Yesterday was the tenth and last radiation treatment. Even though the treatments themselves aren't difficult, it's good to have them over--and even better to have a significant reduction in back pain. Unlike the earlier three rounds, this time there were more pronounced side effects, especially nausea, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. Since the area of the spine being treated is behind the intestines, the radiologist predicted that these symptoms would be worse than before as some of the radiation would inadvertently reach my innards. Tuesday was particularly bad, and even yesterday I was unable to eat lunch. Now we'll hope that the pain doesn't return. We see the oncologist two weeks from today, but that's just for blood work and a consultation. Six weeks after that, I'll have CT scans again to see whether any other trouble spots have developed.
Yesterday afternoon a friend and ex-colleague came over for a nice visit. She had written the first draft of a novel about her two years in the Peace Corps in Niger, and I had been one of her editing readers. In the evening, we took my long-time friend, colleague, and co-writer, Virginia, out to a birthday dinner with her sister and brother-in-law. I made up for my lunch-time fasting by eating calamari, a salad, and poached salmon--my biggest meal in a long time.
Socializing is always good, but by 10:15 I had suddenly run out of energy and barely made my way to bed.
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