Good for you Linda!! By the end of treatment, you'll be able to almost fall asleep during the time you're in the mask, lol. Marking off the calender is such a huge memory for me, I put one on my fridge and the biggest moment of my day was to put another X on it. I would take it down a few times a day, especially as I started to feel worse, and count and count. It did wonders for me and I still have that calender.
Good luck to you, you're my same age (I was 41 when in treatment and just turned 45 on Friday) and I have the tatoos across my chest too!

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.