Old-Fashion Lullaby: Radiation Graduation: finally something to blog about!

The past 6 + weeks I've been driving from Sandy to the U every morning to get my brain radiated (i don't think radiated is a word). It hasn't been so bad, though I have been worried about the wear and tear on my car and the gas I was having to buy was ridiculous! But it was nice getting there and being greeted by everyone and sitting in the waiting room watching The Price is Right with the other ladies. Also getting the chance to relate some of my recent experiences with hospitals and such to people who knew what it was like was nice.

Most of the ladies there were receiving radiation for breast cancer. I do not envy them. The side effects of radiation are much worse than anything I had to go through. For one they are dosing a larger area and that creates a larger area of skin irritation and I could tell that the fatigue factor was really effecting them. Many of the women were surprised that I was there for treatment since I didn't have to dress down. They also figured me to be no more than 17 years old, but I'm quite used to that by now.

Another positive aspect of treatment was the very attractive Dr. Troy who took care of me nearly everyday. He is soft spoken, not too tall with graying hair and had a seemingly genuine interest in my life and well-being through treatment. He would ask me how I was feeling, he was excited to hear I got a job and sad to hear that I had to give up my dreams of Portland. Obviously fueling my silly school girl crush for him. I do have to admit that waking up in the morning to hear his voice was quite, quite nice.

So anyway, on to the actual story here, yesterday was my final day of radiation! WooHoo! Waiting in the waiting room was normal, no one was there so I switched the TV to Price is Right and waited (duh). I was sad when the annoying lady -- I think her name is Melissa, she talked in an extremely high pitched voice and would always touch my leg or shoulder as way of comforting me while I was in the mask. It wasn't comforting... -- anyway the annoying lady called me back and started telling me that Dr "Dreamy" Troy was up stairs at a Doctor's appointment of his own and probably wasn't going to make it back down to say goodbye. She said he felt bad and was going to try hard to hurry through it but she didn't think it would happen. This was quite the bad news.

So I got set up on the table and they did their thing but the whole time I was thinking "Hurry Dr. Troy, make it down here" To my great relief, my mind bullets worked and who's voice did I hear when treatment was done? Dr. Troy's. He said "Ok, Gina lets get you outta here." I was so happy I was smiling under my mask, which is hard to do. As soon as he took the mask off I said " I though I wasn't going see you today, I was going to be sad!" Apparently he told the doctors up there that he had a patient he needed to see and that they needed to hurry. The whole scenario was kind of romantic (and it's not just me that thinks so). Anyway one of the last things he said to me was that he hoped I could get back to Portland someday. That meant a lot.

Melissa interrupted the moment with a surprise blanket for my endurance through all the treatments, and they offered me my mask as a souvenir to which I gladly accepted. I got a hug from her and a hug from Christie one of the other doctors that helped with my treatments. Dr. Troy walked me out, wished me luck and yes, also gave me a hug. What a wonderful day.

When Baylee got home she was highly interested in the mask of course so we took a few pics w/ her in it.