You might not know this, but your support and encouragement have helped me get through this difficult time in my life and I plan to work hard to “play it forward”. Thank you
Letter to the Editor
Let’s review: Now, I wait to see if my letter and Dr. Roach’s reply will be published.
This Was Disturbing
This post has nothing to do with my proton therapy and everything to do with Proton Therapy. During my six weeks’ absence from home, Nancy saved some newspaper articles she thought I might be interested in. One of those articles I found disturbing. Read the article here: TCPalm News Paper The author of the article […]
Handpan
I must arrive 30 minutes early for my proton therapy treatments so I can go through the required water ritual. As I sat in the waiting room there was this very soothing background music, and it turned out to be on an instrument that I’d never seen before. It’s called a handpan. I thought what […]
Hallelujah
I just heard from Brianna that I’m going to be moved back to the Yellow Gantry for today’s treatment. It should be sometime later this afternoon or this evening. Music from the Royal Choral Society
The Skyway
Today I’m thinking about taking a trip on the Jacksonville Skyway. “The JTA Skyway is a 2.5-mile long, elevated monorail system that glides high above the busy streets of Downtown Jacksonville, crossing the St. Johns River to Kings Avenue on the Southbank. The fully automated Skyway features eight stations — five on the Downtown Northbank […]
Support Groups
There are various support groups recommended by the Institute and I decided to visit two of them this week. The first was a men’s support group that met at the institute and the meeting was followed by a catered lunch. Between 15 and 20 men attended this group and the format was such that each […]
Back To Normal
Today, I had my treatment around 5:00 PM as opposed to my regular time of 7:00 AM. I believe they were having problems focusing the proton beam and hopefully, they have it corrected. Tomorrow, I’m back to my regular time of 7:00 AM. The good news is they were able to treat all the kids […]
Frank
I have a new radiation therapist working with me. Frank was a radiation therapist at a University Hospital in the north and received an early retirement and moved to Florida. He has been working with the Institute since December. You can tell from his picture that Frank is going to fit in perfectly with the […]
Numbers
Every morning, after I greet Roscoe the security guard, and Mary at the front desk, I scan my barcode into this computer. Then I look up at the board that tells me the green gantry is on time. Because I’m one of the first patients in the morning I’ve never seen it running late. Sometimes […]
Visitors
I had many visitors this weekend. Jane and Windley on Thursday and Friday, then David and family on Sunday. LTA Time for a nap 🙂
Children
You must be perfectly still when the proton beams are targeting your tumor. For some young children, this isn’t easy. The institute has a block of time set aside every day to treat children. This may require an anesthesiologist from the hospital to be in the gantry with the child and the radiation therapists. As […]
My Dream Team: Jacey
Most patients have only one care nurse. I have two! Why is this I ask? Maybe it’s because I’m such a difficult patient or maybe it’s because I’m so special. However, I think the more accurate explanation is Jacey is helping to train Caroline who is new. That gives you an idea of how Doctor […]
The Tour: Part One
I was provided a behind-the-scenes tour by Christina Marshall, the Business Development Coordinator. Most of the gantry workings are not accessible, however, Christina provided me with some helpful links that enabled me to create material for my blog. The Proton Institute’s workings are very extensive so I will break it down into manageable parts. This […]
My Dream Team: Caroline
One of the first medical professionals that Nancy and I met in Jacksonville was Caroline. She will be my Care Nurse for my entire stay in Jacksonville. I usually meet with Caroline and Doctor Bill once a week to discuss my progress. Caroline was a pediatric nurse before moving to Jacksonville. She said the children […]
Never Ask a Woman…
Hailey is the other radiation therapist who works with me each morning. When I was trying to check the spelling of her name, I came across this on the Internet: Hailey is a gender-neutral British name meaning “hay’s meadow.” It is derived from the Old English words heg, meaning “hay,” and leah, which translates to […]
My New Radiation Therapists
Who can smile at 6:30 in the morning? These ladies can. Starting Monday of my second week they will be my radiation therapists in the Green Gantry. This gantry offers Pencil Beam proton therapy as opposed to Scatter Beam that I received last week in the Yellow gantry. Tyler received her training in Wisconsin, and […]
My Dream Team: Melissa
Melissa’s official title at Third & Main is Property Manager but she is a lot more than that. While working with hundreds of Proton Therapy patients she has created a clean, safe, relaxing, environment for us to come home to after our daily treatments. In addition, she has created a Welcome Book for residents that […]
My Dream Team: Breanna
Each morning after my water ritual I would sit in the waiting room and wait for my Radiation Therapist to escort me back to the yellow gantry. There may be 15 or 20 patients in the waiting room but when Brianna enters the room you know immediately, she had come for you. She always has […]
My Dream Team: Dr. Mendenhall
A picture is worth a thousand words. However, if you want to read doctor Mendenhall’s extensive resume then click on the link below. (Recommended) I appreciated his quote when he was asked what he likes about working at the proton institute. I really like taking care of patients and tracking their outcomes to see how […]