Pretty Strong for Being Invisible

I've felt very strong all through June, all things considered. I felt strong going into my Gamma Knife radiation treatment the last week of June. And I came out of the radiation treatment feeling strong.

Then it hit me.

Radiation is a peculiar thing. It has to be delievered in just the right dosage, at just the right spot. It's delievered by some space age machine that looks like it was just pulled out of a science fiction movie.

Because of the machine, and the room, and the surroundings, I always somehow think that you zap them tumors like a laser beam or something. Just turn it on for a minute or so and "Presto!" they're gone.

No. No presto.

I know I've said it before, but often I have to remind myself. Radiation is a slow poison. It doesn't work in a day, nor a couple days. It's a matter of weeks, even months. The radiation slowly poisons and kills the cancer cells leaving nothing but scar tissue and dead cells behind.

Throuogh this process the brain can get a little agitated at times.

I was doing great until Tuesday evening until I awoke in the middle of the night with a terrible headache. I took this pill and that pill but nothing worked. I tried a pretty strong pain reliever. I was desperate. But I stupidly took the pain reliever without food (as recommended). Now I was terribly sick to my stomach too.

(shaking head) I can really be a moron at times.

At some point I realized what was going on - it was the radiation killing cancer cells in the brain, and that activity was agitating the brain as a whole. I remembered this. I went through this before. I took three steroids and within an hour or two the headache had cleared. Now I definitely knew this had been caused by the radiation treatment.

So I pretty much laid-around, healed up, licked my wounds, and have been trying to pull myself back together again. This morning I'm feeling like I've almost returned to normal.

And that's good - today's Freckles appointment with the vet.