Amy, I just wanted to add my congrats to the posts and tell you it does get better!

The mask was especially daunting for me too.

A couple quick points I wanted to throw out there.

1) You mentioned you "Don't have a choice" about getting the treatment.

Sometimes, I think we humans react with the most panic when choice seems to be removed from the menu.

That powerless, hopeless, helpless feeling can be more paralyzing that a Wall Street meltdown.

I found that when I remembered I DO have choices and that I was making them as intelligently as possible, it usually helped.

You know that the scary statistics about this disease include a fair number of people that choose to do NOTHING.

And, there are about 4 million choices between nothing and doing what you are doing, not the least of which is making the choice to get through the treatment.

2) Pretty soon the challenges of the treatment will move to the forefront. I remember wondering at the beginning how I could possibly get by emotionally everyday, laying on that hard, cold, table for what seemed like hours, with some sci-fi waffle mask on my face, not being able to move. Good news- The radiation kicks you in the butt so much soon, that you'll be concentrating on the best distraction there is. Survival.

3) Concentrate on how you are going to decorate (or torture) that mask when you are done. This probably doesn't work for everyone, but I remember having some comfort in the imagination of how I was going to decorate the mask (they'll give it to you after tx usually). It sounds silly, but that's the point. Find silly things to think about so that your body & spirit can deal with the serious challenges you are going through.

sorry for the ramblings...I haven't had my 2nd caffe latte so this may make NO SENSE whatsoever :-P
Embrace it.