2015/09/24: Day 4 - Meet Hal

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Thursday is my shortest day for treatment...which is good. Just a drive down, radiation, then drive back. So, approx 3 hrs, but, not much strain.

I have started a little photo album of things around Juravinski and will share that so you can see how beautiful it is.

I call this beast Hal. It is the radiation machine. You lie on the table, and everything moves to have the machine rotate around you. I have found singing 100 bottles of beer on the wall (under my breath), helps to pass the time....haven't made it to 0 yet. again, note the wood surroundings and lightness.

Hal

I took in a massage this morning, reducing tension carried in shoulders, and am staying active by walking (when T doesn't boss me into lying down!). She is right, though, fatigue is a consequence, body needs to heal, and rest is important.

The anti-nausea boost gives you a boost, like too many coffees. Hah, not a good thing to make me hyper! (which is why she bosses me!) Feeling some minor affects of radiation, aware that body is going through treatment, specifically in hips.

So, things to know. All bodily fluids from someone going through chemo have to be treated with care, so, gloves on hand. Chemo suppresses the rapid cell growth, such as in cancers, but, also in other items, such as hair, and blood. So, people undergoing treatment are more prone to infection -- (damn you anti-vaxxers).

Can't go to a dentist. Need to avoid sick folks..and so on. So, lots of purell and wipes in my house now.

In combination with that, radiation in the pelvic area impacts the hips. Hips are the biggest red bone marrow provider, and red marrow makes platelets, red blood cells and white...sooo....though my chemo is lighter, the hip radiation will impact the blood.

All of that to explain why people undergoing treatment need to stay away from sick folks.

Oh, and one final note, T is not a happy camper when driving behind farm equipment and a long line of traffic at 20km / hr . hah. Now that was worth the price of admission!

Images from around Juravinski:

This mural is in the Hummingbird Cafe. You can tell by the lighting it is part of an atrium. The heads turned sideways freak T out, but I like it...so, we sit with me facing it...lol. It is called Riding the Dragon and is Conrad's last major work. Completed and installed in December of 2006 at the Juravinski Cancer Centre where he underwent chemo treatment for advanced colon cancer. The mural was sponsored by the staff of the JCC.
There is also a grand piano where you can hear people at various times in the day playing (and I guess singing, though I missed that one)
0924-mural.jpg

Juravinski has a number of native paintings as well as soapstone sculptures. Pottery on display is from local potters.
The bear is located in the cafe area.

0924-pots.jpg 0924-bear.jpg
 
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