Still

I've been one poor correspondent lately. I'm sorry. It's the same old story. It's not that I have nothing to say; I seem to have inadequate stamina to get 'er done. But at some point, one must do it anyway.

Careful readers of this humble blog are aware that Friday I finished with the WMD. That was a very happy day. The radiation techs presented me with my mask and a lovely cake. Connie took a couple groovy photos.

This is from the master WMD control room - the safe room. :) That's me on the monitor.

Closer shot of the monitor

I've always had the option to choose my own music while undergoing radiation therapy. Until Friday, I hadn't taken advantage of this feature. For my final session, I chose this.
(It's track #6 on disc 1 here.)

So that was good. No more WMD in my foreseeable future. "Only" several more months of chemo, but that won't start until December.

In a previous post, I showed you some pictures of imagery representing what was being done to my brain. Here are a couple three shots of the machinery administering the treatment and what it looks like while it's doing it's thing.

This is the actual machine that administers the dose of radiation. What you see in the foreground is the table I lie on. That clear plastic square is where I put my head. Then the table gets shoved under that innocuous looking machine in the background.

As you'll see, the top section of that machine rotates. That circle on the ground between the table and the machine also rotates (which rotates the table I lie on). That's how they're able to so finely focus the WMD right where it's supposed to go.

Also of note is the lovely skylight in the ceiling. Just kidding - those are lovely projected images to give me something pleasant to look at. Unfortunately, my eyes are almost always closed. :(

After they shove my head under there, this is what I see when I look up. Shooting through plate glass made it a challenge, but if you can ignore me lying there taking the picture, you can see the lead leaves I mentioned in the previous post. That black hole, in essence, is the shape of the radiation coming through.

Here I am getting it from the left side. Note it's the machine that's rotating here, not the table. The pretty lights are coming from various places and are used to make sure everything is lined up where it's supposed to be.

Finally, it's coming from behind me. Note all those other people's masks on the shelves in the background.

(Major props to Connie for the photography on these last 2 shots.)

I've been trying to get some shots of these lovely people who actually do all the work with me. It's been challenging for some reason (mainly my laziness and being perpetually spaced out), but I promise to persevere.

For my birthday, my wife bestowed upon me a gift certificate for an 1 1/2 hour massage. That's going to be divine.

Last but not least, one of my nieces, Samantha, recently underwent a rather harrowing tonsillectomy followed by more hospitalization with a high fever. She has been home for awhile and feeling much better. My sister (Samantha's mama) sent us all photographic evidence that Sam is feeling much better. You already met Sydney in a previous post. Here's Sydney and Sam.

Lori and I both are still smoke-free. *high fives*

I'm still celebrating being done with WMD and off chemo for a month. I might still be next time you see me here.