LA5

I am now half way through my radiotherapy treatment, thirteen down and twelve to go. So that's all good. But I'm incredibly tired. Just want to lie down all the time. Went to bed last night at seven and watched Robin Williams on my ipad till I fell asleep, a few minutes later. Not that Robin was boring, far from it. I wonder about semi colons sometimes, does anyone use them anymore?

I go to hospital every day for my radiotherapy. The machine that treats me is called LA5 and is a linear accelerator of which there are eight in the hospital, mine being number five. The science of it all is quite astonishing and beyond me, but I'm grateful that it's there and that some bright scientist somewhere had the inspiration to use the science for oncology purposes. Thank you whoever you are or were. I guess there was more than one of you. It beats making atom bombs don't you think?

There are a lot of people involved at the hospital making sure that I get the right dose and that it's targeted and delivered accurately. I wonder sometimes how they do it and how they know its all going to the right place. They've explained it to me, more than once, but I'm afraid it's beyond me to explain it all on here. I just trust them. My life in their hands for sure.

My oncologist is called Dr McLean and she is one of those people who immediately inspires confidence and makes you feel at ease and assured that she knows what it's all about. She starts of the process using the CT scans to plan my treatment and then lets the physicists know exactly what she wants done and they then design my treatment so that the accelerator can be programmed.  She showed me the plan and how the linear accelerator has been set up and knows what is expected of it. It made sense at the time but I must admit it's a lot of faith to be putting into one machine. This thing is going to save my life so it better be on the ball. They don't hide anything from you, good news or not so good.

So far all is going well apart from my tiredness and some pain. That's all for now. Need to rest before I drive to hospital. More tomorrow on the actual treatment itself, which is a daily excitement.