Elocia,
You will never feel pain directly during radiation treatment. During and following your first treatment, in fact, you won't feel a thing. The effects of the radiation are cumulative and take a while before the side effects begin to be noticed. After two or three weeks I began to have swallowing difficulties and the burn on the skin began to become apparent after about three weeks if I remember correctly. Sometime around the three week mark, I got my PEG tube. Although the radiation eventually takes its toll, you don't feel pain from the rays when receiving it, so don't fear being on the table.

Secondly, I was also single when I was going through radiation and almost always drove myself to and from MDACC. They are nice enough to provide free convenient valet parking for radiation patients. I did have people available to drive me and did take advantage of it a few times. By that time I was on duralgesic pain patches which caused me to doze off a little. However, for the most part I had no trouble driving the one-half hour back and forth from the medical center to my home.

Best of luck...

Danny G.