Radiation plan and treatments
Dr. Wendt decided my radiation plan should include whole brain radiation because I had the small cell variety of cancer. Actually, he said with small cell cancer it is really the only choice. So, he created a plan for my brain radiation. Dr. Wendt called and told me that they had discussed my case. They thought my best chance at remission would be radiation concurrent with chemo Jan 22nd I received a fitting and markings for my radiation treatments
My radiation tech snapped these photos for me while I was in for one of my treatments. Brain radiation requires that your head remains completely still. A custom fitted mask is created which has a lip on the bottom. The mask is then placed over your face, and it attaches to the table, under the lip, in order to hold your head still.
This mask is stored at the radiation clinic to be used on subsequent visits.
Prior to the radiation clinic: On 10/6/2017 – The CT of the chest revealed 12.3cm x 9.7cm x 8.3cm mediastinal mass. Mass effect on the right bronchius and heart.
A PET/CT scan on 10/20/17 revealed a .7cm x .8 cm, left frontal lobe mass., a .8 cm x .6 cm left parietal mass, a .9cm x .7cm right occipital lobe mass, and a .7 cm x .7cm right lateral occipital lobe mass.
This treatment was described as palliative radiotherapy to the whole brain.- 11/6/17 through 11/27/17. 3350 cGy in 15 fractions. Because of my concern for memory loss in whole brain radiation therapy, Dr Wendt prescribed Aricept 10mg oral tablets.
Next the doctors had to develop a plan for radiation to the chest,
The targets in the chest were a very large, markedly hypermetabolic right sided mediastinal mass involving the lower trachea, carina, esophagus, descending aorta, pericardium, left atrium, pulmonary veins, and right pulmonary artery. Possible extension to several thoracis vertebral bodies. Stage IV, T4,N3, M1. T4 referes to the size of the tumor, and is the largest classification. N3 indicates the number of lymph nodes containing cancer. This is not a 1 to 1 value, it just indicates how many lymph nodes were impacted. And finally, the M stands for metastasis to other parts on the body. In my case, the brain..
It wasn’t looking good for me. But, we contined to pray and have confidence.
They decided that a planned dose of 6000 cGy to the chest would be beneficial, in 30 fractions. This dosage would be administered in in addition to the chemo drugs carboplatin and etopiside.
I scheduled all my radiation appointments early morning, and I would drive to work when finished. Luckily for me, I did not generally feel nauseous from the radiation. On two occasions, I had to stop the car because I was sick.
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