On the 18th of May I had my first of 20 radiation sessions. These are daily for four weeks (no treatment on the weekends). I went in for my first treatment and they put my mask on and strapped me down to the bed. They spent a few minutes lining me up correctly with the lasers (and speaking what sounded like another language), took an xray, then left the room while they radiated me.
The machine has a big arm that reaches above the bed and over my face (Click here to see a picture of one http://folhealth.com/Varian%20iX%20with%20patient.jpg). The big circle part over your face (very technical terms I'm using!) open up and then you hear the machine turn on and start radiating. You can't feel or see anything. Then the whole machine rotates and the arm goes underneath you and you are radiated again from the bottom. Mine is twice from the top and twice from the bottom. All up it only takes about 2 minutes from the time the technicians leave the room, till they come back in and take my mask off.
After my first session I saw a nurse who explained the side effects. I was told not to put any chemicals on my skin. That means no perfume on my neck/chest, I have to be careful when washing my hair that the shampoo doesn't go on my neck, chest or back. I've been told to regularly use sorbolene cream to stop the skin from drying out too much. She also told me that radiation causes fatigue and that this would be worse about 2 weeks after I finish the treatment.
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Almost there Rianne. Sounds so gruelling and antimidating. You say "only 2 mins" and normally it doesn't sound long but when you're going through that I'd imagine it would feel like 2 hours!! So glad the school holidays are coming up and hopefully you can have the world's most well deserved rest and relax. A quiet celebration hopefully. Trully amazing, Super effort Rianne. Enjoy the LF function. Lisa xx
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