How Radiation Affected My Vision

No, I don't see everything through a green glow.

It's now been nearly a week since I completed my radiation treatment and this first "down time" in 6 and 1/2 weeks has allowed me to reflect on the experience.

By first appearance, the radiation oncology waiting room looks to be a very plain, ordinary, and even dull place. But don't let this first impression fool. This is actually one of the most powerful places you will ever enter. It is hallowed ground where lives are lost or regained. Social standings, age, race, gender, rank are all meaningless and perhaps nearly invisible. This is a place where all who enter are equal. On any given day you can't swing a saline drip without hitting someone with some type of cancer. Other days the only place in America that may have more women who have had breast augmentation in some way is Hollywood.

I spent a portion of every day of the past 6 and 1/2 weeks in that waiting room. Some days my wait would be no longer 2 to 3 minutes. Other days I waited for 4 hours to receive my treatment due to equipment malfunctions. Everyone of those days I was greeted by Joe, the receptionist, who was a constant ray of sunshine in what otherwise may have been a dreary place. She was like our radiation cheerleader.

I've seen the heavy-eyed look of fatigue and heard the raspy, weak voices caused by radiation burns of the throat. I've seen patients walk in one day and have to be wheeled in the next. I've experienced the kindness of those who are strangers for merely minutes. I have seen patients start their treatment and I have seen patients finish their treatment. I've seen celebration and sadness, as I too shared in their victories and shortfalls. I've seen hope. I've seen love. I've seen life, unedited and raw. I've seen a type of equality amongst people that I have never experienced before.

There, in that radiation oncology waiting room, people faced the most devastating and difficult times of their lives but yet no one complained. No one was bitter, or angry or wallowing in self pity. For the most part, other than perhaps 2 people I briefly came in contact with, these cancer patients proved to be so much more than just a patient, or better yet a survivor. They too were warriors while all the while displaying tremendous positive attitudes. These were among the most amazing people I have ever had the honor of meeting.

And all of it, every detail of those 6 and 1/2 weeks amazes me.