I am only on my First Week of Radiotherapy
Is it normal for Scan to have to be taken several times before Treatment , Today was Awful , I had 3 Scans and 2 Xrays before I started my Treatment I am feeling really deflated as Yesterday was 1st Day only 1 scan was needed , by the time I had my Treatment my mask had been on 20 minutes , and Head Radiographer said I wasn't relaxing my shoulders enough and straighten my Neck , I literally cannot move once the Mask is secured. I feel quite Traumatised Today
Is it normal for Scan to have to be taken several times before Treatment
Do you know what radiotherapy you are having?
Some machines tailor treatment at every dose so treatment times can be longer.
I had VMAT IMRT on an Elekta machine and apart from a few minor tweaks during the six weeks I was in and out in 10 minutes.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
Thanks. For your Reply
I have been told I will manage without a Peg
I don't know what type it is
The actual Treatment is only 3 Minutes but scan each time takes 5 mins to read and if it's not quite right they take an xray and then reposition you and do another scan , sometimes Mask is taken on and off aswell .
The more times it comes on and off the worse it seems , I've got indentation marks on my chin as its so tight
The actual Treatment is only 3 Minutes but scan each time takes 5 mins to read and if it's not quite right they take an xray and then reposition you and do another scan , sometimes Mask is taken on and off aswell .
The more times it comes on and off the worse it seems , I've got indentation marks on my chin as its so tight
Heavens…. No wonder you are tense with it all. Maybe ask tomorrow what they are doing and why?
I have been told I will manage without a Peg
How many treatments are you having?
by the beginning of week 4 of 6 I couldn’t swallow anything at all and had an NG tube for 8 weeks.
Dani
Base of tongue cancer. T2N0M0 6 weeks Radiotherapy finished January 2019
Generally I was in and out very quickly. Normally just a short positioning scan and then treatment.
Once I was on the table for around 30 minutes, but that was right towards the end when my throat had swollen. They were worried as to the safety of carrying on and could not get a good line on the tumour without hitting my brain stem. The oncologist was called and all was OK in the end.
They are very careful when applying the RT as it can, and does do, a lot of damage to all the tissues so they try to minimise an collateral damage - and the machines are excellent nowadays. 20 years ago I dread to think how bad the treatment was.
Hi Sdgepd6,
I found the first week difficult. Speak with the Radiologists, they are there to help you and to make you feel as comfortable as is possible. Let them know how you are feeling. They can make the mask less tight. Ask for some music to be played and try some breathing exercises to help keep calm. You will get through this. A helpful comment I read on this forum was to imagine that the machine is a friendly alien who is making you better - it really helped me over come my fear - strange, but true!
Sending hugs, Debbie xx
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