If the "shoe" fits, wear it...

Or in this case, the Mask! With Amanda at my side, we showed up at the Clinic at 9:30am, and shortly thereafter were ushered into the Simulation Room, where we met Robert, the Radiology Tech who would be doing the Mask fitting and running through the Mapping routine. He very patiently explained what was going to take place, and did his best to make sure I'd be "comfortable," as if anything could really accomplish that.
Truth be told, it wasn't all that bad. Amanda loved that everything was so high-tech. Robert had told her she'd have to leave the room when they started doing the imaging, but she managed to win him over, and wound up staying through the whole thing. Asking questions and snapping pictures the whole time.




Robert (who would be assisted by another Tech, Tim) explained what he would be doing, which basically would be fitting a plaster impregnated mesh over my head, face and shoulders, and then a couple of simple trips through the scanner to "map" where they would be targeting the radiation. Amanda came along and not only peppered the Tech's and the Doctor with questions but took the photos included here.













All in all it wasn't too bad. The flouride trays were a new treat to say the least, but I figured that out and was able to breath without flipping out. I'd thought about holding Bonnie's Beads during the proceedure, but opted to leave them in my "travel kit" nearby, as my thinking at this point is having "nothing" to think about or do, is best for getting through this. So, I've settled on one personal mantra that I've discovered over the years does relax and "take me away," which I may share at some future point. Which I'll no doubt be getting a chance to test the "getting away" part very soon. I'm to report next Monday at 2:30pm, and we're off and running! YIKES!!!

And so, here we are with the finished product. "Voila!!" A mini-Me.

The whole process took about 30 minutes or so, and I just kind of faded into the zone, and went with it. Fortunately I'm not too claustrophobic and don't find it too difficult to just relax.

Also I had no idea that Amanda was as busy taking pictures as she was,

We celebrated this land mark ocassion by going out to lunch. First choice of Amanda's was Manana Cafe, but unfortunate they'd closed up shop just a few weeks ago, so we opted for Koho's as it was nearby.

Previously I'd mentioned that Son Carl was out from Vegas for a brief Holiday visit, and he and Son-in-law Kyle (Amand'as husband) had headed down to Makenna for a little sun & surf. As we were done early, and Tyler & Hailey were at pre-school/daycare, Amanda said she was off to meet the Boys for a little beach time of her own, without the responsibilities of Children, and did I want to go. I opted not too, as for the moment Mr. Sun and I are at odds.

On our way home we got to talking and (short version) the next thing I knew was we'd decided to get everyone together (this includes Kelly & Family and Momma Anne, along with Carl) that evening for a B-B-Q at Amanda's. So off she went, and I had an appointment with the Unemployment office, following which as I was headed back to Amanda's, received a phone call from my Mainland visiting Friend Marcus, who had seemed to have (at least for the moment) developed a need for a place to stay, and was wondering if he could "crash in Lahaina" which of course, he was welcome to stay. We met at Borders (yes, Men can read too...) and he followed me to Amanda's. We had a great get-to-gather, and with four Kids running about, there was no lack of entertainment, including a screening of "Hancock." (No, the little ones were curtailed with the option of "Scooby Doo & Batman" in Tyler's bedroom or running rampant out on the deck. Mom - we had Chicken, Porterhouse steaks, Teriaki beef, and Calbasa sausage on the Grill, B-B-Q Asparagas and Broccoli (thank you Anne), and rice. Kelly was the hit of the evening when she broke out and made the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. YEAH Kelly!

And that Dear Readers, brings us to the end of another day.

“Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about.” Green's Law of Debate