Yesterday was the first of two appointments to get me set up for my first radiation treatment next week.  Man, these technicians have got it down.  They spend more time telling you what they're going to do to you than the time it takes to do it to you, they're that good!  I had two wonderful ladies helping me out yesterday that drew on me with Sharpies, stuck monitors on me, and tattooed me -- all in about 20 minutes!  I've got two tiny tattoo dots that will help them measure the area to radiate -- I asked if they couldn't get a bit more artistic and make the dots into little stars or hearts, but no go.  Then I got a taste of the radiation machine -- I'm pretty claustrophopic so I'm not going to dig this too much, but I figure the longer I hold still the sooner it's over.  It's similar to the MRI machine --  a big, but short tube that makes loud, strange noises.  I was wearing "virtual" goggles yesterday where I could see a monitor of how I was breathing.  Then they would ask me to take a big breath and hold it so they could figure out how close my heart was to the area that will be radiated.  They'll make the mold at my next appointment on Monday, then my procedures will start Tuesday.  I'll get treated 33 times total -- Monday through Friday for 6 and 1/2 weeks.  The radiation doesn't take long -- the whole rigamarole should take less than 30 minutes each time.  I even get a prime parking place pass so I can get in and out of the hospital quickly.  I'm anxious to get started, but first -- BOSTON!  Yee-haw!  I'm excited to finally travel for a few days, and to see Paul McCartney at Fenway Partk Thursday night to boot!

The bad news is that my A/C has died!!  It's now 83 degrees in my house and I'm on day 4 with no air.  I figured they'd do whatever they had to do yesterday, but they just diagnose the problem first and then send out a guy today to tell me how many thousands of dollars it'll cost to replace it.  I'm trying to stay positive and think of the upside to all this, but that's hard to do when I'm delirious from the heat!