Holly-woooooood!

8 treatments down…22 to go! Can’t hide it, Hollywood is growing on me. There is always a story. Friday, two old grown men got into fight. On our shuttle. No punching, but for real threats. (the one guy talks in his sleep.  He never stops.) Awkward hour drive back. Today, we are waiting for a lady on the shuttle and I overhear a very large man screaming on his cell phone, “No man, I am going to sue them people for a billion dollars. Yeh man, NO SOFT TISSUE. They just did the MRA an hour ago. Yeh man, they are going down. I am going to take them for 20 billion dollars, easy. Yah, I said 30 billion. 30! NO SOFT TISSUE!!!” This ensued for the next 10 minutes. I just wanted to ask him what he decided he was going to sue for: 1 billion or 50? And what is an MRA? Thankfully homeboy wasn’t on my bus. 

Each day that passes, I feel a little weirder. It feels like my personality is slipping away. Maybe it’s me, so I notice it more. I felt fine in the first few days. Last week I started noticing major balance issues. Little bouts of confusion. Memory issues and I am getting pretty tired. It just kind of hits you in the face. You are walking and then guess what? You are NOT. All in all, I am doing pretty well. From what I am told, it starts getting worse on week 3-6. The longer term effects start 2-3 months , even 1-2 years after it ends. Dr. says at some point the brain can start to swell which can cause headaches/ confusion/ balance issues, you get the idea. They use prednisone, (steroids), to fix it. Praying I can stay off the steroids as long as possible. Those make me crazy town. 

If you were to ever see Hannibal Hector meet matrix meet fire in the sky, (did anyone see that movie?), you would see why radiation creeps people out. The mask they bolt, yes I said BOLT, to the table is so tight my cheek fat screams. Sometimes they play fun music. Sometimes they forget and I have some good prayer time. All in all, it isn’t all that bad. I am a visual person, so guess what? You get to see pictures. I don’t know why the angle makes me look like I have a 14 inch forehead, but it does. And I like my regular sized forehead, thankyouverymuch.  

 

 

Buddy, our bus driver is so kind, and a GREAT bus driver. He is like a fish in LA traffic. We get honked at a lot, but hey! Doesn’t everyone get a little more liberal with their horns when bus drivers are involved? The great part, is I have gotten to know the other patients on the bus. One lady has breast cancer and has a son who plays professional baseball. Another man I sit next to, has stage 4 throat cancer. He is in SOOOO much pain, and my heart breaks for him. He always manages a smile though. A lady has 3 types of cancers, and is having so many problems….lastly, the man that sits behind me has broken his collar bone, had a double bypass heart surgery, and like 5 other things…all inside of a few years. He smiles a lot too. We all have our burdens, no? No one is immune. It can always be worse. We all need Jesus. Being sick helps you see Him a whole lot bigger. If you felt led to pray, please pray for these people. Pray for an opportunity or me or someone else on the bus to show God’s love to them. Please pray I would not get the crazy headaches. and that side effects would stay mild. My heart is not in my bed. It is in doing the roles God has assigned me! He has brought us this far, and I will say, I want more than anything to be within my Lord’s will. Psalm 91:4 He will cover you with his pinions, Under his wing you will find refuge, His faithfulness is a shield and a buckler. This verse is such a great picture of who we are under God. The protection, the love….ahhhh, please Lord come.