Thursday, I went to the oncology radiologist office to get my markings and tattoos, talk to the doctor, and then dash over to San Luis Diagnostics for a CT scan which is all part of the radiation treatment plan.

My doctor was on vacation or somewhere, so a different doctor talked to me. I really liked him, and he was quite thorough in explaining everything and answering all my questions.

When the female technicians were applying my markings and then the tattoos, my right side is numb from surgery in several areas, so I never even felt anything on that side, but my left side felt everything. They don’t anesthetize it since it is but just small dots that they tattoo. The technician told me that they will look like small freckles. I received three of them. I was able to wash the ink markings off after I got home, but the tattoos actually look more like big blackheads rather than freckles to me. They are black and not brown like what my regular freckles would be. Oh well, who is going to ever see them anyway since clothing would be hiding them as it is.

I had never planned on getting tattoos ever because I used to work on the surgical floor at the hospital years ago, and we would get the prisoners from the men’s prison here in SLO for their surgeries. They all had tattoos that they got while in prison, and what was included with that was hepatitis. So I correlated tattoos with hepatitis and felt like that was a risk not worth going through. Many of those tattoos were very unattractive that I saw from there.

Since then, I know things have changed, and all the young people and many my age get all manner of tattoos without getting hepatitis, so I am sure that in the business, they have stringent sterilizing rules. I had even contemplated getting tattoos in the last few years for permanent eye liner or that kind of cosmetic treatment, but when I saw the cost, I decided it was more than my pocketbook could handle. So I never planned on getting tattoos. They are too permanent to my liking.

But now I have three of them for medical reasons. Who would have ever thought? These tattoos will only be seen by the radiologist technicians, doctors and myself and my husband. These are not all that attractive either. Just big black dots. This is all part of the program.

My radiation will start in about 2-1/2 to 3 weeks. So onto the next phase of my treatments. The doctor said the side effect is fatigue, but I can not imagine it being as bad as the chemotherapy treatments. I am guessing that this type of fatigue will be a piece of cake after all that.