Five days a week, for a month and a half, I drove to Piedmont Hospital and parked in the ER parking lot (us radiation folks get to do that!). Then I'd walk to the radiation center which is very close to the parking. There, I would change in one of the 2 dressing rooms and put on a blue gown. After sitting in the waiting room drinking water, one of the nurses calls my name and the fun begins. I get to go through a giant metal door and into a rather normal looking room. It has shelves and papers and mirrors. But, it also has cameras, plastic molds of people's bodies or heads, and, of course, a giant machine with a metal bed in front of it:
I lie down on the bed while 2 nurses shove me this way and that to get the green laser beams to line up with the 6 blue dots that have been tattooed on me. This almost always resulted in my being topless at some point and very happy that the nurses were girls. They then leave the room, shut to giant metal door, and start up the machine while keeping an eye on my through the cameras (can't have a window in this room). The noise is so weird. I've had several moles removed, and it reminded me of the sound the thing that is used to burn your flesh to stop the bleeding makes. So the first few times I thought I would smell burning flesh. And hey, I guess it's not that far off. Fortunately, it only takes about a minute and your done. Then I head home and continue with the day. And, of course, go back the next day to do it all again.
