Lois,

I won't sugar coat it from my perspective. I did not find the mask itself to be such a problem. The problem for me was having the mask clamped to the table once climbing aboard each morning before treatment. Just something about the feeling of helplessness and immobility of having my head clamped down to the table freaked me a bit. One of the techs who attended me quite often told me that probably close to half of the patients required medication prior to radiation due to the anxiety. He also said that the men were worse than the women as a whole.

Bill D.


Dx 4/27/06, SCC, BOT, Stage III/IV, Tx 5/25/06 through 7/12/06 - 33 IMRT and 4 chemo, radical right side neck dissection 9/20/06.