halfway finished

For the past five days, Mohamed and I have left home at 11 and headed to the cancer center here in Topeka.  Twenty minutes later we arrive, walk past the registration desk, and take a seat in a small room to wait for the radiation.  I'm led inside by one of the three techs who were there four years ago.  After removing my shirt, I climb onto the table and all the marked x's on my body are properly aligned.  The techs leave the room, I stare at the twinkling stars on the ceiling, and the machine begins to whirr.  One of the three arms takes x-rays (a free extra dose of radiation), one arm zaps me, and the third records what's going on.  As accurately as I can count, there are four doses of radiation: three seconds, twelve seconds, and then after the machine moves to the other side, and two more of three and twelve seconds each.  And then it's over for another day.

So far, there haven't been any serious side effects.  Although I'm getting only 30 seconds of radiation, the treatment does seem to take a little more out of me than it did four years ago, but perhaps I'm just older and less resilient or the cancer has weakened my resistance or I'm just misremembering.  At any rate, I feel a bit more fatigued than usual, but there's usually enough energy to have lunch out or at least pick up something to take home.

On Monday, we'll have the treatment here later in the day because we're going to see Dr. Van at the KU Med Center that morning.  I'll just have the blood work and then we'll discuss what happens next--whether we'll continue with Dr. Van, though he'll no longer be at the Med Center, or whether we'll transfer treatment to Topeka.  We bought Dr. Van and Jennifer, the P.A., gifts to show our appreciation for all that they've done for us.

After the consultation and perhaps lunch in KC, we'll head back to Topeka for 3 p.m. radiation and then a review of what's going on with Dr. Green, the radiologist here.  The treatments continue on their regular schedule Tuesday and Wednesday; there's a break for Thanksgiving, of course, and then the last two will be the following Friday and Monday. 

On other fronts, I see that our horrible governor, Sam Brownback, has the highest unfavorable and lowest favorable ratings of any governor in the country.  (Bobby Jindal is next on the least liked list.)

And in my Washburn inbox this morning was a note from a student teacher from Iowa State from my junior or senior year in high school inquiring whether I was the same Howard Faulkner who was the "finest social science student" he ever had.  Whatever made him think of me these 50+ years later?  He's now a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers according to Google.