Angie88 hello and welcome. The best thing I did was find forums especially this one and ask questions. It's just like the dr.s will tell you, everyone has a slightly different experience or the timing of side effects may be slightly different. If you ask the questions and read posts you kind of know what is coming or things you can do for side effects ect. For me the knowledge came from combined efforts of my dr.s and these forums. No matter how hard I tried I never asked all the questions I wanted to when I seen my doc. I always had to read posts or ask new questions.

The mask was scary the first time they put it on just because I really didn't know they were going to put it on right then, and I had just had a tonsillectomy. I was afraid I would start choking and I sure didn't want to go through that. I didn't choke and never had any more trouble. I really didn't have any radiation side effects fo r 3+ weeks so it kind of gave me plenty of time to get a little more educated.

Chemo side effects started the week after the first treatment and they were a little tougher. You can do this. It is scary and overwhelming at times. What works for me is just taking it a day at a time and one treatment at a time. The only thing I set an expectation on was that once I started that there would be no stopping until I was finished. I think alot of people will tell you it is difficult to start again if treatment is interrupted. I just didn't want to have to take any time off from my treatment so I was very careful. Especially about who I was around and large crowds.

If I can share anything it's how important it was to me to not try to please everyone by visiting with them during my treatment. I talked on the phone alot and e-mailed alot but I stayed pretty isolated just because I didn't want to get sick. The only exceptions were my wife and little boy. I didn't get sick. For the most part my treatments have been bearable. You are in my prayers and I wish you luck. My biggest fears were of the unknown and there is a wealth of experience here to shed light on most all of the unknowns I had. Hope it helps you. Lee