Ann Marie,

I'm not sure that there is any one "blanket" answer to this question as it seems that everyone reacts differently. Personally, I "felt" nothing with each visit on the radiation table, 5 days a week for 7 weeks. Each treatment took about 10 to 12 minutes once my mask/head was secured to the table and actual treatment began. In my case, the machine (for lack of better term) ventured around into a total of 12 different positions around my head and neck area. I can recall seeing bright red lights glaring as the ray was actually being administered but nothing was felt. I found it best in my case to just keep my eyes closed during the process each day. There were 2 or 3 days involved overall to where the complete stay on the table came to 20 minutes or so. That was because ever so often they took new photos of some type (as I was told) to monitor the treatment progress. I did not particularly care for those days due to the extended stay on the table with the mask on and secured to the table for the extended amount of time. You should have an opportunity to go through a "dry run" as they did with me once your mask is made. They did it with me just to make sure I would feel comfortable on the table with the mask secured. I was told that it was not uncommon for a patient to suffer a bit of claustrophobia with the mask on but they will provide you with the necessary meds to ease any such happening.

Chemo was pretty much the same way. In may case each round was simply an extended tour in a large comfortable recliner type chair with an IV needle secured in place. My drill involved a total of about 6 hours total in the chair as various bags of fluid and injections of this and that were administered. I recall being advised of what type of effects I might expect within the following 24 to 72 hours following each chemo round but only minimal signs popped up in my case. Perhaps nausea was the worst side effect to bother me but they will see to it that you have meds to help control that.

Believe me, it is not a big deal. The worst part overall is the cumulative effect as mentioned above and in my case I just felt really "crappy" for a total of probably 4 weeks, last couple in Tx and first couple post Tx..

Bill D.