Day 31 Proton Therapy

Can you say "SIX MORE TREATMENTS"?

Dale had his 31st treatment and then his weekly see with Dr. O'Reilly. An area under his left arm about the size of his fist is red but not irritated. Dr. O'Reilly showed us Dale's treatment plan on his computer. He showed us the CT Scan with the treatment plan overlayed on the scan. Each area is outlined in a different colored line depicting the strength of treatment to a specific area. The "pink" line (strongest) follows a path directly under Dale's left arm! Hence the red area. Dr. O'Reilly also showed us the Xray image of Dale's chest with a super-imposed "Aperture" placed on the xray. The aperture has a cut out in it exactly the size of Dale's tumor. Dale is getting 74 CGE's of radiation (2 CGE/treatment). Had Dale used Photon radiation that number would have been decreased to 60-66, because Photo radiation has to be administered at a lower level.

Dale thinks his energy level has wained a bit, but he put together a BBQ pit this morning - so I'm not sure he's all that tired!