July 15, 2008

Hi, everyone--

I just want to thank my daughter, Shannon, for starting up this page for blogging. While I am not exactly sure how blogging works, how frequently I might write here, or how literary I might become when I write here, I regard this page as a start of something.

Want an update while I'm here and writing? This morning I had my first radiation therapy at St. Elizabeth Hospital. The technicians, whose names I will get to you, worked on the set-up first of all and then carried out the prescribed dose of radiation. The mask placed over my face and head while I lay on my back holds my head in place--tight. I can barely blink my eyes, and I can breathe more easily through my mouth than through my nose. If I do say so myself, I behaved like a good patient, staying still (what choice do I have?), making no unusual sounds, and being entirely compliant and uncomplaining.

I stayed on my back, in the mask, and under radiation therapy until 10 a.m. (My session started about 8:40.) I had two very pleasant and clear technicians, who made my first day a good one. Afterwards, the physicians assistant Jodi gave Carla and me a clear explanation of what went on and of what would be expected of me in the days ahead.

We walked outside into the warm summer sunshine about 10:30. I will be back here for six straight weeks, five days a week, right at 8:30. My chemotherapy begins tonight, too, right before I go to sleep--seven days a week for six weeks and then one week a month thereafter.

There you have it--the first Denny O. blog. Thank you for your prayers. Don't stop for any reason.

Denny O. (Dennis, Mr. O., Mr. Oudenhoven, etc.)