Claustrophobic Anyone?

Seems once I've had my kidney tests on Tuesday, there will only be two more hurdles to cross before treatment proper starts.


First, the appointment with the medical oncologist to go over the chemo treatment and the radiotherapy mask.


Back to the chemo for just a minute, seems as I'm having it weekly, the dosage will be lower than if I was only having it once every three weeks.  First dosage will be same day as the first radiotherapy - sounds like that will be a fun day, not.


Now, the mask should take a couple of hours to make and they're considering doing that during the downtime in my kidney tests.  Interesting off-the-cuff comment from Wendie was that whole actual radiotherapy process only takes literally a minute or so, but the majority of time is spent setting up the equipment and screwing the mask down.  Pardon me?  It's quite logical really - the mask has to be a perfect fit to my face, the head has to be in exactly the same place each time, so obviously restraining the mask will achieve that.  so if you're a bit unsettled, claustrophobic, etc, this could be a rather stressful process.


Then Wendie said my new favourite words: "don't worry, if it upsets you, we can medicate".


While I seem to be going on about medication quite a bit, I don't want to overlook the fact that the team is there to ensure I get through my treatment with as minimal upset as possible.  The only time they'll actually stop treatment is for clinical reasons, apart from that they're going to be in my corner doing whatever it takes to keep me on the straight and narrow.