It has begun.

This blog may not turn out to be 100% chronologically accurate, as I must now break from the historical accounts that got me to where I am today and simply write about today.  This is Monday, July 8th, 2013 and I had the awesomely unpleasant experience that is my first head/neck radiation treatment.  I had undergone a "simulation" where I received alignment marks on my body and they made me an awesome perforated plastic "mask" that clamps me to the table so I don't move.  That simulation was somewhat unpleasant.  Today was much more so.  The mask fits relatively tightly around my head and chest and comes with an amazingly uncomfortable mouth piece that I get to bite down on.  There is a strap around each of my wrists that connects to a straight board at my feet.  When I straighten my legs and lie down on the table, the straps pull my arms and shoulders down and this is the position I am in when subjected to the radiation.  The fun part of today was the the 10-15 minute treatment lasted for right at one hour.  There was additional setup that had to be completed, then they would run a simulation without the radiation, then someone would come to verify that everything looked good and we were ready to go.  At some point my radiation oncologist showed up and didn't like something, so they had to remove the mask and alter something and then strap me back down and continue.  All the while they were very adamant that I not move at all, to which I could only grunt back at them in disgust.  About an hour after they began, I was allowed to get off the table and continue about my day, all the while wonder what they had just done to me.

The radiation itself did not hurt, but I could definitely tell something was happening when it was actively being applied.  I could feel something not on the surface of my neck, as I have not had any feeling in my neck since the first surgery, but further underneath the skin.  It was a very strange feeling, but not really unpleasant.  It also seemed that I could taste something, nothing in particular, but just the sensation of tasting something (if that makes any sense).  I would estimate that of the hour I spent on that table, the radiation was being applied for roughly 2 minutes.  I was told that what happened today was an extreme case, and that tomorrow will be better and each day after that even more so.  I am not sure how long the side effect will take to get very unpleasant but I am pretty sure I can start to feel different things happening.  This could be all in my mind, but at lunch today I really thought that something tasted off in the food I was eating.  I didn't notice anything odd tasting in a wonderful dinner that I had at my parents house, but I am interested to see how far that taste issues go.  Also, I feel like my mouth has already begun to dry out, but I am doing my best to drink ridiculous amounts of water and do all my new mouth care operations that I have been instructed to do daily.  Other than those two things everything feels pretty normal on day 1.
Speaking of the aforementioned dinner at my parents house, it was a lovely evening spent with my parents, my two siblings, my wife and the entire menagerie of kids.  My brother, David, flew in from San Francisco with his daughter today and my sister, Kristina, drove in from Dripping Springs with her two daughters.  Add in a healthy mix of raw little boy energy in Bowen and A.J. and you have yourself one heck of a good evening.  It means a lot to me that they both came in town as I begin this treatment and I will not be able to thank them enough for it.  As usual, mom came through with a delicious meal and it was even good enough for most of the kids.
Tomorrow will be another day and I definitely have some apprehension about starting chemo and what that will do to my body.  Time will tell but right now I can just hope for the best.