Page 70 - The Freckled Eye - Book

Once we got there, we noticed the address wasn’t to the main hospital, but it
was to a side building off to the right. We parked the car and went in. I had
been a Santa Clara Kaiser patient almost all my 47 years and I’d never been
to this building. Mom hadn’t either. This was new and the footsteps we took
towards the building emulated that. The sign on the building said
radiation/cancer building. We walked towards the sliding doors and then in.

Inside, there were several older people there, all coming in for some type of
radiation appointment. I remember walking in and thinking to myself, wow…
this is where I’m at, this is really happening. This solidified what was going on
in my life at that moment. I walked up to the receptionist to check in.

About 15 mints later, they called me in. Mom and I followed the nurse
back. She sat me down, and offered mom a chair. The nurse jumped right
in. She went over the pre-op information, possible side effects and what
might take place after the procedure. Loss of eye lashes, jumped off the
page, eye redness was another, and tearing was the third thing I noticed off
the list. I was a bit relieved, crazy enough. I thought one of the side effects
would have been that I’d lose my hair, but that wasn't on there. I didn’t know
what to expect, but I was thankful hair loss wasn'tt one the side effects on list.
Another small thing to be thankful for.

Dr. Wong, the radiologist, finally came in. He began to tell me how the
radiation plaque worked, how it was made, and what I could expect. The
main thing I needed to know was that I needed be away from people (as much
as possible) during the week the radiation plaque was on. If someone was
going to be within 6 feet or closer, I’d need to wear a lead patch over my eye.

I was thinking in that moment, “Jeez, I am really going to be radioactive.” I
asked the doctor, will the radiation or radiation plaque hurt? Dr. Wong told me
that the plaque would be a bit uncomfortable. Imagine a little piece of metal
(gold) sewn onto the back of your eyeball. By the end of the week, you’ll want
it out. He said that’s about it. You won’t feel the radiation. He did say
everyone is different, but that some of the side effects might
happen. And could be long term or short term, we'd have to wait and
see. Everyone handles this differently. Mom and I tried to think of any other
questions we had, but at that time, we felt like we understood the process.