I got a tattoo!

It's a really small one, but still....

Let me start from the beginning. So I went in for my simulation today. I walk into the office and nurse Steve sees me and is like "Oh good. Follow me. I'll start your IV." What? IV? Why am I getting another one of these stupid things. Turns out they wanted to use contrast with my simulation to help them map better. Great. Steve started an IV in the top of my hand, my least favorite spot, and I was ready for the radiation therapist. She led me back to the CT scanner room and I got dressed into a hospital gown. She taped wires along my scar lines (including the one on my tongue) so that it would show up in the scan.

Then the spa treatment began. I laid down on the scanner table and was given a warm blanket to make me comfy. Then they placed this bolus (kinda reminded me of ballistic gel) on my neck area. This was to add a imaginary layer of skin above my regular skin so that the radiation beams would be able to be increased at my skin/scar line. After cutting the bolus to the correct shape, they pulled a bust shape plastic mesh out of warm water and put it on my face. They pressed it to the contours of my face and snapped it down to the table. As that cooled and hardened, the radiation therapist put metal dots on the mask so that could show up in the scan as well. She also marked a small dot on my chest with a sharpie to line me up with the centerline of the machine.

I then got a quick CT scan, had contrast put in (and got weird warm feelings...eww), and had another quick CT scan.

The therapist came back and removed the mask, bolus, and wire tape. Then I got my tattoo. ;) That sharpie dot became a real tattoo as she got out her India ink and tattoo needle. This helps them have a permanent mark to make sure I am always centered in the machine correctly. It actually didn't hurt at all. I've been strongly considering getting a tattoo in five years when I finally get the "cancer-free" label. Maybe it's really not that bad of an idea. :)

I then met with Dr. Nguyen to ask my billion questions and sign the paperwork saying I would let them radiate me. I think "What is radiation therapy?" deserves a whole other post. So I will save that one for later.

Well, that's all for now then. I'm going to go stare at my tattoo freckle. Ha.