Radiation Burn

Wow. It started like a short time on the beach. Very easy. Check in. Lay down. Let them put the mask on, to make sure I am in the same position.

It really took longer to set up than it did to take the treatment. I only had five treatments over 3 weeks. By then end of week 4, I felt like I had the sunburn from the beach on the SUN. All over my ear, my head, my neck, my cheek. It glowed and burned. The burn increased for almost a month after the last treatment.

I used a whole tube of powerful ointment. Months later I still felt it. My hair fell out. It has since mostly grown back, but for a while there, I had a permanent “high and tight.” The tissues in the radiated region will never be the same. They were permanently changed last summer by 3000 Grays of electron radiotherapy. I don’t know if I am “rad’ed” out or not... if I have received the maximum lifetime dose. I also don’t understand the physics behind how they kept the radiation out of my brain and off my ‘voice box.’ Yes, they used lead-like shields, and they put a bolus on my neck to shield the ‘voice box.’

Reminds me of that saying from Friedrich Nietzsche, “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”