Journal entry by Deborah Keller —
Hi, I finished my 5 day radiation treatment on Apr 16th. It went well, easy except for having to lie still for an hour each session. First 3 sessions were Weds 10th - Fri 12th. Fri was a 9AM session. I got home around 11AM and went to bed! Fatigue doesn't described the feeling, it's a complete depletion of energy. Barely got out of bed until Sunday. Didn't sleep much just too tired to move around. Also had a touch of nausea but not bad. My doctor had said I might experience some nausea because of how close the radiation was to my kidney. Had the same exhaustion and nausea for a day of so after final session on Tuesday. Now the wait. In three months I'll have another CT scan to see if any cancer remains. If any remains we'll talk about chemo. I'm pretty confident it'll be gone because it was caught early but just have to wait and see. 🙏
Take a look at the picture gallery. Two shots of my ringing the traditional end of treatment bell. Explanation under pictures. :)
Wrote the above update on Apr 27th and never posted! 😊 Still exercising twice a week at Pulmonary Rehab in WellStar Paulding Hospital. The team checks my blood pressure and blood oxygen before and after exercise. Both are great. Blood pressure is, usually, somewhere around 120 over 68. Not bad. (Got higher once around the day after my doctor and I planned my radiation. Not surprising, I think just the stress thinking about it. But, two days later it was back down.) Then I do a physical warm up, then 45 minutes between treadmill and one of a variety of other machines. After that, a cool down routine recheck vitals and that's it. As of Thurs May 2nd, I was up to 28 minutes on treadmill and 17 on another machine.
This is part of my treatment and paid, almost entirely, by Medicare. I believe I "graduate" sometime in May. After that, I can continue going, which I plan to do but then it's out of pocket. Great place, fun people staff and patients both and I like the idea of having the certified pulmonologists on site. Feeling really good and with the increase in exercise I feel better and am breathing better than ever and have a better appetite overall.
Probably won't post for awhile. I'll get back here, for sure, after my upcoming CT scan on July 17th. Til' then, thanks for caring.
Love to all. 😃
Take a look at the picture gallery. Two shots of my ringing the traditional end of treatment bell. Explanation under pictures. :)
Wrote the above update on Apr 27th and never posted! 😊 Still exercising twice a week at Pulmonary Rehab in WellStar Paulding Hospital. The team checks my blood pressure and blood oxygen before and after exercise. Both are great. Blood pressure is, usually, somewhere around 120 over 68. Not bad. (Got higher once around the day after my doctor and I planned my radiation. Not surprising, I think just the stress thinking about it. But, two days later it was back down.) Then I do a physical warm up, then 45 minutes between treadmill and one of a variety of other machines. After that, a cool down routine recheck vitals and that's it. As of Thurs May 2nd, I was up to 28 minutes on treadmill and 17 on another machine.
This is part of my treatment and paid, almost entirely, by Medicare. I believe I "graduate" sometime in May. After that, I can continue going, which I plan to do but then it's out of pocket. Great place, fun people staff and patients both and I like the idea of having the certified pulmonologists on site. Feeling really good and with the increase in exercise I feel better and am breathing better than ever and have a better appetite overall.
Probably won't post for awhile. I'll get back here, for sure, after my upcoming CT scan on July 17th. Til' then, thanks for caring.
Love to all. 😃
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