Having a Fit - Radiation Fitting and Schedule

I went to MD Anderson again today.

Monroe Dunaway Anderson. He and his descendants hold the name of one of the world’s most preeminent cancer curing centers. It is clear from wikipedia that Monroe was immensely wealthy having grown his Tennessee-based banking and cotton company to the largest in the world. His foundation received $19 million in 1939 after his death and funded a Texas-based cancer research center with a matching grant of $500,000 (about $8M today). Their only condition was that it be located in the Houston Medical Center and be named after him.

When I visited again today it was once more a shining beacon of operational efficiency and service excellence. I was in, fitted for radiation, and out in under an hour, and I received complementary valet parking. As a radiation patient my parking will remain complementary for the duration of my treatment because we rad-pats are in and out so quickly.  

Anyway, back to efficiency, I literally didn’t find a seat that was acceptable to my particular tastes (away from everyone, with a plug for my phone) before my name was called and two thirty-something ladies ushered me back to the CT room. 

The CT set-up took 25 minutes. They had me lay down on the table which was unpleasantly cold. They placed a hot blankie on me and then we set about the work of fitting my body to my personal mold which was also warm. So in the end the cool table was actually nice. Then they slid me back and forth in a very old CT machine. There was a black, clear, reflective surface inside the inside of the circle. My face stopped there for several minutes… As I sat there staring at a spinning space station behind the reflective surface I began to see my own darkly reflected face. It’s super wide. So is my mouth. My head is squooshed. My eyes are pulled tight. I watched myself. In the end super-villain Modok settled in my mind. He’s below. I actually made that exact face inside the CT machine.

Modok The Super Villain. He's very smart. You can tell because his head is giant.

They pulled me out and set about the tattooing process. Honestly, anyone with a tattoo is now somehow elevated in my mind. They are a level up with game I don’t have. My new tats are about as big as a sharpie point. But they really stung. There is a pic below. It’s just the black dot. I don’t have a large, permanent purple and pink cross on my chest. Dang.

Wade and Cate. My tattoo is not really visible from this shot, nor from outer space.

I am back down next week for final set-ups and blood work. Then I start all forms of treatment on Sept 23^rd at 3:25 PM.