radiation

Radiation therapy actually only takes a few minutes. They lay you on a table, line you up, and zap...you're done! He'll probably be longer in the waiting area than in therapy. Some side effects to expect might be redness of the skin to the radiated area, sore throat if his neck is being radiated, less saliva (so suck on hard candies, I liked lemon drops), and perhaps some fatigue. I don't know if the fatigue was so much from the radiation as the HAVING to go someplace every day whether I wanted to or not at the same time. I wouldn't even want to do something I liked every day at the same time! Oh yeah, and it doesn't hurt.

I had radiation to the mantle field and in one armpit. I did throw up some because of the saliva problem. It gets really thick and would make me sick to my stomach. My doc said that was because they were radiating by Salivary glands. My radiation was a breeze compared to chemo. The radiation techs were awesome. I still go back (2 years later) to visit them on a regular basis. The only other thing I can advise is to have the docs keep a close watch on his Thyroid levels. My Radiation Oncologist had warned me that the Thyroid can stop working from radiation. I had to push to get it tested after a year and it was not functioning at all. My docs were really surprised and said that it usually doesn't happen that fast. If I could go back, I would have had them check it was sooner. I am on Thyroid medicine now and am doing well. But, like I always say, it is a small price to pay.
Good luck to you and your family. Our prayers are with you.