#35092 04-25-2007 05:47 PM | Joined: Apr 2007 Posts: 93 Supporting Member (50+ posts) |  Supporting Member (50+ posts)
Joined: Apr 2007 Posts: 93 | My sister had a real difficult time with the mask. She has a lot of scaring from 2 surgeries on her neck, so that and the tumor by her carotid arteries may have made it more painful. It never got easier for her, she even cut her hair short, hoping that would help. The doctor had her take adivan (1mg) and morphine before the procedure each day. On the days they had to do a scan, sometimes she would have to have them stop the procedure and give her a few minutes to regroup. They did not like this as it is not good for the machinery to stop it in mid flow. She had the waffle face afterwards and since she was also taking the amofistine shots she usually vomited after the procedure. Had to stop the shots after 3 weeks, even with anti nausea meds, she vomited each time, and the whole process was wearing her down. She's not a wimp either, is pretty tough, ran a marathon about 10 years ago. I hope your experience is an easier one than hers was. Get meds to take care of the pain before the procedure, it helps make it more tolerable.
Hang in there,
Nancy
Caregiver to sister Connie, dx 2005, scc tongue, 4 surgeries inc. radical left side neck dissection 7/06, 35 IMRT, and 7 cisplatin 2/07, passed away 8-11-07, 51 yrs. young, fought with courage, strength and grace, found peace on her new journey.
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#35093 04-27-2007 02:23 PM | Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 82 Supporting Member (50+ posts) | | Supporting Member (50+ posts)
Joined: Jun 2006 Posts: 82 | Mine was also very tight in the beginning, but as everyone else says, it will get loose over time with some of the weight loss. Mine also became less tight as some of my hair thinned out from the treatments.
The actual radiation gets easier, I think, after a couple times. Towards the end, I almost always fell asleep during the proceedure because I was so relaxed.
DX on 05/01/06 with SCC of right tongue. 05/11/06 surgery-tumor 1.2cm & 4 cm clear margins & parital glos. & neck dissection with removal of 34 nodes/1 positive at 4mm)T1N1MO
35 IGRT & 3 cycles of chemo (1 cisplatin & 2 carbo-complete on 8/9/06.
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#35094 04-29-2007 04:46 PM | Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 316 Platinum Member (300+ posts) | | Platinum Member (300+ posts)
Joined: Jan 2004 Posts: 316 | Hi all, I saw pictures of the tennis racquet configurated masks and I prefer mine  My mask (in Australia) was thankfully a perspex mold. Comfortable, of course creepy, but I used to imagine that I was under the sea in an "Octapus's Garden" with Ringo Starr and the Beatles, and mentally sing along! I have it still hanging above a hanging light and I lined it with foil. Looks pretty cool! Cheers! Tizz
End of Radiation - the "Ides of March" 2004 :-)
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#35095 04-30-2007 03:30 AM | Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,940 "OCF across the pond" Patient Advocate (1000+ posts) | | "OCF across the pond" Patient Advocate (1000+ posts)
Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 1,940 | Robs mask was clear see through perspex and thank god he never had any marks to suffer
Liz in the UK
Husband Robin aged 44 years Dx 8th Dec 2006 poorly differentiated SCC tongue with met to neck T1N2cM0 Surgery and Radiation.Finished TX April 2007
Recurrence June/07 died July 29th/07.
Never take your eye off the ball, it may just smack you in the mouth.
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#35096 05-01-2007 03:35 PM | Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 34 Contributing Member (25+ posts) | | OP Contributing Member (25+ posts)
Joined: Feb 2007 Posts: 34 | That would have been great I still get waffle marks but have made it through 2 sessions so far. | | |
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