Yet Another Delay

Proton therapy depends crucially on accurate targeting. Planning the targeting is a lot of work, with the result that I've had yet another treatment delay. On Wednesday after my treatment I had an appointment with my radiation oncologist. He said that the scan I had on Tuesday showed further growth. Probably not cancerous growth, he was quick to reassure me, but more likely swelling from inflammation. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as it means my immune system is getting involved to fight the cancer. But it means that he had to recalculate my treatment plan so as to target the tumor in its new size. So I had yesterday off of treatment while the recalculation was happening. I was relieved not to have to undergo treatment that day, but unfortunately it means I just have to go in for a make-up treatment at the end. The doctor was also thinking of switching me to an every-other-day schedule, given how large a dose of radiation I'm getting (it turns out this is in fact quite large) and the fact that the first few doses made me sick. I've been OK since, though, so hopefully I can just get the treatments and be done with it. After this afternoon's treatment I should be half finished.

I am continually amazed at what a balance the proton center maintains between assembly-line treatment to get as many patients treated as efficiently as possible and highly individualized treatment that is tailored to each person's tumor, constitution, and body shape. It's impressive.