Radiotherapy Sessions Over!

Well 5 Days have gone by just like that! Yahoo! I must say a BIG Thank You to the folks at the NUH Radiotherapy centre, they've made our stay (although very short) there an excellent one. Concerned and caring staff & always smiley. Keep it up!

Side effects: Still feeling nauseas at times. Lack of appetite compared to her eating spree in Jan. Tiredness. Restlessness. Doctor reviewed her after the final treatment and said that the side effects should go away in the next 4-5 days. Radiotherapy kills some of the stomach wall lining and so once off it, regeneration begins and she should be better by then.

We continue to hold fast unto the Lord!

Here are some pics of the treatment.

Jo walking into the "oven"...it's actually called a Linear Accelerator room.

Awaiting to lie down on the table. The machine behind is called the Linear Accelerator.

Staff making the correct callibrations. There are laser guides on both ends and markings on Jo's body to ensure 100% accuracy.

On the ceilings they have light boxes of underwater marine life...really beautiful. Helps to ease the patient.

We await the red light to go off once treatment has begun.

The thickness of the "blast proof" door.

Radiotherapy Session #2 and Radiotherapy 101

Today's session was like lightning quick. She took about 10 mins only...guess there was no one else and the radiologist was just waiting for her.

Anyway I've got a new name for the Radiotherapy Room - "The Oven". It sure looks like one and I'll post a pic tomorrow. Basically she goes into this room with the radiologist. She lies down on this platform with a rotating arms. The radiologist walks out of the room and shuts what looks like steel blast doors. After a few seconds later a red light on top of this door is lit indicating treatment in progress. The radiologist maintains visual communication via a CCTV from his counter. Inside, X-ray blasts are shot from both arms of the machine.

Anyway we've confirmed this afternoon that the reason for her nauseousness is due to the beams penetrating through her stomach.

So what is Radiotherapy?

External radiotherapy is the most common type of radiotherapy used. It is usually given as a course of several treatments over days or weeks while internal treatment may only happen once or a small number of times.

External radiotherapy is usually given during outpatient visits to a hospital cancer centre. A machine directs the high-energy rays, usually x-rays, at the cancer site and a small area of normal tissue surrounding it. The patient is positioned carefully on a treatment couch and then the machine will be directed exactly at the area to be treated, often from different angles.

Treatment takes several minutes and is painless. Before the patient starts a course of radiotherapy, they will usually need to attend the hospital for treatment planning. External radiotherapy doesn’t make one radioactive and one can safely mix with other people, including children, at anytime.

What are the Side Effects?
There are hardly any side effects. But because radiotherapy affects normal tissues within the treatment field, the side effects will vary depending on which part of the body is being treated and the number of treatments one has. Most side effects are temporary and they are rarely severe. They start at varying times during treatment anddisappear in the weeks after the end of it.

Some side-effects may not start until treatment has finished. Tiredness is quite common, particularly towards the end of treatment and this may last for sometime afterwards.

Very few people feel sick during radiotherapy – it depends on which part of the body is being treated. Some people feel sick at the beginning of a course of treatment but find that nausea often disappears within a day or two. Others start to feel sick later on.

Radiotherapy Session #1

Jo's 1st treatment went very smoothly. The attending radiologist asst provided all the information we needed as we awaited her turn. All in all it took a mere 15 minutes from the time she stepped into the treatment room (which resembled a bomb blast shelter with it's heavy metallic doors and lead walls) till she came out.

In the evening, she suddenly complained of nauseousness and so I got her to lie down on the sofa. Could it be the computer games she's been playing? She's recently been hooked on these free trial downloadable games. Playing games such as Stand O' Fast (Run a Fastfood joint and flip burgers!), Cake Mania (no need for me to explain eh?), Diner Dash, Family Feud (which we play together) and much more...

So thank you for your unceasing prayers...our Lord is faithful.

Oh by the way, we've moved her sessions to the 5:00pm time slot. Again, this will end next Tuesday.

Radiotherapy Preparation Today

The Radiotherapy Centre @ NUH was deserted when we arrived @ 2:40pm last Friday. Quite glad to have it that way. The nurses and staff were really helpful, smiley and courteous too. We met with 2 young doctors and had each others questions asked and answered. They conducted a neurological test on Jo to check that her nerves and sensations are normal. Apart from the slight numbness of her left thigh, she was fine. Treatment will start immediately once "planning" is done.

Next Steps

1. Proceed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) later today to mark the spots for radiation via CT scan.

2. No. of Sessions: 5 x 30 minutes each

3. Treatment duration: 7 to 13 February @ NUH

4. Side effects - tiredness, redness on the back.

Overall Jo's feeling quite fine. Her painkillers help to relieve the backaches daily. Docs say that it'll take about 4 weeks from the last treatment to see the improvement. She should be free of backaches by then.