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A Visit to the Radiation Oncologist

Well that was a fun experience, NOT!

Starting with the trip to Kaiser Sunset which is on Sunset Blvd in LA. That's about 30 miles into heavy traffic. If you're from LA, you know how tough that drive can be, and if you're not from LA, just be happy you don't have to find out. Fortunately Kaiser runs a shuttle from various satellite locations to the Kaiser Sunset facility, so at least my wife (Edie) won't have to do that commute herself.

As it turns out, she is scheduled for daily treatments, Monday thru Friday, for the next 5 weeks. This came as quite a shock, as Edie was expecting 2 to 3 treatments. I'm not sure what I expected, but it sure wasn't anywhere close to 25 treatments.

As expected, the facility was a very nice and clean facility, and the doctor was very nice and very young also. He tried to paint a not so dire picture of the treatment, but I knew better. And rather than bore you all with the particulars, I'll just tell you that there are side effects (mostly fatigue), and long term effects, i.e. susceptability to secondary cancers some time in the future. There were also some hazards, which he mentioned, but I prefer not to think about them.

In the mean time, Edie goes for a mapping and graphing (I think that is what they called it) on Monday, but we're still waiting for the results of the skeletel exam, the BMB and the urinalysis to ensure that the disease is not showing up anywhere else, before proceeding with the treatment.

Fortunately everybody where I work and where Edie works have been very supportive. I can't imagine how it would be for us, or for others if they were not so supportive.
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