June 25, 2005

I had my planning session for radiation on Wednesday.  They lay you on this stuff that molds itself to the shape of your body so that when you return every day for six weeks you are in exactly the same position.  Then the computers analyze your anatomy and record the details that the radiation oncologist uses to plan the treatment.  They also gave me three pin-prick size tattoos on strategically-located places on my torso to help them aim the radiation the same way each session.  

I would kinda like to get a regular tattoo when my breast is reconstructed next Spring, but Ray (my surgeon friend) has told me that he is VERY much against that and will “throw his body” between me and the tattoo artist if I try to do it (his words, not mine). Check out the link on the left – Geralyn Lucus is where I got the idea for a tattoo.  She worked for 20/20 when she was diagnosed in her late 20s, and she now is with Lifetime Television.  Her book is funny, but the part I liked the best is about the tattoo.

I also found out this week that my HLA A2 and A3 are not the right type for the clinical trial in PA.  There is another vaccine trial in Seattle that I am watching, and the vaccine nurse in PA told me that the team there is working on another vaccine that isn’t HLA-specific, so I will stay in touch with them.  I can’t apply to any of these trials until after my treatments are all concluded anyway.  I am researching other options via lit searches online.  I hope my oncology clinic isn’t disappointed in me when they start getting mail addressed to Valerie Pfeiffer MD.  Some of the searches require you to log in as a doctor.  And of course in addition to being a technology geek, I am also a science geek, so I actually want to READ the medical journal articles.

I don’t start radiation for a couple weeks, so I will be taking vacation for a big chunk of time in the next couple weeks.  Not sure where we will go (probably close to home – the weather is nice here, no need to travel far, and the kids still have their activities).

Speaking of activities, I told many of you this already—Jane was cast as Cinderella in the summer Theatrix musical, so she is busy learning lines and songs -- remember all the Rogers & Hammerstein songs that Leslie Ann Warren did in that old TV movie?  Or more recently I suppose it was Brandy with Whitney Houston.  Anyway, Jane is busy with that and Charlie is in Grease a week later, both at the Grand Opera House in Oshkosh.  So it’s definitely a full summer :-)