Hi Gail,
It is very apparent that you are the number one fan of IMRT, and I can appreciate that. We all wish we could have been fortunate enough to have IMRT.
But, I worry sometimes that you are to gung ho with pushing this as THE best treatment. Please don't take me wrong here, your knowledge is valuable to this board and much needed.
At the same time, if I were a newcomer and had to make a decision, the way you present IMRT would make me feel DISCOURAGED and cheated if my RO insisted on conventional, and it may make me keep looking around until I found an RO willing to give me IMRT..............even though conventional would be better for my type of cancer.
I think we need to find a way to share the knowledge without making anyone feel as if they are the "unlucky" ones if they cannot have IMRT.
Glad Barry is doing so well after treatment, he's been an inspiration to many of us.
Take care,
Minnie

SCC Left Mandible. Jaw replaced with bone from leg. Neck disection, 37 radiation treatments. Recurrence 8-28-07, stage 2, tongue. One third of tongue removed 10-4-07. 5-23-08 chemo started for tumor behind swallowing passage, Our good friend and much loved OCF member Minnie has been lost to the disease (RIP 10-29-08). We will all miss her greatly.