Radiation treatment, in theory, is easier than chemo. It is easier on your body – in that the physical side effects are skin issues and fatigue. You don’t need to deal with all the other side effects of chemotherapy. However, for chemo I only had to convince myself to go four times. I had four cycles of TC chemo, so I had to go four times.

For radiation, I need to go 15 times. I need to convince myself that this is a good idea. I need to mentally prepare for the treatment each time. The treatment itself only takes a few minutes, and the last couple of times I’ve barely had enough time to change before they called me in. But I find it a mental struggle – it weighs heavy on me.

So far, I haven’t really had any side effects, except for a little worsening of my lymphedema – which I cannot do much to treat until radiation is over. I’ve been trying to elevate my arm as much as I can, and that does seem to help. Since we live more than an hour away, we are staying in Halifax during my treatment. I’m taking advantage of being in the big city to see a different lymphedema specialist. She can help with a consultation on compression and can do a treatment on my left side, which has a little swelling

I’ll also get that root canal fixed. I don’t know if I blogged about the failed root canal – I spent two hours in the dentist chair in Bridgewater but the dentist couldn’t find the second root, so I’ve been referred to an endodontist in Halifax. I called them today and I now have an appointment booked for next week. That will save us a special trip into Halifax just for that.

We are also eating out – but trying not to eat out too much and to enjoy it when we do. Tonight we are going to Drift and tomorrow we are going to The Bicycle Thief. We brought food for some lunches and breakfasts – so we don’t need to each out all our meals. We tried the cafeteria at the hospital today because they gave us vouchers, but they didn’t have anything gluten free except pre packaged muffins. So Scott had a nice omelette and I had a muffin and coffee. We might try some of the other hospital cafeterias to see if they are any better.

Overall things are going well – just a little stress to keep things interesting.