Today was induction day. I met the machine I will be spending the next six and a half weeks with. Thankfully, I get weekends off from having to visit the St Andrews Radiation Unit.
What I didn’t know would be happening is that I would be learning to ‘snorkel’. Yep, snorkel. I have never snorkeled before but the lovely guy who ran me through the procedure showed me the ‘thing’ that would be put into my mouth and said it was much like a snorkel. That’s great if you have done that before.
Now, try to bite your tongues but, I dont really like things in my mouth for an extended period of time. STOP THINKING RUDE THOUGHTS! And this snorkel thing PLUS a nose clip was waaaaaay out of my comfort zone.
The snorkel cuts your air off after you are told to take a big breath and this can last from 10 seconds until 30 seconds. It is the weirdest and uncomfortable thing but the staff were amazing.
My Professor Borg, the radiation specialist, came in to draw all over me and then I got some pictures taken of my scar followed by four dot tattoos.
The real thing starts Thursday. Today was just getting everything prepared. I might just get over my ‘something in my mouth’ thing after 33 sessions.
Oh hey, did you know that when you have no nose hairs, your nostrils stick together when pushed together. Does that make sense? When the nose clip was taken off, I had to unstick my nostrils so I could breath out of my nose hehe.
An Unscheduled Journey 
Wishing you good luck with your radiation treatments. They will go by very quickly. They did for me.
I did not know about the “snorkel” step. I never had to do that. I do remember doing a breathing test — unrelated to radiation though — which was very uncomfortable for me. I don’t like to experience anything where it feels like I am suffocating or out of breath (reason I dislike MRIs!).
You are almost there! xx
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I am glad you didn’t have to go through the snorkel and nose plug thing because it is a horrible feeling knowing you can’t breath for a moment (30 seconds at the longest) but you do have a button that you can press if you are in discomfort or if you panic. Thankfully I got through it.
You are right, I’m almost there! xx
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Hope things go well! Look into taking Curcumin (as BCM-95…not just any curcumin) capsules as they increase the effectiveness of the radiation and decrease side effects. Let us know how things go! 🙂
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Thanks for the heads up – What side effects will I be getting? I bought Calandular cream for my skin as advised by the nurse but they didn’t advise anything else.
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Never lose your sense of humour … It gets you through everything 🙂
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Thankfully I can see the humour in most things hehe. yes, even this situation 🙂
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Wow!!!
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