That apparently will be my primal sound! Of course it could be WU or WOO if I try and speak with a Chinese accent.
Having met my Speech Pathologist today I learnt more about the vocal chords, the nerves that enable them to function and the trachea than I think I wanted to know. I always thought that speaking was something that comes naturally.
Boy was I wrong!
I had absolutely no idea that it was such a complicated process involving so many factors - and I still have not heard the full story!
Suffice it to say I think I passed at least some of the tests.
I could actually roll my "rr's". Thank God for French lessons!
I actually had heard about my diaphragm and actually was able to demonstrate that I could find it and expand it at will.
"WHOO!"
Then of course I was asked to do a few things where I am afraid that at this point I am a failure!
- I could not let out my primal sound of WHOO in either an upward or downward series of notes.
- I could roll my rr's but I could not use them in a way that mattered.
If you are grreeted with a rrolling rr or a sudden and excitable "WHOO!" when you ring, please do NOT be upset! I am just doing my homework and you can be the judge of whether I am succeeding or not.
I will of course have my operation notes looked at, to see what damage was done to my nerves and from that information I am likely to be told whether there is much or little that can be done.
Meanwhile "WHOO!" (goodness that is so easy to write and so difficult to DO (or should that be WHOO?)
Having finished with speech therapy I went to get my dose of radiation and was told that I was actually being treated with X rays and not gamma rays! So I looked up this new information and found the following:
One type of radiation therapy commonly used involves photons, "packets" of energy. X-rays were the first form of photon radiation to be used to treat cancer. Depending on the amount of energy they possess, the rays can be used to destroy cancer cells on the surface of or deeper in the body. The higher the energy of the x-ray beam, the deeper the x-rays can go into the target tissue. Linear accelerators and betatrons are machines that produce x-rays of increasingly greater energy. The use of machines to focus radiation (such as x-rays) on a cancer site is called external beam radiotherapy.
Gamma rays are another form of photons used in radiotherapy. Gamma rays are produced spontaneously as certain elements (such as radium, uranium, and cobalt 60) release radiation as they decompose, or decay. Each element decays at a specific rate and gives off energy in the form of gamma rays and other particles. X-rays and gamma rays have the same effect on cancer cells.
So I have been deceiving or misleading my readers. If they are using a Linear accellerator then I am getting x rays and not gamma rays. Sorry about that folks!
As usual the staff providing the treatment were wonderful and actually asked about this BLOG today!
So I provided them with the address.
I also told them I had placed some of their pictures on the site and of course I was mistaken I had placed it on another of my sites
So here is the OLD photo from 2004 with my thanks. I will of course ask if any of them want to get a new image to replace this one!
Thanks Radiation Oncology Team at The Canberra Hospital
This is a small sample of the many wonderful folk who work at Canberra Hospital
with their giant x ray machines.
PS some of them look just the same others have changed hair styles but NONE seem to have grown older!
I will have to ask them if the x rays are like botox and prevent wrinkles!
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