Mask Anxiety and Panic

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Comments

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #22
    D Lewis said:

    Yes, the dreaded mask...

    Makes grown men cry.  Seriously, ask Stevenl.  I'm a woman.  I was too scared to cry. They cut the eyes out for me, which helped.  I couldn't have the nose or mouth cut out, because they had targets on those areas...  I listened to Navajo flute music.  Unexpectedly, they already had the CDs.

    One day, I was still on my feet when the techie opened the double doors of a cabinet, to pull my mask out.  The cabinet took up the entire wall, and it was FILLED with masks.  It was horrible.  They were stacked like sarcophagi in there.  I said 'oh my god, you're like the crypt keeper!'  The image is still in my mind.

    Deb

    i did not cry (yet)

    Deb,

     

    I have seen the cabinet full of masks too.  Each mask as creepy as the next.

     

    Matt

  • fishmanpa
    fishmanpa Member Posts: 1,227 Member
    #23
    Duggie88 said:

    T

    My best day of rads was with Boz Scaggs..............I think it was Oxycodone look what you've done to me.

    Dam T your gettin closer now.

          Jeff

    Good Tunes and Good Drugs...

    Worked during my HS and college years... glad to see some things don't go out of style ;)~

    "T" 

  • Ingrid K
    Ingrid K Member Posts: 813
    #24
    get the drugs !!

    Sandy

    Tell Rob that even Superman himself would be freaked out by the mask and the whole process !  Definitely get him a script for some anti-anxiety meds...just ask the med team for them.  Get them TODAY so he has them for Friday.

    Ask about the extra mouth and eye holes...sometimes they can't as extra holes would make the mask too loose....but ask anyway.

    Bring a CD with you -- or see what music they have.  I was lucky and they had a great Rolling Stones CD for me and I just told them to turn it up as loud as possible.....most days I didn't even hear the whirring of the machine.

    There was a huge floor to ceiling rack with masks on them at my place -- just one look at those teeny tiny masks for the kids made me buck up and I never had a problem the rest of the treatment days....I just kept imagining being a child and having to go thru radiation.

    Do check out the SuperThread...many other little tips and tricks in there that might help.

    GOOD LUCK !

  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #25
    Ingrid K said:

    get the drugs !!

    Sandy

    Tell Rob that even Superman himself would be freaked out by the mask and the whole process !  Definitely get him a script for some anti-anxiety meds...just ask the med team for them.  Get them TODAY so he has them for Friday.

    Ask about the extra mouth and eye holes...sometimes they can't as extra holes would make the mask too loose....but ask anyway.

    Bring a CD with you -- or see what music they have.  I was lucky and they had a great Rolling Stones CD for me and I just told them to turn it up as loud as possible.....most days I didn't even hear the whirring of the machine.

    There was a huge floor to ceiling rack with masks on them at my place -- just one look at those teeny tiny masks for the kids made me buck up and I never had a problem the rest of the treatment days....I just kept imagining being a child and having to go thru radiation.

    Do check out the SuperThread...many other little tips and tricks in there that might help.

    GOOD LUCK !

    Rumor

    Maybe I didn't freak when they made my mask because one of my sisters told me she thought they were made out of plaster of paris. Needless to say, when I got in there, I was thrilled to find out it wasn't.

  • George_Baltimore
    George_Baltimore Member Posts: 303
    #26
    hwt said:

    Rumor

    Maybe I didn't freak when they made my mask because one of my sisters told me she thought they were made out of plaster of paris. Needless to say, when I got in there, I was thrilled to find out it wasn't.

    One more vote for

    Ativan.  I think I've had to take it maybe four times in my life but it works.  Half tablet for me.  A full tablet puts me to sleep.  It does work wonders as far as anxiety though.

  • dales2loud
    dales2loud Member Posts: 45
    #27
    Go to your happy place.

    Wish I had better advice, heck my memory blocks that "Mask Memory" until I read a thread on it. Yuck, is all that I can say, I just tried to get through it without showing my family how damaged I felt.

     

    Cry, take drugs, listen to music, make post cancer vacation plans, count the different zaps of the machine so you know how many more are left.

