Thursday, December 6, 2012

What have I gotten myself into?

Radiation Treatment Mask
So today was regular maintenance treatment day, which all went fine.

I also had my CT Scan in preparation for the radiation therapy on the mass in my neck.  The image to the right is a mask fitted to my face and shoulders that will be used to lock me down to the table so I am not able to move during the radiation therapy.  This is very close to the most confined I have been.  Had it not been that the technician was marking the lines on my mask during the last 5 minutes, I might have called it off due to my throat drying up and feeling confined, thus making the breathing difficult.  The marks on the mask are where the lasers will line up the beams to direct the radiation.  While it was not the most fun, it didn't really cause me to feel claustrophobic, but I could feel my pulse in my neck, and just like looking through a fishnet at the eye holes.   Best part, I get to keep it.  Look out photo project at Christmas time. haha

So all is going well, ready for the therapy to begin, just waiting on my rad onc to set me up.  10 days, 15 minutes each, let's do this and then drink some egg nog.  Oh and the best part, they don't want me to loose weight over these 10 days of treatment, so bring on the cookies LOL



If you are interested in the process of fitting the mask, you can watch this youtube video, which starts at about 30 seconds in.  While this is only 5 minutes, I was in the mask for like 30 minutes today, no simple task.



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