Dad saw radiation oncologist for first time today (after tongue tumor removal/right neck dissection on 4/27), who sez he needs 5 weeks IMRT 5 days a week plus "a few days" in hospital after that for brachytherapy. Dad is willing on the IMRT, but doesn't understand the need for brachytherapy after. He seems concerned about additional side effects and about being kept isolated in the hospital without his caregiver support team (me & Mom). Anybody had this done? I have read all prior posts on forum after searching brachytherapy and all the info from the main search using same word. I'm interested in knowing if anybody has experienced this treatment combination and what their experience was.

Bellarte,

I had brachytherapy after about 7 weeks of field radiation (which was after surgery), and for me it turned out to be one of those things that sounded a lot worse than it actually was. By the time I had it done, I was already feeling some pretty severe side-effects from radiation, so I didn't feel as though brachytherapy made it incrementally worse. I was in an isolation room for about 36 hours (which meant that my husband could only be there for about 10-15 minutes during that time, and nurses couldn't stay in the room very long, either). All things considered, I ended up with very little discomfort while I was there -- the biggest issue was boredom! I slept, watched TV, and sipped on whatever liquids I was allowed to have. A few days after it was over, I was able to travel out of state for my nephew's baptism (I'm his godmother). Full disclosure: I was 39 at the time and had no other health problems.

Cathy