    Do whatever works.

    Prayers

    Dale/Missouri

  • Roar
    Roar Member Posts: 269 Member
    #28
    Valium

    It was Valium for me- 37 treatments - 37 valiums - 5 mg

  • Roar
    Roar Member Posts: 269 Member
    #29
    Lots of good advise

    I tried to block it out- they asked if I wanted the mask when I was done- I said to burn it. I had the eyes cut out. I had a great technician. I would watch the machine go around once to the right once to the left and then the right and the left again then the bell would ring and I knew it was over.  have him fatten up as much as possible while he can because in a few weeks he will not be eating very well.

  • robswife87
    robswife87 Member Posts: 209
    #30
    Roar said:

    Lots of good advise

    I tried to block it out- they asked if I wanted the mask when I was done- I said to burn it. I had the eyes cut out. I had a great technician. I would watch the machine go around once to the right once to the left and then the right and the left again then the bell would ring and I knew it was over.  have him fatten up as much as possible while he can because in a few weeks he will not be eating very well.

    We made it through the mask today

    Went well. He did take an Ativan, but they molded a special neck block and it worked perfect. No problems with that or simulation

    Down side, he had 2 teeth pulled on Tuesday and got dry socket. Tonsils are much better feeling and now the tooth goes down hill. 

    He will go back to work next week as no appts. for next week. We start chemo (carboplatin and taxol) weekly for 7 weeks and 35 rads starting on April 15. One week of normal then off we go. Still got to get to Buddy's Pizza (Best pissa in Michigan)and Frankenmuth for dinner before he loses taste.

    He won't have a port so that was good to hear. We are on a roll

    Sandy

  • Roar
    Roar Member Posts: 269 Member
    #31
    robswife87 said:

    We made it through the mask today

    Went well. He did take an Ativan, but they molded a special neck block and it worked perfect. No problems with that or simulation

    Down side, he had 2 teeth pulled on Tuesday and got dry socket. Tonsils are much better feeling and now the tooth goes down hill. 

    He will go back to work next week as no appts. for next week. We start chemo (carboplatin and taxol) weekly for 7 weeks and 35 rads starting on April 15. One week of normal then off we go. Still got to get to Buddy's Pizza (Best pissa in Michigan)and Frankenmuth for dinner before he loses taste.

    He won't have a port so that was good to hear. We are on a roll

    Sandy

    Good luck

    Enjoy the food while you can- fatten up- I worked all through treatment exept for the last two weeks- I had 3 cisplatin treatment and a similar rad regiment. Work took my mind off the cancer

  • robswife87
    robswife87 Member Posts: 209
    #32
    Roar said:

    Good luck

    Enjoy the food while you can- fatten up- I worked all through treatment exept for the last two weeks- I had 3 cisplatin treatment and a similar rad regiment. Work took my mind off the cancer

    Thank you

    As far as working, maybe 3 weeks until he is run down. He drives a gravel train and can't be on pain meds while driving and it is a strenuous job.

    His boss has been great through this, he will put him in the office if he can make it to work or let him play on the bulldozer if he is up to it. 

    Glad to hear some people can go to work, that is great. I just hate the idea of him staying home and this is all he has to do. He is hoping to keep some energy to ride the tractor to cut grass and keep a little busy so time goes faster.

  • hwt
    hwt Member Posts: 2,328 Member
    #33
    robswife87 said:

    Thank you

    As far as working, maybe 3 weeks until he is run down. He drives a gravel train and can't be on pain meds while driving and it is a strenuous job.

    His boss has been great through this, he will put him in the office if he can make it to work or let him play on the bulldozer if he is up to it. 

    Glad to hear some people can go to work, that is great. I just hate the idea of him staying home and this is all he has to do. He is hoping to keep some energy to ride the tractor to cut grass and keep a little busy so time goes faster.

    Hoping

    Hope for the best with working but tx will dictate if Rob will need to take a break or two. Listen to your body, Rob. Better chance of less fatigue with good hydration and nutrition.

    Good luck! Wondering why no port? Mine wasn't quite the same but called a Hohne, if I recall. Will Rob have something or going for "the stick" each time?

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