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Rite of Passage

I knew going into retirement things would be different. Not just sleeping in and going places but also trying new things. 
As you all have read in an earlier post Jan and I did go to Hawaii soon after my retirement and that was fun. But at about the same time I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. That was not one of the "new things" I wanted to try but at least I now have the time to deal with it. And 9 weeks is the time it will take.
I started radiation therapy on June 3, 2020 and will continue for nine weeks 5 days a week. No missing treatments! The doctors office is not far from my house so travel time is not bad and once I get into the groove of things I think each visit will only be about 20 minuets. 
I've had 3 treatments so far and the radiation technologists, nurses and staff at West Florida Radiation Therapy are all very nice and caring. They have quite an efficient system there for treating a bunch of old guys with prostate cancer. Dr. Micheal Galloway is my radiation oncologist and seems to be very
knowledgeable in treating my cancer. 
The machine that I am being treated with is a Varian RapidArc machine. The time I am actually lying in the machine is a very short time. And I am lying in exactly the same position each time. That is thanks to several things. To the right of the RapidArc you can see a rack with what looks like blue pillows. Those are "molded" hard pillows of each patients legs and heals. Everyone has one of
their very own. I also have three tattooed dots in a line below my waist that they line a laser up with. Then I think they fine tune my position and check the position of my prostate with an x-ray or CAT scan.  I also have two gold markers inserted permanently in my prostate to help align the radiation used to treat my cancer.  I'm sure I'll learn more as my treatment continues.
This picture gives you an idea of how big the RapidArc is. 

 
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