the WCs on the train are usually still the sort that are open to the tracks, even in quite modern trains, it's only the really new ones that have aircraft style retention toilets. (It's why they nearly all have signs on the door that say "do not use toilet at stations")
The track doesn't usually get that dirty though (I used to work in the railway business) it's the underfloor equipment that can get messed up though which makes it hard on the maintenance guys!
My problem is that it's the cubicle itself that is dirty: lets just say that the floor seat etc is usually too wet and filthy to be able to drop your pants and sit down. It really makes you wonder what some folk do in there!

So Dick do you use you WC while on the move with someone else driving or do you have to stop? (Or is it built into the driving seat!)

Maybe we should all just ask the Airforce for a flying suit with the built-in bathroom arrangements. (I feel for the guys when a two seater or single seater is kept in the air for 8 to 9 hours thanks to in-flight refuelling. It's no wonder they want to use drones)

Looking forward to a Weekend off. Then I have an appointment with a different machine on Monday as mine is down for maintenance.

Alfred

Alf I had the same problem when I was thru with my session it took me a minute or two to get my headed too so that is norml I guess hang in there It'll be over before you know it

GOOD LUCK!!!!!!
DEERHUNTER