Chetan,
Keep in mind I was treated several years ago and technology advances quite rapidly.

Concerning the parotid glands, I don't have any dry mouth issues and going in, they felt they would be adequately spared. As I recall they need to keep the grays to/through the parotids under 20 and used TOMO's helical scan rotational ARC delivery to accomplish this.

Never-the-less, parotids suffer some temporary damage at just a few grays, so I initially had some dry mouth. It was moderate to mild the first six month to around a year.

I believe a lot and perhaps most on the forum members seem to get over dry mouth after a year or two. So perhaps TOMO just shortens the process.

At the CCC where I was treated a day's break in treatment was considered acceptable if you were far enough along cumulatively.
I was far enough and the "machine down" day was added to the end. I should add that the lost day was after a weekend TOMO upgrade.

There were several other days when the TOMO was acting up and my treatment was significantly delayed. One day the TOMO didn't like something it saw, and ejected me! I also lost a days due to extreme nausea/vomiting and had a three day holiday week-end.

My initial treatment planning scans were done on dedicated Planning CT, not the TOMO and it would have been the same for the CCC's Varian or Novalis units. There is a standard data interchange between most system and then the TOMO planning system optimizes that input for helical ARC delivery and figures out options to avoid sensitive structure (i.e. parotids, Larynx, carotids, etc.). Of course the dosimetry group reviews and tweaks the TOMO planning options and a RO must approve everything as with standard IMRT plans.

My nodes were small with no adverse characteristics. They were surgically removed because I have bad kidneys and after consultation with MD Anderson the recommendation was to go without Chemo. The tumor board was satisfied that any remaining microscopic cancer could be effective dealt with by radiation alone (hope so).

I had an unknown primary so the oral radiation fields were larger and more extensive. That was the main reason for the TOMO. The CCC that treated me uses Novalis Systems for most Oral Cancer, but the TOMO group isn't shy about saying TOMO has advantages and they seem to run more than enough OC to stay proficient.