Inked up

Tried to post last night, but Blogger wouldn't respond for some reason, so here goes again.

Thursday I finished the set-up for my radiation. I met with two radiation therapists, probably two I'll see a lot of (and they'll see a lot of me, in more ways than one), and they had me lay on a table while they shoved me around to match up Tuesday's drawings and put even more marks all over my chest. I look like someone was trying to draw some directions to somewhere ("you go up over this hill, then turn south at the armpit ... "). Then they took pictures to help make sure everything was set up how the doc wanted. When that was OK, I got my tats. Nothing cool. They just smeared a little ink on six spots and jabbed me with a needle. That was it.

I think I'm going to continue with the Herceptin, despite the lowered reading on my MUGA scan. From what I've been reading, MUGA scans aren't all that accurate, off either way by as much as 5 percent. I feel fine, and the heart damage Herceptin causes is correctable by going off the drug for a short time. A lot of people on the discussion boards also mention getting exercise to help keep the heart in shape. So I'll get back into the habit of walking the dog every day after work, and maybe trying yoga at least a couple times a week. That should also help keep the fatigue from the radiation at bay as well.

I had lunch with a prof from college on Wednesday. It was good to talk to her. She's had a rough year herself. She thinks I should have enough credits that I could get the bachelor of general studies without having to take any classes. That would be great, although I can't remember how many math and science classes I've taken. I tended to avoid that department. She also encourage me to go for a master's. I'm not sure what I'd do with that. Teaching is a possibility, but I think I'd have to shoot for the college level for that. You can't teach just journalism in too many secondary schools that I've ever heard of, and I'm not sure I want to take four or more years to get an education degree and find another area I could teach. I also have to keep in mind I don't want to lose my full-time status at work while I'm still in treatment. That Herceptin is expensive! So I have some thinking to do, I guess.