Day 2

Today was a fairly short day. I had my second radiation treatment at 7:15 this morning. The process was quicker than it was yesterday, but by afternoon the nausea set in. It was tolerable so I can’t complain. No other side effects yet. 🤞

At 9:00 we met with the radiology oncologist. Dr. Owen reviewed the radiation plan and showed us some imaging of my radiated area. The imaging shows that my small intestines dip a little lower that they like so there are some concerns of potential residual damage from the radiation. She said that they may be able to be lessened the risk by switching from my current photon radiation treatment to a Proton radiation treatment.  “Proton therapy is an advanced form of radiation therapy that sends a powerful beam of protons to the precise site of a tumor. Once the proton beam reaches the tumor, it conforms to its shape and depth, and only then releases its full energy. It then stops, sparing surrounding tissue.” The problem (because there is aways a problem 😁) is that the proton therapy has to be approved by my insurance company, and most of the time it is denied based on it being experimental - even though it has been in use for over 20 years. It is scary the control your insurance company has over your care! Anyway, my fingers are crossed! We are continuing with the traditional photon treatment while we wait for the insurance company to decide.

One piece of good news. It is not an absolute…but if radiation and chemo are as successful as both oncologists hope I may not need to have surgery. So this is now my goal…do everything I can to help make these treatments successful and avoid surgery. If I end up needing it…we’ll deal with it.

My treatment day ended around 10:00 so Jon and I went for a long walk along the river before lunch.