hey there Paul, Kaiser is quick to out source to other facilities and will utilize medical staff from said facilities. This holds true as long as they stand to save a buck or two. I do not know how many jiggawatts they used on me.(I didn't ask). So don't ask don't know. But I can let you know that when I speak of them holding back the rads. I had a peg inserted before hand. So as not to potentially disrupt the Rads. I would have had no real problem if the peg was left where pegs get pegged. Most importantly not in me. And as far as taste loss, it was all of about 1 full month of either mild to moderate pain and got the peg out so quickly. The fact that I never lost the ability to eat and drink could be construed as a hint that they were holding back. The IMRT beam had only taken hair from the back of my ear going down in a v shape pattern that made me look like the 80s threw up one of its hair styles and it landed squarely on my head. The only real Rad. burn I endured was on the left back side of my tongue. So it was either a very normal dose with the majority of beams going logically through the left side of tongue to the tumor. with less causation to surrounding tissues. Or a much lower dose where as even the main beams did not do full damage seen in majority of patients keeping in mind that DR. Rachale C. had overcompensated for my compromised immunity besause she did not want me to bleed out all over hear nice and clean facility. She had told me that she has the best overall treatment stats in all of the land. Acually she said in southern California. And the fact that Erbitux had been doing great in giving the one two punch. well one of the one two punches. how did the Erbitux treat you? Did you get the rash that is indicative of the treatments effectiveness? Mine got so bad that they had to skip two treatments. Just waiting for the rash to subside. and it did and it did not show up again.(I never thought that I would ever buy another bottle of Oxy anything.) I had acne that decided to plauge me until I was in the early years of my second decade. So it is most def something that I will gather all essential papers on what dose of Rad. was actually given. I am so sorry. about the rant. I still don't think I have processed the implications of yesterdays disturbing news. But I hope that at least now I can get to doing something. other than think all day. Thank you really Paulb along with everyone who has posted. The wealth of experience here is staggering. Talk to you soon ----Shawn U.