Day one of radiation was a dry run. Final tests to pin point where the radiation will be delivered. The real radiation starts tomorrow around 1:30pm followed by chemo.

The day started out cloudy and misty. Went to the office and worked steady til 1:30pm. Had lunch on the way to the doctor. And as we walked into the radiation office, the staff was waiting for us. As you can tell by the yellow sign, there is alot of radiation done here. The door looks to be solid lead that is about 4 inches thick. And it is closed while the radiation is being done. The techs monitor the patient thru tv monitors. Your head is literally bolted onto the bed to keep it firmly in place. Not a place one needs to be if you can't be still! The procedure itself takes about 15 minutes a day. Once a week they take new x-rays to make sure they are hitting the right spots. If you notice the American Flag in the background, there is an equal amount of space of crosses on the wall as you walk into this room as well as the cross on the door into the radiation room. As Mariah (the radiologist tech) says that this place honors God and serves our country. As they were taking the x-rays, Lucille got to see the cancer via the x-rays. She says it is about the size of the tip of her little finger.

Oh and I have a tattoo! Yes, I would have never thought I would have one and one that if you look everyone can see! I just had to go look in a mirror to see it myself. Of course, if it wasn't for the permanent marker pointing to the dot that is smaller than the head of a pin, I would not even be able to see it!

So seven weeks plus a couple of days for holidays and I will be finished. We hope to find out tomorrow how much this massive amount of chemo has shrunk this cancer. We have been told that I have received the most chemo a person can have in the first two treatments.

So I go into this not sure about how I will react to all of this - both the radiation and the chemo. Only time will tell. But there is light at the end of this tunnel so will focus on that.