Radiotherapy 1st Week

Hi

Yes ....if you mean in radiotherapy.....sometimes adjustments have to be made, happened quite often with me, maybe ask for light sedation if you feel tense?   The team require patients to keep perfectly still,

Peter 

Sdgepd6 said:

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. 

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 

Sdgepd6 said:

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? 

Sdgepd6 said:

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. 

6 Weeks but  been advised  very low dose as I was borderline  as to whether  I  needed it   

Seems to be a bit complicated, I had 30 radiotherapy sessions over 6 weeks, sometimes adjustments were made and scans took a little longer, maybe 15 minutes for the procedure.... never had to be X-rayed, my cancer was in the Tonsil and neck areas.

I'm not  sure  

I am not having Peg 

Actual Treatment  is  really  quick  but  them  keep repeating  Scan seems relentless    

Hopefully Tomorrow will be  better 

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

Many Thanks  for your Advice  Everyone