I’m due to start radiotherapy in mid-July after I finish chemo. I’ve been told I need 15 sessions, given as 5 per week. My first session is on a Tuesday, meaning my last will sit all alone on a Monday. My husband will be away on business for the last 2 weeks, and 2 good friends are coming to stay to share the treatment time between them (actually a great opportunity for gossip and cake!).
But my question is this. Why split off the last day? When I called the radiotherapy unit I was told it was to give me ‘an extra weekend break so your body can recover’, but that just doesn’t seem logical. Is this the normal way of doing things? If it is, I’ll shrug and carry on, but if it’s not I might push to see if I can close them up so my friend can have that last weekend with her own family.
Any thoughts and information would be very welcome - thanks.
Jane
I was told by my radiology nurse that they try to start rads on a Monday sometimes that’s not always possible so all they have done with you is tagged the Monday you’ve missed out onto the end of your treatment hope all goes well!!
Hi Jane, my rads started on a Thursday, and with the added complication of Easter, I ended up finishing on a Friday. It doesn’t seem to matter which day you start as long as you complet your allocated number of sessions.
Hope all goes well with your rads, Pat.
Hmm, so it sounds like it’s the total number that’s important (which is logical, I like logical), but it also sounds like the ‘your body needs extra gaps in treatment’ is not logical, so I will push again to see if I can start on the Monday. If they’d said ‘sorry, we have no gaps on the Monday so you’ll have to start on the Tuesday’ I’d accept that too, but I don’t like to feel I’m being flanneled. (Is that even a word?)
Thanks ladies
Jane
I have radium therapy from Monday to Friday and I have 6 more sessions starting today and the final one next Monday. The reason they don’t continue over the weekend - if that’s what you’re referring to is to give your body a break and it’s necessary. So feet up, cake on and chat :cathappy: I’ve had 19 sessions so far and think you’ll find you’ll welcome the weekend breaks:smileyhappy:
Thanks Ladies. In the end I talked to the oncologist who said they liked to start on a Tuesday, with weekends off, and this gave an “extra weekend break”. With one day after that extra break. I think even while she was explaining it she could see I was not convinced that the extra break idea had any merit! So persuaded her that I could in fact start on a Monday and finish on the Friday 3 weeks later. And I had no problems at all.
Lovely to be able to talk about it all in the past tense!