Tuesday, August 03, 2010

A healing light


What a trip! The radiation machine is like a big robot moving about you as they guide it from the other room. The laser beams are lined up by the "tattoos" they mapped me with during the simulation last week. Today they just took xrays to make sure the depth and the alignment is right. Tomorrow the radiation begins. Each treatment only takes a few minutes.

One of my friends suggested that during each treatment I can meditate on it as God's energy being laser focused right where it needs to be to heal the area. I like that image!

Although the science of it all is rather astounding. Dave, the intern was there again as this is another teaching hospital. He's in from Syracuse University where he says the other students are jealous of his time at St. Peter's. It's apparently one of the top places in the nation for state of the art radiology technology. I don't know how they used to do it but I guess there must have been a lot of manual manipulation of the machines, not unlike a mammogram. Everything here is all automatic so that the beams will go exactly in the same place every day for six weeks.

They'll do another simulation halfway through to make sure things are still lining up properly. I am not supposed to lose (or gain) weight to keep things right where they were on date of the simulation.

The only thing I'm supposed to put on the area is 100% aloe vera to minimize any irritation. My wonderful husband David brought a small tiny aloe plant into my life when he moved in with me in 2002. This plant has grown huge, has had babies, and is now in two very large pots in the window in our bathroom as you can see. I was trying to figure out what on earth I'd do with them .... well now we've got just the healing job for them! Once again, no coincidence.

Nor was my sighting of the great blue heron that flew over my car on my drive up from the city today. Mom's with me. Always with me. Letting me know in wonderful ways.

5 comments:

millie said...

What a great post, Kathy. Keep feeling good!

In college we were assigned to paint a self portrait of ourselves as a plant and I picked an aloe vera.

xomk

Kathy said...

Millie - I love it! You as an aloe vera plant! Thaat means you can heal from the inside out. Hope you are hanging in there.

Stacey said...

Hello again, dear Kathy!

Thanks so much for this lovely post! As always you encourage and inspire me to live my life with more courage, grace and humor! Much love to you, s

Kathy said...

Thanks Stacey - you are responsible for the imagery that gets me through every treatment in such a positive way. I am glad your mom is cancer-free 6 years and counting. I am sending her love as well.

Stacey said...

Thanks so much for your kind reply, Kathy! Big love, s