podochigae

Thanks for sharing your story, John and Aaron, I just came across this thread tonight. Just wanted to offer my thoughts and prayers to you and your families. As a medical physicist in radiation oncology, I know that this is a very difficult process for patients. The idea of receiving radiation is pretty scary. Getting fit for the immobilization mask can get claustrophobic really fast. Plus, you need to lie still on a hard couch for 20-30 minutes for each treatment (35 for head and neck). Still, the radiation treatment process has greatly evolved over the last 15-20 years. My dad had cancer of the small intestine in the 1960's. Back then, they treated him with a Cobalt 60 radioactive source which has an energy of about 1.25 MV. At that level, most of the energy gets deposited in the first 1cm of tissue. So, my dad's skin got really black (burnt) and smelled, since the dose had to be deposited deeper where the tumor was. In fact, in those days, doctors used to determine the amount of radiation patients received by examining how red their skin was. Nowadays, hospitals have small linear accelerators that can produce photons of energies between 6 and 18 MV, which has what is called a skin-sparing effect (dose peaks about 1.5 - 2.5cm below the skin surface). Much, much better than Cobalt 60. Computers and dedicated treatment planning software are used to come up with personalized plans that target the tumors while sparing nearby, healthy organs. Chemo and radiation are frequently used together - chemo for a more systemic treatment and radiation for a more localized treatment. For head and neck cancers, we definitely contour the parotid glands (they produce saliva) and try to spare the dose that these organs receive in order to avoid dry mouth. It just depends on how close / large the tumor is. Still, cancer is terrible, and I just wanted to pass along some words from the radiation side with the hope of offering some encouragement. I know you most likely already finished the radiation treatments by now, but if you want to talk or have any questions about radiation or what you went through, feel free to PM me. Keep in mind I am not a physician but I can help answer basic questions. All the best, brian

I just bought DD 158 from Mark and I can see why his kudos thread is 11 pages long. The book was well-packaged, came in great condition and was shipped very quickly. I would not hesitate to buy from him again. Thanks!

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@ 20% off

Just got the book today - I was very pleasantly surprised. Pressing completely removed that little dimple near the "Gene Day" on the left side. I thought CGC would ding the book more due to the tear caused by the bottom staple, but apparently not, as it's considered "very light". I'm very happy, needless to say. Thanks everyone for their input! Grader Notes:very light spine stress lines to cover very light staple tears

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