Week Three of Radiation Complete...

Dear Friends,
Sorry for the delay posting to the blog, and thanks to all of you who wrote to me privately to see if I'm ok. I'm doing alright, getting through radiation, with the usual side effects. Today I'm pretty tired, but that's to be expected after the week. Mostly, my left arm is now really complaining about being placed in the cuff. The area is dried out from the radiation, and everything feels shorter, so trying to keep it high up above my head is a challenge. Each day the technicians put my body in the machine and I lift my arm up as far in the cuff as possible. They take all the measurements, re-adjust my body slightly under the laser lights, and leave the room. Then there's a two-second sound of radiation, which is actually a scan to ensure my arm is high enough up and all of the beams are in the right places. For the last 3 days they have had to come into the room 2 additional times to pull the arm up further. Ouch. On Friday I was working so hard my arm was slightly shaking and I thought we would have to stop, but we made it through. Everyone is patient, and we do the best we can. I've got some strained muscles and nerve pain as a result of the pulling and the general swelling, so it's great to have the weekend to recover.
The burn is getting more pronounced, but I'm marinating in aloe vera and Lubriderm and that's really helping. When my father had radiation to his neck area in 1996 he developed 3rd-degree burns, and because we have a similar skin type, I'm being really careful to keep my skin as hydrated as possible. I think I will be fine on that front.
I began working with a lymphatic drainage specialist this week to try to figure out how to manually drain the area that has built up under my right arm. The lymphatic system is quite amazing, and I now have a sense of where the lymph channels are and how to massage them to help direct the fluid. Seriously, between stretching, massaging, and draining multiple times a day, it's like a full-time job.
I have posted two photos, above. The first is of my (oh so grey!) hair in February after it started coming in, and the second one was taken today. It is clearly coming in with lots of wave, still pretty grey but with more brown mixed in. My Elvis aspirations clearly will have to wait, but I'm glad to have a warm head again.
And everyday I'm thankful to have chemo behind me.
Much love,
Kip