First session over

Today's moral: when you have to be somewhere at a specific time, never try to be clever and take a route that should be quicker than the one you first thought of. It won't be.

I left home at 7.50 am for a 9.15 appointment. Normally, the journey takes around 30 minutes, but, in rush hour, it can take a lot longer. In order to avoid the worst traffic, I decided to cross the river and travel along its south bank until I reached the city. This meant using country roads rather than a major route. What I'd forgotten was that there is a speed limit through every village on the way - and there are a lot of villages! And, of course, everyone in the villages is heading to work in the town at 8 am. Having said that, despite being stuck in a queue for around 15 minutes when I got closer to the point at which I wanted to re-cross the river, the journey was much less stressful than the other route, although it took roughly the same time - 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Once in the hospital, everything was running to time - apparently delays build up as the day progresses. So, here's how it all works (though I imagine other hospitals do things differently, even if the difference is minimal). First of all, I met one of the radiographers and we discussed what would happen and went through the side effects again. This was very helpful, and gave me a chance to ask any further questions that I hadn't already raised - it would have been good if I'd had some further questions to ask, really! We also agreed that future appointments would happen in the morning.

Next, I was taken to the waiting area for the treatment 'suite' to which I'd been assigned. Normally, I was told, there's only a very short wait, but today they needed to get a print out before they could take me in. Once in the treatment room, three things would happen: firstly, I'd be arranged and x-rayed, secondly, there'd be a 'dummy run' with the machine to make sure all was well and, thirdly,I'd be treated. So, ten minutes later, in I went. And this is what happened.

First of all, I had to lie on the bed, feet in the usual positioning mould and blocks under the knees. It isn't necessary to remove any clothing, just to adjust it so that the appropriate area is exposed to the machine. My tattoos were marked to make them clearer and then I was moved into position. This is the difficult bit. The trick is to let the radiographer push and poke you into the correct place on the bed without trying to help. If you've had, for example, shiatsu massage, you'll know how hard it is not to move obligingly when being hauled into position!

Once all that's done, x-rays and measurements were taken and then it was on to the dummy run. For this, the machine moves around and aims at the areas to be treated. Of course, it isn't switched on at that point. While this is happening, a radiographer comes into the room and checks all is well. As long as it is, treatment can begin - and, of course, the room empties of other people immediately.

Well, they lied to me! They told me it would take about 5 minutes to carry out the treatment. In fact, it was about 90 seconds... The machine moved around, and its operation was signalled by a faint buzzing sound. So, a target tattoo was found, the treatment delivered and it was on to the next tattoo. It was not a stressful experience. What was stressful, however, was the background music! I will be taking my own music with me in future - R&B simply isn't my preferred choice, and it really distracted me from what was going on (or was the whole point of playing it to distract me?)

I now have the rest of my appointments. They're all in the morning; the first two weeks will require me to attend mid-morning and the second two weeks are at 8.30 am every day. I'm pleased to go in the morning, as I've said. It leaves the rest of the day free. The early starts will be a bit of a trial, but I'm sure I'll become expert at finding quick routes to the hospital!

At least I now know that the treatment itself is painless - though I'm waiting for those side effects to kick in (don't worry, when they do, you will be the first to know!)

Having started with a moral, I'm going to end with a question: just how many different ways is it possible to provide your birth date?

I will be asked to confirm my date of birth at every treatment session and I would like to provide a little variety!

So, now for a peaceful weekend.

Twenty-one more sessions... and counting...