Yesterday I went to the mailbox and pulled out the Discover magazine issue for September 2006. We've subscribed to it for years now, but in glancing at the cover headlines "Strange Therapies: Forgotten Photos From The First War On Cancer"

Actually the article is by Susan Kruglinski, but it had some fascinating photos and history on radiation (p. 44, From the Burns Archive: The Deadly Rays That Cured Cancer")

The old photo archive accompanying the article included a photo from 1939 of a woman wearing a lead shield mask with a lead mouthpiece for cancer treatment on her upper lip.

Thought I would mention the article, in case someone else would find this of interest. Seeing the history of radiation, makes me feel a tad better that there's been some improvement in treatment.

They also included a photo of a doctor that lost both his hands from overexposure to radiation. According to the article, "Scores of pioneering doctors died after months or years of treating patients."

Jen