May the 4th be with you

The date has been set for my radiotherapy treatment to start. And in case you haven't guessed it's May 4th.

But before we get into that there's the unusual procedure of making a mask that perfectly fits every contour of the face. First, take a near molten sheet of plastic and apply to the face. Secondly let set. And that's about it. Not, actually, an unpleasant experience. It's what I imagine it would be like to be attacked by a face-hugger from the Alien films, only without the egg laying and chest bursting business. There's a little hole for the nose to allow you to breathe. Fingers crossed I don't get a cold.

There's kind of a cross-hatching where the plastic is thicker. At its thinnest it's actually opaque and you can see through it. I'll try and get a picture at some point, or even better nab it when the treatment is over.

What followed was the CT scan while wearing the mask. This gives them a better idea of where to target their laser beams. All done in half an hour.

So here's the timeline: I have an appointment for a dummy run on the 28th April, just to make sure they've got their maths right. Then we do the first one proper on 4th May. This is followed by 30 daily treatments, not counting weekends, which should take us up to mid June.

Other than another MIR scan the surgeons want to do that should, hopefully, maybe, fingers crossed, be about it.

Will keep you up to date.

J