Waking from a train nap

Meeting at the club after an absence...

Paul: Yeah, well, there’s been some hospital visits.

Olaf: Something major?

Paul: A bit. Radiotherapy.

Olaf: Oh. Sorry to hear that. Takes it out of you a bit?

Paul: Mornings are OK, pretty much a box of birds. But then there’s a train ride to the hospital, the treatment and then the ride back.

Olaf: Is it far?

Paul: Hour and a half. Each way.

Olaf: You can sit on the train?

Paul: It’s off-peak, so there are seats. Usually I fall asleep, but when I wake up the people sitting in the opposite seats seem like demons and devils.

Olaf: Radiation induced delusions?

Paul: I don’t think radiation causes delusions, it could be just sleepy brain or foggy eyes.

_________

Voice-over

 

Radiotherapy can cause fatigue and for some, a train ride can bring on a sudden nap and an abrupt wakening. And it might take a moment for the shapes of nearby passengers to reset.

Radiation Room Questions

Questions to deflect anxieties…

Patient: Is this a linear accelerator plus MRI?

Radiation Therapist: Linear accelerator plus CT scanner.

Patient: Is it new?

Radiation Therapist: Two years old.

Patient: Expensive?

Radiation Therapist: Very.

Emerging after ten minutes in the tunnel…

Patient: I heard something go round and round. 29 times.

Radiation Therapist: That was the gantry revolving around you, delivering the beam.

Patient: Same again tomorrow?

Radiation Therapist: You have 32 sessions.

________

Voice-over

 

Intimidating sounding names. Cyclotron. Synchrocylotron. Linear Accelerator or LINAC. For accelerating particles, magnetically directed to a target, in this case, a human body. The operators are the radiation therapist (放射線療法士) and the dosimetrist (線量測定士).