Radiation

A little over a month ago I had stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) to a nodule on my left lung. Here is how that process went.

In late April I had an appointment for a radiation consult at Penn. I met the radiation oncologist, learned about the procedure and signed the necessary paperwork to go forward with the radiation therapy. The doctor explained to me that I was an ideal candidate for SBRT because they could minimize the radiation to vital organs. Deciding to go with radiation over surgery was a no brainer this time. The nodule was in a bad spot and would require losing a lobe of my lung rather than wedges like the last two surgeries.

After getting the necessary insurance authorizations which took a week, I had a simulation appointment. For this test, I had a CT scan of my chest for 45 minutes, and was instructed to breath regularly. This test is needed to measure how much the nodule moves when I breath so the physicists and radiation oncologists can better prepare the treatment plan.

A week after that I came in on a Tuesday for my four scheduled treatments. There was a problem right off the bat because the schedule was changed to five days. Tuesday, Thursday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, which I had not planned for. Luckily they fixed it, and were able to fit me in Tuesday-Friday, and I finished up on Monday. Still frustrating considering they could have scheduled me on the day prior, and I could have had all my treatment in one week.

The treatment itself was pretty simple. Lay on the table, breath like normal, and don't move. Each day the treatment lasts about an hour. The machine isn't that loud which allows music to be played to make the time go faster. The machine takes an x-ray every 30 seconds, and the arm will adjust its position based on the image to best target the cancer. Over the treatment period, the radiation beam will go through the nodule in every direction, maximizing the radiation dose to the tumor while minimizing the dose to surrounding healthy tissue. This targeted radiation therapy allowed me to safely receive five weeks worth of radiation in just five days. This worked great for me with my work schedule.

Other than the scheduling mistake, the only difficult thing I dealt with was fatigue. I think that could have been mitigated by staying in a hotel for the week. The treatment plus six hours of driving a day really took its toll on me as I slept for 13-14 hours each night. Luckily I didn't have to do the driving as I stayed home with my family in Pennsylvania and my mom drove me to the treatment each day.

SBRT Machine

Overall it was pretty easy. Much easier than the lung surgeries I have had before. I had some minor fatigue for a week or two after completing the radiation, but I was able to return to work and normal activities immediately. My lung surgeries took around two months to heal from.

Sorry that this took so long to get out. I've been having a really rough time with the chemo so far, and haven't been up to doing anything lately. Next post will provide more details on that.