mask for radiation...?

bpell0402
bpell0402 Member Posts: 61
edited October 2022 in Head and Neck Cancer #1
Ive read many people referring to a mask used for radiation. Is that used for all types of Cancers diagnoses or only specific ones? Certain types of radiation also?

Mom has unknown primary, to my understanding they most likely are going to radiate " all over" in common head and neck locations.

thanks, just wondering

trying to get all info i can

Comments

  • Scambuster
    Scambuster Member Posts: 973
    #2
    'Surviving the mask'
    Search this board for a thread 'surviving the mask'.

    Scam
  • honeybelle22
    honeybelle22 Member Posts: 70
    #3
    Face mask
    Hi Bpell, Follow the advice Scambuster and HAL have said and read the threads. of info there.
    For me in the beginning I was scared...fear of the unknown. But now I look back on it and think it wasn't that bad. From what I underestand , yes, they use mask with head and neck radiation. Radiation is very precise so they don't want the patient moving their neck and looking around. First, they custom make it for you...takes about an hour. After that when you go for treatments you're in and out in about 15-20- mins. My appointments where very early so I would be still sleepy (my choice) and I also took a mild sedative before going. The staff was wounderful and we all made friends so in time I looked forward to seeing them.They played smooth jazz for me..my favorite. Also...I developed a trick in my head while radiation going on. I shopped...picked out something I wanted and thought about getting it etc. The staff would laugh when they caught on and ask what I had bought and how much I had spent. LOL
    Remember the staff are very aware of the fears we all have and will work with your mom with meds and support. So, relax and educate yourself. Best wishs and prayers Rose
  • LilTexLady
    LilTexLady Member Posts: 16
    #4
    It's all in the mind...
    Many people are get a bit anxious with the fitting of the mask, to using it every day. I personally would alter my way of thinking. For the fitting, I closed my eyes and pretended I was at a spa getting a warm facial. During the radiation process, I used that time for relaxation from my day. Thinking I was at a beach, etc. It really is all in the mind.
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #5
    LilTexLady said:

    It's all in the mind...
    Many people are get a bit anxious with the fitting of the mask, to using it every day. I personally would alter my way of thinking. For the fitting, I closed my eyes and pretended I was at a spa getting a warm facial. During the radiation process, I used that time for relaxation from my day. Thinking I was at a beach, etc. It really is all in the mind.

    Yes, but No...
    Yes, in reality it may very well be in your mind. But physically, it can also be very much in your body...

    I am a very big opponenet to Mind Over Matter. But under those conditions an circumstances, I had enough other things going on, that the anxiety of dealing with the Mask was more than I wanted to try and out think.

    I opted for Xanax...whether it satisfied my thought process or physically helped I'm not sure (and didn't really care), it worked.

    Xanax took the edge off of the anxiety, and allowed me to drive to and from treatment. I only need it for a few days, after that my mind knew the drill and I could deal with it for the remaining seven plus weeks of the daily grind.

    Best,
    John
  • sweetblood22
    sweetblood22 Member Posts: 3,228
    #6
    Skiffin16 said:

    Yes, but No...
    Yes, in reality it may very well be in your mind. But physically, it can also be very much in your body...

    I am a very big opponenet to Mind Over Matter. But under those conditions an circumstances, I had enough other things going on, that the anxiety of dealing with the Mask was more than I wanted to try and out think.

    I opted for Xanax...whether it satisfied my thought process or physically helped I'm not sure (and didn't really care), it worked.

    Xanax took the edge off of the anxiety, and allowed me to drive to and from treatment. I only need it for a few days, after that my mind knew the drill and I could deal with it for the remaining seven plus weeks of the daily grind.

    Best,
    John

    Well, I sort of agree that some of it is mind over matter
    I was pretty close to needing a Xanax or something to get thru that mask. I can understand why some people couldn't do it with out meds. First of all, it hurt. Especially my first time. I had bruises under my eye brows and broken capilaries on my eye lids because the mask was so tight. Also waffle prints on my face every day. They did cut my eye holes out for me that first day. I had a migraine when I went home that first day. My head was pounding. The eye holes made it slightly more bearable. I brought in my favorite dance/club music to make the 30 minutes go faster. I tried slow, calm music, but it didn't relax me. It just made it drag.

    I tried to project myself out of me- having fun dancing to my favorite tunes. All my years of meditation, biofeedback and prayer were put into play pretty heavily with that.

    Honestly, I feel like that could be a form of torture, being bolted down to a table for a half hour. It sucked.
  • sportsman
    sportsman Member Posts: 97
    #7
    Mask
    Fitting that thing was excuse the expression was a booger for me. I had to go twice before it was fitted as I freaked out the first time. I am claustrophobic anyway and being clamped down with that thing was so bad. My brain surgeons or better yet idiot radialogist did not even offer any drugs to help me get through this. I would have liked to have seen some of them have to experience this. Not wishing anyone to have this cancer, just wishing that I would have had more compassionate people handling my treatment. Well I did make it through thirty five treatments and this way just a little over four years ago. My thoughts and prayers go out to all who are facing this horrible experience. I still have that mask somewhere as I kept it to remind me to never go through this again, no matter what.
  • fisrpotpe
    fisrpotpe Member Posts: 1,349 Member
    #8
    Two Masks
    I was told recently that they have two different material shapes. One is just the sheet and the other has the eye's precut out. Apparently many of the treat centers only carry one and do not offer the option. I know several people who has asked/fought to have the eye's cut out and finally they cut them out. The material with the eye's precut out makes it harder to fit in the right place and it may take a few times to get it right so they do not want to spend the moneys on those that do not work.

