DAY ONE
Well today I received a call very early, from the Oncology staff. The call was twofold in purpose:
(1) To notify me that they were experiencing technical difficulties with the Linear Accellerators; and,
(2) To reschedule my appointment for 5:00pm instead of 11:00am this morning.
Now this of course was unexpected and caused a little concern. I mean these machines are valued at millions of dollars and work within incredibly fine physical tolerances.
The computer models that are programmed to drive the Linear Accellators (LA's) demand a very high level of precision.
Then I remembered that the two LA's were due to be 'down' for routine maintenance this Friday and this was therefore to be seen as 'routine'.
This may sound a little 'over the top'; but when you consider that you have to trust in the precision of both the machine and the operators, and that you are completely 'out of control' and feeling very vulnerable when lying prostrate on the bed; a little anxiousness from time to time is not unreasonable!
Anyway, this news allowed us to enjoy the day with our grandchildren and our daughter; particularly considering that they fly out to Chile in two days!
Later that evening I attended an interview with my Radiation Oncologist and my daughter (a doctor) was able to meet and discuss my condition with him in some detail. I left the room towards the end of the interview, so that the two could talk 'doctor to doctor'!
I figured that since we will be living with our daughter in Chile in a couple of months then it would be useful for her to know the details of my treatment; the anticipated prognosis; possible side efffects; and, any other pertinent information.
Well once again all went well with my treatment and we headed off to a favourite restaurant before returning home.
Well today I received a call very early, from the Oncology staff. The call was twofold in purpose:
(1) To notify me that they were experiencing technical difficulties with the Linear Accellerators; and,
(2) To reschedule my appointment for 5:00pm instead of 11:00am this morning.
Now this of course was unexpected and caused a little concern. I mean these machines are valued at millions of dollars and work within incredibly fine physical tolerances.
The computer models that are programmed to drive the Linear Accellators (LA's) demand a very high level of precision.
Then I remembered that the two LA's were due to be 'down' for routine maintenance this Friday and this was therefore to be seen as 'routine'.
This may sound a little 'over the top'; but when you consider that you have to trust in the precision of both the machine and the operators, and that you are completely 'out of control' and feeling very vulnerable when lying prostrate on the bed; a little anxiousness from time to time is not unreasonable!
Anyway, this news allowed us to enjoy the day with our grandchildren and our daughter; particularly considering that they fly out to Chile in two days!
Later that evening I attended an interview with my Radiation Oncologist and my daughter (a doctor) was able to meet and discuss my condition with him in some detail. I left the room towards the end of the interview, so that the two could talk 'doctor to doctor'!
I figured that since we will be living with our daughter in Chile in a couple of months then it would be useful for her to know the details of my treatment; the anticipated prognosis; possible side efffects; and, any other pertinent information.
Well once again all went well with my treatment and we headed off to a favourite restaurant before returning home.
The entrance to Linear Accellarator 1
No comments:
Post a Comment