Part 6 Preparing for Cancer Radiotherapy Treatment

 

Protective Helmet (shield) for Cancer Radiotherapy Treatment

After many weeks of worrying if the wait for treatment had caused any advancement of the Throat Cancer and shortened my time on earth, I was booked in to start my Radium treatment at the P.A. Hospital. (Also Chemotherapy in a different Episode.)

My thoughts on the day of Radium Treatment preparation included

1/I was happy when informed that I didn't have to use a Public car park and that there was a separate car park attached to the radium treatment office for patients. One Stress removed as the public was a distance away and crowded.(later a godsend as I got sicker )

2/ I was nervous as to what was ahead of me,

The radiation treatment (or radiotherapy) for cancer of the head, neck, and brain you will likely need a custom-made radiation mask to wear during your treatments.

The purpose of the Radiation Mask was to hold your head and neck still and in exactly the right position during treatment. It helps them to deliver the radiation beam precisely to the tumor and limit damage to healthy tissues nearby.

The mask is the most precise, accurate way to point at my cancer without the radiation beam damaging any surrounding tissue. Then it had clips to snap closed fixing the helmet to the table.

3/ I laid on a table and had (felt like a wet cloth) mesh placed over my entire head and neck area, then it was pushed (molded) into my eye sockets (closed) around my nose (not up nostril) and patted down around my entire extremities. DO NOT MOVE. The purpose of the mask was exactly that a tight complete molding of my head/neck area.

It then hardened into a mesh face shield which was then removed. This was to be worn in each of the 35 radiation treatments. It wasn't uncomfortable to wear but as I was a bit claustrophobic this did increase my anxiety. Don't worry as the team working at saving your life has encountered most things and has solutions to problems that may surface during treatment. Learn to ask and express your feelings! 

Later I learned (With reference to the meeting of the Specialist team) that they sat down and mapped out the exact location and shape of its entire extremities.EXACT as all cancer had to be treated without killing surrounding tissue.

After this was done they set up a program(mapping) of the area for the radiation machine to administer radiation beams as well as how strong and how many treatments.

4/Later on I marveled at the process as a steady stream of cancer patients were treated in a 24-hour period.

Image of Machine used to administer Cancer Radiation Therapy

My Weight was 112kg

5/ NOW HOME TO GET MYSELF PREPARED

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