The Plan in Action

 Lining Up the Dots: My Radiation Plan

Okay, radiation is officially scheduled.

Tomorrow, I go in for what’s called a simulation dry run. There’s no radiation involved yet - it’s just a chance for the team to walk me through everything, make sure the machine settings are perfect, and double-check the fit of everything so treatment goes smoothly. It’s like a dress rehearsal for my body.

The real show starts Monday, July 21.

Here’s how it will work:

• 33 total sessions
  
• 28 regular treatments, each delivering 180 cGy
• 5 “booster” treatments, each delivering 200 cGy
• Total radiation dose: 6040 cGy
• I’ll go Monday through Friday, every weekday - with breaks only if there’s a holiday or a hurricane or something wild. We just keep going until all 33 are done.

What the Heck is a cGy?

If you’re wondering what cGy means, it stands for centigray, which is a unit of radiation dose. Think of it like this:

• 1 gray (Gy) is the standard measurement for radiation absorption.
• 1 centigray (cGy) is one-hundredth of a gray - sort of like how a centimeter is one-hundredth of a meter.
• For cancer treatment, doses are carefully calculated in cGy, because that smaller unit allows for very precise control.

So when they say I’m getting 6040 cGy total, that means I’ll be getting 60.4 Gy in all - carefully spread out to maximize effectiveness and minimize harm.

Taking longer to reach that total dose might sound frustrating at first (33 sessions is a lot!), but there’s a very good reason for it. Delivering radiation in smaller daily amounts - rather than trying to shorten the amount of visits and increasing the cGy per visit - actually gives healthy tissue time to repair itself between treatments. It’s safer, more targeted, and helps reduce long-term side effects. So yes, it’s a lot of appointments - but it does the job while being kinder to the rest of me. Low and slow!

Why Radiation?

Radiation is a common part of breast cancer treatment, especially after a lumpectomy like mine. Even when the visible cancer is removed, microscopic cancer cells can sometimes linger in the surrounding tissue. Radiation therapy targets those leftover cells, reducing the risk of recurrence.

It’s not like chemo - I won’t be sick all day or losing my hair - but it does come with its own challenges. Fatigue, skin irritation, and tenderness are common, especially as the weeks go on. But it’s all part of lowering the chances of this ever coming back.

I don’t know how I’ll feel as it progresses. I’ve read that for some people, radiation is no big deal. For others, it gets tough toward the end. I’m hoping to be one of the easy cases. But whatever happens, I’m ready to keep showing up - every single day - and check each treatment off the list.

More soon. 🐭