Radiation Mapping & Simulation

Two weeks ago Faye had one of the best first weeks of treatment ever but we must have jinxed ourselves because this past week was one of the worst. Faye's counts just would not recover and it was a busy week with fevers and infections, antibiotics and transfusions. Yesterday morning we went in for the radiation simulation, the PET CT scan and a quick blood test. The quick blood test turned into several hours of blood transfusions. Dr. Garrington stopped in late in the day to give us the initial interpretation of the PET results. They were not optimal but he is confident that the radiation will wipe out what's left of the mass and the metabolic activity. In another day or two we will have more quantitative results. Last night as we drug our tired selves to the car we were excited to see the 12 days of Christmas all lit up in front of the Hospital and very little traffic going home. Faye is feeling much better today, in fact she was able to get in a few hours of tutoring with Bev this afternoon. We are scheduled for another blood test Thursday morning which will hopefully reveal counts high enough to start the radiation which is scheduled the following Monday.

PET CT Scan

The radiation mapping and simulation was pretty darn amazing. To make the body cast two clinicians (Aaron and Christy) mixed up a large plastic bag full of liquid and placed it under Faye. As the liquid foamed and hardened around her body they made a head cage by draping a warm and gooey mesh over her face and head which then molded and hardened as well. Then they made four 'permanent' cross hatch marks on her body. All of this will be used for her 14 radiation treatments. We discovered that Aaron and Christy are also both big fans of 'Dexter', Faye was amazed to learn that Aaron is hosting a Dexter season finale party next week and he's changing his TV room into a kill room lined with plastic sheeting and all. Dexter really is a sick and unusual form of entertainment but I've given in to it: the shock factor has proven to be very effective in distracting Faye from her misery. ~Lolly