Fire Away

Twas a cold and rainy October day. The smells of fall were all around under overcast skies as I squeezed out of my car door because the imbecile who parked next to me parked over the line as she whipped into the spot. Fighting the urge to put a banana in her tailpipe I squeezed past, ready to shake off my life’s clear and away biggest issue.

I was here for radiation simulation. Now if you’ve gone through it you probably know everything I’m about to say but for the uninitiated:

But for my fellow radiation folks:

Sorry, GIFs are a must.

Anyways, there is a separate radiation oncology section in my hospital. It is a small out of the way location that more often than not is either confused with Radiology or missed altogether. So you check in, standard name and birthdate deal- the highest of security levels- and then sit in a waiting “cove” I would say that is just off a main hallway.

I digress- we’re called back and brought into the CT / mask fitting room. There a really nice tech (I think tech is the title, I don’t want to insult them) explained that we were in a family environment- minus the unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks. After a verbal layout of the morning’s procedures we got into it.

I sat on a thinner than normal CT table designed with this type of memory foam bedding that had the memory of a rock. My tech worked a make shift neck pillow type thing into a mold to cradle the back of my head as I layed down against it. All the while there was an oven heating up my radiation mask. Picture a really large air fryer and a flat white silhouette of my head down to upper bicep is placed inside to make it warm and pliable. Well once the mask was finished cooking two techs immediately position it over my head and shoulders to stretch and mold it into place. It’s hot for about two seconds then just feels different- not bad or good or anything. Eventually it turns to look something like this:

You can see the black latches- this pliable mask turns into a firmer plastic that is then locked into place so you don’t move during radiation as they precisely fire the beams into my head. Now I’ve never been claustrophobic in CTs or MRIs or anything and wasn’t here- but I can definitely see how this could cause someone to panic a little. Also because we’re on a theme here:

Okay that’s probably it for the Bane memes. Probably.

So after my mask was removed and was repeatedly told that I’m a “big guy” I was free to arise from the table. We recapped with my appointment times, 9am everyday starting next week, and that was about it. We have a dry run next Wednesday to ensure everything looks good and then it’s time!

That’s about it for now. I did get the PET scan approved finally for this Friday so who knows, maybe more news at the end of the week.

-Joe