![]() Fortunately I can ride my bike, skateboard or walk 10 minutes to a stop right by my house and then it’s about 30 to 40 minutes with one transfer to a stop a few blocks from the radiators at Kaiser Sunset. This has led me to find alternate forms of mobility and I’ve begun to spend a good bit of time taking the LA Metro. Walking into this sacred space I hardly notice I’m on Sunset Blvd and with every moment I feel my energy lighten.īonus Two, The Vermont/Sunset Metro Stop: When I was prescribed Keppra, an anti-seizure medication, following my first hospital visit, I was told I couldn’t drive while taking the medication. They have a beautiful garden with fountains, a stained glass gazebo, lots of flowering trees, lily ponds and plenty of benches that are almost always empty. I’ve been taking advantage of the SRF gardens for quiet meditation and highly recommend you check it out if you’re in the area. So here’s where the radiating gets exponential:īonus One, The Self-Realization Fellowship: Kaiser Sunset just so happens to be next to two major religious institutions, the main Church of Scientology and a Self-Realization Fellowship center with a small meditation garden. Vintage Brooklyn Dodgers Hat currently in rotation during one of my PT sessions (Photo: William R. When it’s over the technicians and doctors unsnap my mask, snip off my bracelet and help me off the table and I’m free to roll out using the emergency stairwell. ‘I AM IN PERFECT HEALTH NOW’ or ‘I AM UNCONDITIONAL LOVE’, you know, the usual stuff we affirm to ourselves every day. The procedure lasts maybe 7 minutes total and I normally take deep breaths and affirm things about myself with each breath. I’ve also lost a bunch of hair in the areas of the path since the beams singe my hair follicles, thus the daily hat. The sound of the beams is like a dentist drill, buzzing from different directions a few feet around my dome. ![]() The path of these beams has been carefully designed to zap my tumor in just the right places although I’ve been told it also hits some non tumor cells nearby and exits my head through the other side which has made my forehead a bit red and dry lately. This mask is meant to hold my head perfectly still while I get blasted with radiation beams from multiple angles. Once on the table my team puts a perforated plastic mask over my entire face and head that fits perfectly to my face and snaps into the table. The table feels like solid metal covered by a white hospital sheet which perplexes me, why not radiate in softness? Someone from the team puts a triangular tubed leather pillow under my knees which is meant to make me more comfortable but doesn’t seem to do much. Looking up I can see a wood framed light box with images of a cherry blossom tree shining through. I take off my hat and necklace, put my bag down and empty my pockets before proceeding to a flat metal table with a curved plastic brace where I lie down and rest my head. The Jazz they play is a loose interpretation and runs the gamut from Sade to Kenny G and everything in between. ![]() They ask me my full name and birthday and I proceed into the treatment room, the lights generally dimmed, often with my requested ‘jazz’ music playing. I show up at my treatment station greeted by familiar faces, a team of doctors and nurses who run my machine. When I do have time in there I get a chance to quietly observe families and individuals awaiting treatment, most of them seemingly older than me, many quiet, all radiant in their own way.Ĭhillin in mummy pose ready to radiate (Photo: William R. My radiator ‘1B’ is generally on time or ahead of schedule so I rarely wait for more than a few minutes in the atrium. Two LED boards show a list of numbers, letters and names to call up patients as their radiator becomes available. I land in the ‘Atrium’ level which is a waiting area two stories underground with some nice skylights shining light in from the street. When they’re done I thank them and go wait for one of two extremely slow elevators to open (no stairwells go down to the radiation waiting area but there is a stairway that goes up and out to the street, protected by a weak emergency siren that seems unnecessary). I get into a line and wait for Audrey or Mark to call me up, when they do we have a lil chit chat about our respective outfits, the weather or the vintage patchwork tapestry on the wall behind them as they check me in and put on a plastic hospital style wrist band. Every weekday around 10:30am I travel to a building on the Kaiser Permanente LA campus that houses the radiators. Lets double click on what radiation treatment is for a moment. Close up of my radiating mask (Photo: Cassandra M.
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