Getting set up for radiation

Wed Oct 8th Today we started radiation on my lower back. The hospital transported me to the radiation clinic (at the old hospital) and met with Dr. Richards. After some consultation and education for Julie and I, they took me back into a room where they had me lie down on a table (like a CT scan table). They used some high powered targeting laser type devices to paint a target (they called it a tattoo) on my stomach. They said they would use it to target the radiation every time I came in. When they laid me flat on the table to do the tattoo, I guess I had some fluid in my lungs, and when it pushed up against my lungs, I had a panic attack (remembering that feeling from before of suffocating) and sat up panicking twice. We finally found a way that they could fit me in the machine (just barely) if I propped up a little so it didn’t push up against my lungs. It really scared me though, and I learned just how real and scary a “panic attack” can be. We were going to do radiation every weekday for 15 days. They felt that there was a good chance that it could really help me, but they wanted to start right away if it was going help before the wedding.