 Patient Advocate (1000+ posts)
Joined: Mar 2003 Posts: 1,384 Likes: 1 | Just to give you guys more stories to tell, the microwave is not really a good comparison to radiation therapy. Instead tell them the radiation therapy is like millions of microscopic arrows being shot. Some arrows hit cancer cells, some hit good cells. The good cells are able to recover and rebuild, the cancer cells die. Microwaves actually are radio waves (not ionizing radiation) and heat by the fact that the waves cause the molecules of food to bang into each other. (Essentially friction heating ) 
Mark, 21 Year survivor, SCC right tonsil, 3 nodes positive, one with extra-capsular spread. I never asked what stage (would have scared me anyway) Right side tonsillectomy, radical neck dissection right side, maximum radiation to both sides, no chemo, no PEG, age 40 when diagnosed.
| 
