a genuine redneck

Today I had my first 3 month follow up appointment with Dr. Chugh, my medical oncologist.  I got an x-ray of my chest and my lungs are still clear!  So relieving.  She's going to set me up with an oncologist in Salt Lake for when I am back at school because I will have to be checked every 3 months for quite a while.  Dr. Chugh is pretty amazing and is going beyond what is expected to make sure the care I get is the best.

After my appointment with Dr. Chugh I had radiation.  This is my sixth week of radiation.  I can't believe it has gone by so quickly.  I mostly see the same radiation therapists everyday and have become friends of sorts with them.  Today we bantered back and forth, talked about the music I have on, my new shoes... They made fun of me for said new shoes.  They asked me to explain hashtags.  Let's be honest, they aren't that much older than me, just a couple of years.  They should know what hashtags are.  One of my therapists is only 29 and he has long, flowing dark hair and rides a motorcycle.  Basically he's a total babe.  Today I was going to ask him if he could take me on a ride on this motorcycle... and I noticed the ring on his left hand just in time.  That could have been embarrassing.  I thought it was only at BYU that I had to be so conscious of married men.

I met with Dr. Eisbruch, my radiation oncologist, and he asked me about my symptoms and neck and what not.  I told him my neck was getting super red.  He looked at it and responded, 'oh, yeah, that's a bit red.'  Not as dramatic as I thought.  But really, I am a genuine redneck.  I may be lacking a car parked in my front yard and a first cousin as a boyfriend, but my neck is very red.  Apparently it will get worse until a couple days after my radiation therapy ends, and then it will decrease in redness.  It doesn't bother me too much because my hair mostly hides it and I'm numb there anyways so I can't feel the burn.

Such a distinctive red line

Dr. Eisbruch's resident, Dr. Shumway, is a BYU grad.  Dr. Eisbruch mentioned today that I am studying microbiology at BYU, and of course Dr. Shumway has taken many of the same classes as I have.  He mentioned in particular Dr. Bridgewater and Dr. Evans having a great impact on him.  So cool that he remembers them and their teaching so long after the fact.