Tour

Today Amy & I took a tour of the proton rooms and equipment. Here are some pictures.

This first one is a room I'll never see again. It's the fixed beam room where cancers of the head, neck, etc. are treated. On the left end of the table is a mask used to immobilize and position the head of a patient. Two other masks on the table, fitted with Mickey Mouse and Spiderman faces, are used for children. Proton treatments are especially useful in treating children because they are far less detrimental to developing tissue than conventional radiation.
These two objects are used to shape the proton beam. Each prostate patient has a set of these. The one on the left, with the handle, is extremely heavy; I believe it's made of lead. The blue one, called a bowl, is made of wax. Don't ask me how they work, but their effect is to precisely shape and control the beam. Each is barcoded so there is no mix-up getting the right beam shape for the right patient. I understand that, at the end of my treatment, I will get to keep my bowl as a souvenir.

This is Gantry 3 where I receive my treatments. The picture shows a variety of things. First, note the gantry itself, the round walls shaped like the inside of a nose cone. The object on the left is the portal through which the beam is delivered. The shaping devices in the previous picture are fitted into this as is the wheel pictured in the center. This wheel, as I understand it, helps determine the target depth at which the protons will "ignite" and release their energy. When the beam is about to be delivered, I can hear this wheel begin to rotate and whirr. The object between the wheel and the gantry wall is an X-ray imaging screen that is used to direct the beam to each patient's prostate. This screen and the machine on the left are mounted to the gantry wall. This portion of the wall rotates so that in one day's treatment the beam comes in from the left (as configured in this picture) and the next day from the right. Finally, the cradle like object, draped in cloths, in which the wheel rests, is a pod. The patient lies in this device and then the table on which it rests slides into the gantry for the treatment.

We also got to see the machinery that accelerates and then delivers the protons. It's an amazing array of electronic equipment that looks extremely sophisticated and mystifying. It's amazing to me that it doesn't break down more often. According to the tour guide, it's only been down for repairs during treatment hours under 2% of the time over the years of its usage.

LLUMC's proton system has treated 14,000 patients since it went on line in 1990. To construct the area anew would cost over $100,000,000—and yes, I counted the zeros twice.

Highly interesting.

Two unrelated thoughts from Quaker meeting this morning: From Peace Pilgrim: The good we do, say, or think goes on and on and on forever. The bad, in contrast, only lasts until eliminated by the good. It's a comforting thought and should help us deal with the scorn we feel in the jibe "do-gooders."

From Mother Theresa: We can't do any great thing, only small things with great love.

Tomorrow: treatment #5.