The first phase of my treatment is chemo-radiaiton, where I take oral chemotherapy pills and get my rectum blasted with high powered x-rays every weekday for 28 total treatments.  I only take the pills on days that I have radiation, and I only have radiation on weekdays.  I also have a quick meeting with the radiation oncologist once a week, during my regular treatment appointment, to make sure I'm not having any side effects.  The treatment takes less than 10 min and, as of wiritng this 10 treatments in, there have been minimal (if any) side effects.

The oral chemo is 1800mg of capecitabine.  Interestingly, I have to take this as 5 pills - 3x500mg, 2x150mg, which is fine, but I wish it just came in a giant 1800mg chewable gummy bear, like the other "medicine" I may be taking in the near future.  Again, as of writing this, the side effects have been very mild.  The only changes I've noticed are some increased heartburn, dry eyes and very faint muscle soreness.

The preliminary visit, where I was fitted for my mold, was explained in the TImeline page on September 13, so I won't rehash that description.  When I go for treatments, my mold is pulled off it's hanger, where it is stored on a rack with everyone else's molds, and secured to the imaging table.  I then walk in, lay on the table with my legs in the mold, and the technicians place a towel over me as drop my pants to my knees.  I am given a rubber disc to hold on to, keeping my arms in place. They then move the table towards the CT scanner and position it to closely match an image they have on a screen in the room.  After that, they leave the room and activate the CT scanner to line me up perfectly with the image they have saved from the initial visit, predominantly using my bones as landmarks.  They then get the okay from the doctor on the alignment and proceed with the radiation, which on my end is exactly like the CT scan, but with an additional buzzing noise.

Everyone at the radiation facility is very friendly and they agreed to take pictures and video of what they are doing on their end, which I have posted below.  We also took a video from inside the room with me.  If you watch it, you will see that the total time from when I walk into the room until I walk out is less than 8 minutes.