Radiation Therapy...or new form of torture??

So – I started radiation treatment this past week. I have to get 18 treatments. When I heard I was going to have radiation treatment I thought…OK…it can’t be as bad as chemo. Well….the side effects may not be as bad…but the actual process of getting the radiation is almost as bad as chemo. Actually…getting chemo was pretty easy…I basically slept the whole time they were giving it to me. Getting radiation is a whole different story.

First – since the cancer was in my neck they had to make a mask of my head. To make the mask they strapped my wrists down – then they put my head in the most uncomfortable position with my chin way in the air - then they took hot plastic mesh and stretched it over my face. Just when I thought it was going to burn the flesh off of my face it started to cool down. After it cooled completely – they took me to another room where they again strapped my wrists down – put the mask back on and bolted that to the table – then took X-Rays to plan out where to shoot the radiation beams into my neck. And this was all before I even started getting any treatments.

Monday was my first actual radiation therapy. I was stuck in the mask for almost 20 minutes as they doubled checked where the beams were going to be shot into my neck. It was torture. I thought..you know…this has to be like one step below water boarding. I mean…my hands were strapped down…my head was bolted to the table….I would have told them anything they wanted. On top of being totally uncomfortable I had one of the nurses (sorry… therapists) yelling at me to stay still. Like…how they hell was I going to move…my God Damn head is bolted to the table.

Thankfully the last 3 treatments have been a lot quicker.

Below are some pictures the therapists took for me to help illustrate the process.

Picture of the mask (i.e Torture Device)