July 12, 2019

Radiation Therapy - I'm starting to understand what's involved.


I scanned the barcode, like you’re supposed to. Instead of the “Self Check-In” machine walking me through the check-in, like it was supposed to, it printed out a slip of paper that told me I required assistance with my plane ticket and to see an Air New Zealand representative. So, I looked up and spotted a bloke, standing behind a Check-In counter with, what appeared to be, a permanent frown on his face - probably caused by the long line of passengers he was facing, all waiting to find out why they  had little slips of paper telling them they needed assistance. So, like a good little Lemming, I joined the queue.


Turns out, most of the domestic flights in and out of Auckland have been cancelled because of fog. The 10:15 flight I was booked on now becomes the 14:20 flight. Mmmm, challenging. I’m supposed to have my first radiation therapy treatment at 15:30. How do I fit a one-hour flight and a thirty-minute shuttle ride into the forty-five minutes I’ll have between arriving in Auckland and my appointment time in Epsom. After pondering this for a while, and applying my High School maths to the question, I decide I’ve either got to use my superpowers to make the plane get to Auckland faster – or – phone the Radiation Lab and let them know what’s going on. End result – my first radiation session has been put off until the next day.

I never realised – “Unaccompanied Minors” has become a big thing now. Apparently as a result of the huge increase in modern day “blended families”. While I was waiting for my flight, I watched a couple of other flights come and go, and each of them had four unaccompanied minors on them. The flight I took had five as well. Anyway…





Because Auntie Arben had been staying with us in Hawkes Bay, Denise decided to stay behind and come up to Auckland with her later in the week. For some reason, known only to females, she’d liberated a heap of Pam Ayres CDs from the library and the girls listened to them all the way from Hawkes Bay to Auckland. 

Glad I was flying.




Next day and I’m off for my first session. According to the famous explorer, Mr. G Maps, it should take about fifteen minutes to get from our hotel to the hospital. But I thought I’d better take a leaf out of my wife’s book and leave an hour early – so I arrived at the hospital an hour early. But that’s OK. Turns out they’ve got all the latest Reader’s Digest magazines in the waiting room – so…
Why does a man twist his wedding ring on his finger?

He’s trying to work out the combination.



They call it the “Bunker”. It’s where the Linear Accelerators are. There’s three in this facility. Four months on from my surgery (almost to the day), and despite all the appointments and scans I’ve had, this is the first time I’ve seen one.  They’re pretty impressive machines. These three are the latest and greatest and have CT scanners attached to them. Remember how I was going to have this treatment in Palmerston North with a “not very nice” outcome? Apparently the CT scanners and the newest software are the things that are going to save my eye.

The “round” bit above my head is the “business end”. That’s where the radiation beam comes from. The flat plate opposite, is the CT Scanner. The way it works is that after they’ve bolted your head in place, the head of the machine rotates around you while a CT scan is taken. They compare this image to the planned image and small adjustments to the machine and table are made by the software to make sure they deliver the dose to the exact same place every time.



Ever wondered what it looks like to the experts?

This is me.



The yellow line defines the area that cops the full radiation dose. The green line is like a cliff. The radiation dose drops to “bugger all” (that’s the correct technical terminology) when it gets to this line. The outer blue line defines the total area affected by the treatment. Each day the CT scan, combined with the software, makes sure that the dose is delivered with an accuracy of less than one millimetre. Pretty fancy, eh?




So, two down, twenty-eight to go. We’re staying at the Alexander Inn in Newmarket. We tried to get into Domain Lodge (run by the Cancer Society) but for the six weeks that we’re in Auckland, they only had a week’s vacancy. Given the increasing numbers of patients requiring accommodation and the plans to centralise more of the treatment facilities in Auckland, I wonder if it’s time for them to think about expansion, or another facility?


Anyway, this place is nice. We’re in a large studio room at the moment – bedroom, kitchen and lounge combined – but we’re probably going to move to a one-bedroom suite in a few days. The management here have been very accommodating. I’m pretty sure they had to move a few other guests around to get us in on such short notice. (Two days).






After the treatment today we walked down to Newmarket on a bit of a discovery tour. Found a Yoga Studio, so Denise has signed up for some classes. Lots of nice shops and plenty of places to eat. No supermarkets. There was one in the Westfield complex but it’s being done up at the moment, so the nearest one is about a thirty-five minute walk. 

Quite a way to go for a loaf of bread.







No treatment tomorrow so we’re going to try our luck with the buses. We’re planning to try to get to Castor Bay. Could turn out to be an adventure, but if we get stuck there’s always Uber. Let’s hope the rain’s stopped by then.