    Having the eye's open would be a huge benefit, I suggest you ask for the eye's to be open in the mesh.

    Mine was unknown and they did the all over plan with added at the actual tumor.

    John
  • soccerfreaks
    soccerfreaks Member Posts: 2,788 Member
    #9
    Here is what I had to say
    Here is what I had to say about the mask, at the time, more or less:

    Later, after release from the hospital and confirmation that all of my mad dreams were not true, I enjoyed chemotherapy: day-long lounges in easy chairs with needles in my arm and balloon-sized, well, balloons, filled with chemical wonders infiltrating my immune system. During all of this, I was receiving radiation treatments, daily, for seven weeks. As a claustrophobe, I was not enamored of the idea of having my face pinned down to a table in a fiberglass mask for 30 to 45 minutes. In fact, I advised the medical folks I would rather die than go through this for seven weeks, but they opted to ignore me. From this, I can tell you two things: I had never taken valium before but suddenly realized it was one of the greatest inventions since the wheel, and, two, music is the greatest clock in the world. I calculated that every song was three minutes long, and used this to help me get through the dragging, dragging minutes to the end of each session.

    As time passed, I made the effort to reduce my valium dose, but never went without the music, and never really got used to being bolted down to a table. Of all of the experiences I had, this, the radiation, the mask, is the part I would least wish on anyone. And yet, if I can do it, anyone can. I'm not saying I did it with grace and courage, but I did it. (You should know: after the trial episode, I DID say I was going to have to die, because I was not going to go through this, and they finally offered me to stay in the hospital like the children, so that I could get drugs and so forth, and I actually said YES!!! That sounds good to me!!! And they shook their heads as if to tell me I was a wimp and then the doc said, "You are a wimp." Ultimately, I was not allowed that option.)

    I wish your mom and her family the best.

    Take care,

    Joe
  • louwpb
    louwpb Member Posts: 4
    #10
    Mask
    The answer to your question is YES. The main reason for the mask is so you don't move your head. The reason is that her doctor will map out the area's that need treatment. I did it for two weeks and it was kind of scary, you have to close your eyes and think of good things. Hope this helped/
  • Kent Cass
    Kent Cass Member Posts: 1,898 Member
    #11
    louwpb said:

    Mask
    The answer to your question is YES. The main reason for the mask is so you don't move your head. The reason is that her doctor will map out the area's that need treatment. I did it for two weeks and it was kind of scary, you have to close your eyes and think of good things. Hope this helped/

    Hmmmmmmmmm
    For me, 1/2-tab of Xanax less than 30-minutes before my rad session helped a lot. The physical problem of saliva build-up and the inability to swallow, with the pharynx being like a bowl as one lays on one's back, was the physical problem I had. They cut an area away on the mask below the chin to help with being able to swallow; however, I found that holding my mouth in a position of "overbite" with the backs of my top teeth held down on the front of my bottom teeth reduced the saliva thing. Trial and error. My sessions usually lasted some 25-minutes with getting zapped in 20 different places, which is probably typical. Wish I could have found the perspective of the Texas lady, but I never did.

    kcass
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #12
    Kent Cass said:

    Hmmmmmmmmm
    For me, 1/2-tab of Xanax less than 30-minutes before my rad session helped a lot. The physical problem of saliva build-up and the inability to swallow, with the pharynx being like a bowl as one lays on one's back, was the physical problem I had. They cut an area away on the mask below the chin to help with being able to swallow; however, I found that holding my mouth in a position of "overbite" with the backs of my top teeth held down on the front of my bottom teeth reduced the saliva thing. Trial and error. My sessions usually lasted some 25-minutes with getting zapped in 20 different places, which is probably typical. Wish I could have found the perspective of the Texas lady, but I never did.

    kcass

    Trial and Error
    Like you mentioned....

    If you aren't intimate with the machine and routine in the beginning you definitely will be by the end of treatment.

    I knew every position, click, buzz, zap and timing for each of those 15 - 20 minutes.

    Three - five songs on the CD and I was finsihed and waiting to be unstrapped for the day....

    It was a lot like the movie Ground Hogs Day during that time....same thing day, after day, after day, after day.....

    Bext,
    John
  • PamelaR3
    PamelaR3 Member Posts: 3 Member
    #13
    surviving the mask can be a challange
    I had radiation to the jaw and I know I had a hard time putting that mask on and getting strapped to that table everyday...my best advice is to try to find something that is relaxing to you..maybe a great memory or something you need to do for that day to keep your thoughts busy and not thinking about that moment...if anxiety is too great talk to your doctor they are sure to understand. Good luck to you and your family.
  • D Lewis
    D Lewis Member Posts: 1,581 Member
    #14
    Skiffin16 said:

    Trial and Error
    Like you mentioned....

