So, I (Bryan) finally had the opportunity to join Toni during her radiation treatment. Evergreen Hospital uses a Varian Linear Accelerator (pictured above)...by the way the people in the picture are paid actors :)... The room looks very similar to the one above. There is a twinkling starlit ceiling and the room gives you a very comforting feeling. The linear accelerator is literally encased in a lead and cement room. Approaching the room, you quickly notice the huge steel door. (Think bank vault). The machine sits in the center of the room with a large video screen on the wall opposite of the patient's feet with Toni's "prescription" for radiation. The information on the screen is basically a bunch of X, Y, Z axis measurements that position her and provide a series of photos and details for the radiation technicians on how to administer the radiation.
Once in the room, Toni lies on the table. The radiation techs situate her on her back, with her arms positioned aboved her head. She is rolled very slightly onto her right side. Her legs are bent with a triangular "pillo" called Big Blue that helps to keep her back flat and immobile. The radiation techs then align the machine to her using the two tattoos that she has on her chest and under arm. They were very kind to show me exactly how it is done. The table can cantilever out, rotate 180 degrees, and can be positioned vertically. First, they line up the machine to match the tattoo centered on her chest. Then (through fairly un-sophisticated methods) they "tweak" her slightly and vary the height of the table to align to the machine to the second tattoo under her arm. A series of 120 LEDs then provides a precise blanket of light on the area that is about to be radiated. Once they were satisfied with how they positioned her, they showed me that, in fact, the tattoos are centered on both cross-hair laser light beams on her side and chest. At that point, we left Toni in the room and the techs shut the main door. Toni is monitored from the outside of the room on video screens.
The radiation process only takes 3 to 4 minutes. It takes them about 5 to 10 minutes to position her. So 15 minutes from start to finish. While we waited for the machine to do its thing, they explained to me that her 26 total area treatments are based on X-Rays. X-Rays pass all the way through the body. For reference, see the picture below of the radiation treatment. In that picture, you can see how the beams are set to pass through Toni's chest. The last 9 radiation treatment will focus electrons instead of X-Rays at the tumor site. Electron therapy is designed to penetrate exactly into the area that needs the therapy, but they do not pass through the body. The intensity of the electron's are set to a "depth" of penetration and are "shot" perpendicular to Toni's chest. The electrons simply dissapate at varying depths. Amazing.
So there you go. I was very happy to join Toni today and see her radiation process. Just when I think I can't feel "closer" to her, I experience something different with her that brings us even closer. I am lucky to have her.
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