NO SIDE EFFECTS?

Radiation therapy was a piece of cake -- at least the first few weeks. I was pretty well prepared by the support team that gave me skin care advice, nutritional counseling, dental hygiene pointers, etc. I had almost fully recovered from neck surgery before starting radiation so, physically, I felt well. I had started running again and was up to at least 3 miles daily as well as going to the gym for some strength workouts.

I scheduled my treatments early in the morning (hoping to minimize schedule delays) and got into the routine of checking in, getting positioned on the table, listening to the photon accelerometer spin around my head a couple of times, then heading out for my second cup of coffee for the day. The whole routine often took less than ten minutes.

Like I said - a piece of cake. Then things started to change around the third week of daily treatments. My salivary glands quit working normally and I had an incredibly dry mouth. It was very difficult to swallow, although that was OK because every time I did swallow it felt like I was swallowing a handful of razor blades. My taste buds were destroyed and that completely eliminated any appetite. My skin in the radiated area became burnt, crusty and very sensitive, despite following all the preventive measures and I was always tired, even with routine naps every afternoon.

At the end of four weeks I was glad to see the last treatment, although the side effects continued to get worse for a couple of weeks before things turned around and I started to heal.

We moved into a new house the day after radiation ended. As bad as I felt, we did the social thing and went out to meet the neighbors. One neighbor's comment when he first saw me was "I recognize that neck!" He was ten years out from surgery and radiation for a neck tumor, so could empathize with what I was going through.

As word of my diagnosis and treatment got out to friends, I got a lot of support and well wishes. In their own way, whether through prayer, meditation or just good thoughts headed my direction, they provided a pleasant, and much needed, infusion of positive energy. As my best friend from medical school wrote - "We're sending all the positive energy we can toward you -- think of it as radiation but without the burns!"