    If you aren't intimate with the machine and routine in the beginning you definitely will be by the end of treatment.

    I knew every position, click, buzz, zap and timing for each of those 15 - 20 minutes.

    Three - five songs on the CD and I was finsihed and waiting to be unstrapped for the day....

    It was a lot like the movie Ground Hogs Day during that time....same thing day, after day, after day, after day.....

    Bext,
    John

    Bwa ha ha ha ha...
    Yes, it was very much like the move "Groundhog Day" now that you mention it.

    I told the technicians I would lie down gracefully, if they cut out the eye holes for me. Otherwise, it was going to be me sniveling, whimpering and choking on my own snot. The Techs chose to cut the eye holes. The rest is history.

    Deb
  • ToBeGolden
    ToBeGolden Member Posts: 695
    #15
    Not a big deal for me.
    EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! The mask was not a big deal for me. I'm not making light of the experiences of my fellow cancer survivors. I only want to post that there is a wide range of experiences. If I needed medication, I certainly would have asked for it.

    I ended up by asking the techs to hold the mask over me and allowing me some 30 seconds to position myself. Then when I gave them the sign they secured the mask. Very small differences in head position can affect the comfort?? of the mask. Comfort is a strange word is this context. But I did notice that the mask seemed extremely tight on some days; while on others, it was more or less well fitted. So I started to make sure I lined my head up.

    This advice will only be good for those than have a minimum of anxiety.

    One should also add, that the treatment is only a couple of minutes. Sometimes, a pre-treatment scan is taken which also takes a couple of minutes.
  • Hondo
    Hondo Member Posts: 6,636 Member
    #16
    ToBeGolden said:

    Not a big deal for me.
    EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT! The mask was not a big deal for me. I'm not making light of the experiences of my fellow cancer survivors. I only want to post that there is a wide range of experiences. If I needed medication, I certainly would have asked for it.

    I ended up by asking the techs to hold the mask over me and allowing me some 30 seconds to position myself. Then when I gave them the sign they secured the mask. Very small differences in head position can affect the comfort?? of the mask. Comfort is a strange word is this context. But I did notice that the mask seemed extremely tight on some days; while on others, it was more or less well fitted. So I started to make sure I lined my head up.

    This advice will only be good for those than have a minimum of anxiety.

    One should also add, that the treatment is only a couple of minutes. Sometimes, a pre-treatment scan is taken which also takes a couple of minutes.

    The Mask

    Normally if they are going to do radiation anywhere to the head or neck they will make a Mask to keep the head from moving during treatment; one little mistake can cause a lot of problems. But I find it is not a big deal, in fact I kept both of my Masks as a reminder that life has its many ups and downs. I just look back at those times and thanks God for pulling me through the tuffes times in my life and for extending my life so I can be with my wife and grandkids.

    All the best to you
    Hondo
  • steve64014
    steve64014 Member Posts: 1 Member
    #17

    Second time back to finish mapping and ct contrast, making the mask went ok, but know I'm having problems just putting it on, took 2 xanax today with no help, tomorrow the doc wants me to try valium,I hope it helps, I have to fo this to get treatment started, any help would be great,

  • Remington25
    Remington25 Member Posts: 93 Member
    #18

    I'm late to this thread, however I will say getting the mask was scary for me (45yo M at the time). My actual radiation treatments were a breeze. I was nervous for the first one but you literally do not feel anything so after the first minute I was able to relax. My radiation techs were basically the same 2-3 women throughout and they made the experience enjoyable.

    I picked my music type, they let me play it louder than normal and I would simply pretend I was at a music festival for the treatment duration.

    Good luck with everything!

  • wbcgaruss
    wbcgaruss Member Posts: 2,466 Member
    #19

    Hello Steve and welcome to the forum. I guess I would say it is just a mental thing I think. Everything they are doing with the mask is for you good and really painless. Think of going into radiation without a mask, that would be nice but we can't hold still well enough in the same position so they need the mask to hold your head in place, in the same position every time so the radiation is accurate and effective. As long as your breathing is good just relax and think of something far off you have planned to do just think away from the radiation room and before you know it each radiation session is done. Please check the Superthread at the top of the page which is loaded with information to help you through this. There is a section in there on dealing with the mask called TIPS FOR HANDLING THE MASK:

    We all did this and you will too once you get the right combination of meds and mental control down you will be good.

    Here is a video listed in the Superthread of a guy getting radiation and showing there is nothing to it and the techs take such good care of you they are the greatest.

    https://vimeo.com/78791415


    Let us know how you are doing we are here for you and want you to get through this treatment and kick cancer's butt out of your life. Feel free to ask more questions on specifics and we will try to answer but seriously check out TIPS FOR HANDLING THE MASK: In the Superthread I am sure you will find help there.

    Wishing You the Best

    Take care, God Bless-Russ

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