Beckyjo,

I had Proton Radiation about five years ago, and believe it finally cured my cancer after 7 recurrences! It’s the strongest type Radiation we have in the U.S. as there is one type stronger in Japan. The Proton center is amazing! It’s the size of a football field, we had 4 Radiation machines, but only one could emit radiation at a time. The protons went through the coils and all to the big accelerator that’s two stories high to send the protons to your machine. The zaps lasted a minute and are silent. The only thing was the set-up had to be perfect, so setting you up sometimes took awhile, otherwise it’s fast. I had regular protons, which there are about 30 centers throughout the U.S. I had mine in NJ not far from NY. Now there is a center in Manhattan with the same nyc hospitals that had rights in NJ.i was going to a cancer center in manhattan, but lived in the suburbs.

There is a new type Proton Radiation that operated like IMRT called IMPT, so there is no need to change the patient set up for a point and shoot set up, but instead the table or machines changes position. There are about 8 locations in the U,S. that have this type.

I hope this helps!