Monday, June 20, 2011

I need to know about radiation treatment for cancer

I need to know about radiation treatment for cancer?
I am writing a book about a cancer patient and I need to know about radiation. Whats the proccess? How long does it take? What are the side-affects? What does it feel like? Anything. Thanks!
Cancer - 7 Answers



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1 :
go to the following links and you will soon know the real truth.......
2 :
It would depend on the site of the cancer. 4 siblings in my family have had radiation treatment for cancers, 2 in similar locations, the other 2 quite different and we have had 3 very different experiences. Breast cancer, 4 dot tattoos were made to line up treatments with to ensure each treatment went to the correct place. 5 days a week for 5 weeks, the treatment was given, took about 10 minutes to ensure everything exactly right position and about 30 seconds for the treatment. by week 4, burns to the surface skin in the area and skin peeling away, last week very painful with ointment being applied after each treatment and covered in plastic wrap to keep the area moist - yuk! Tonsil cancer, a clear mask was made to fit the lower face & neck, molded to patient, with a grid on the mask for lining up treatments. Skin surface was tender, so it was lucky that the radiation caused hair in area to fall out as it would have been too painful to shave. Internally, throat was too painful to swallow and a naso-gastric tube was used for feeding in the last week of treatment. Uterine cancer, radiation was applied internally, with the patient needing to lie completely still in isolation for 24 hours. Treatment was suspended whenever anyone (nurse etc) had to enter the room or if the patient needed to move. Patient reported worst experience of her life. Hope that helps.
3 :
My husband had neck cancer, maligant neoplasm of oropharynx,unspecified. He had a laryngoscopy, a tonsil taken out and a biosy of his tongue. 90% of it was cut out and a nerve was taken out of his shoulder.The other 10% was too close to the main artery to take out. My husband had the strongest radiation there is twice a day for 7 weeks. A porter cath was put in his chest for the kemo treatments. He had 2 8 hours kemo trearments. One time after a radiation treatment, the conbination of the meds, crashed his blood pressure and he fell on the floor. After the first 3 weeks he was so weak he could not walk. he threw up bile. He choked a lot. He was in the hospital under 24 hour skilled nursing care the last 4 weeks. He was fed threw a feeding tube, sticking out of his belly. It took hours for the liquod to drip into his stomach. He could not swollow because the radition fried his throat. ruined his salava glands and taste buds. His neck was burned and cream was put on his neck. When His kemo doctor saw him, she said no more kemo. He was given morphine for pain and for nausa, phenergan and antibiotics. His immune system was down, so he developed herpy sores in his mouth. The antibiotic was changed. Before the ambulance drivers took him for his treatments, he was given morphine and nausia medicine. He was given morphine and phenagen on a regular basics.And he lost hair on the back of his head and on the left side of his face. His voice started sounding froggy. There is a lot of pain and nausia with these treatments. He had regular pet scans to check to see if the cancer came back anywhere. He had radiation damage to his shoulder. Later a spur grew on that shoulder and it had to be removed. That was 3 years ago. He still has a hard time swallowing, tasting and no salava. He has pain in his shoulder. The day will come when he will have to have a balloon procedure to widen his throat.
4 :
You can find some of the answers on www.after-cancer.com Look up Aloe Vera (helpful gel) - this could give you ideas of what can help during treatment. Good luck with book Verite R
5 :
To get your facts straight I would go to an onocologist and ask your questions. Don't know if they will charge money to talk t them, but if you are writing a book, you really want to get the facts. I don't know if a cancer yahoogroup will let you join, as some of them are very picky about who joins. They really protect. I am on the lung, and thyroid cancer groups. Thyroid cancer patients receive radiation. I just went through that less than two weeks ago. My mom has lung cancer and went through a different type of radiation (10 treatments) in all. I just had to take a couple of pills.
6 :
There are many treatments and they vary based on the type and location of the cancer. An oncologist will request a certain radiation dose (a measure of energy deposited into the tumor) be given, then medical physicists and dosimetrists will develop a treatment plan that details how and when the radiation will be delivered. The treatment plan is developed to minimize the radiation dose to healthy tissue as much as possible while delivering the desired dose to the tumor. The radiation dose will be fractioned over a period of weeks to allow the healthy tissue to heal. Some cancers (primarily thyroid) are treated with radioactive material, Iodine-131, that is injected or taken in pill form. This is usually a single dose and is done as an outpatient procedure. However the patient has to take care to limit the amount of time they spend around others, especilly children for the first week or so following the trreatment. In some cases if the patient can not avoid being around people at home they stay in the hospital for a few days. You could talk to an oncologist or a medical physicist to get more details. The physicist will generally have more time, as they do not have appointments with patients all day.
7 :
Mine was to my head for brain cancer. I had a mask molded to me head so I couldn't move during the treatment. I laid on a table, they hooked my mask to the table and left the room. It took all of 5 minutes to complete my radiation. 5 days a week for 6 weeks. A lot more mucous in my throat and a metallic taste. It doesn't feel like anything. My hair fell out where the radiation went in and came out and it turned the skin on the side of my face and skull brown, which went away about a month or so after my treatments were over. To the TD moron who is following me around again, are you saying MY treatments were not correct? Idiot.



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