Of course everyone’s experiences are different, but radiation for me was - in a word - boring.
I went in every weekday for 5 weeks (25 sessions). Each Friday they’d give me my appointment times for the following week; I asked for morning appointments to get it over with. About an hour before the appointment I had to drink 750ml of water so I had a full bladder. I’d then drive in (about 15 min away), park and register at the reception desk. They were usually running late - but maybe only 15 min if I was lucky. I would go through, get changed into a hospital gown, and take my belongings with me. I could leave my pants/shorts on if they had no metal in them. I would lie on my back and they would move me into place using the table, lift the gown and lower my shorts, and use a use a laser to line up the machine with the 4 tiny tattoo dots I had done during the simulation. They would also take a few measurements to make sure I was in position. The process of getting lined up took maybe 3-5 mins.
They would leave the room, the machine would do a short cone beam CT scan, then start the treatment. I felt nothing, but could hear the machine as it did it’s thing. It wasn’t cold or uncomfortable; the table was a bit hard but nothing bad. The most uncomfortable part was lying there still with a full bladder and needing to pee. I don’t think you’d be able to have earphones or anything as they don’t want you bringing anything metal in.
Once done I would dress and leave. I was probably in the treatment room for 15 min; the whole thing took maybe 30-45 min depending on how late they were.
Whilst I was doing radiation I also took Xeloda (capecitabine) tablets in the morning and evening, with food (1500mg twice per day). I didn’t take these on the weekends (as I wasn’t having radiation).
In terms of symptoms, for the first 2 weeks I had none. I found I would feel a little bit nauseous if I didn’t have a proper meal before the Xeloda tablets. In the 3rd week I started to develop some cystitis-type pains, diarrhea and general soreness around my rear end. The cystitis went away quickly, but the diarrhea and soreness remained until about 2 weeks after finishing treatment. I was very tired in the later weeks - most of the time I was OK but there were I couple of days where I pretty much just slept.
The two most helpful things for me were using a bidet attachment for the toilet to avoid wiping, and using MooGoo cream twice a day to help prevent any skin damage. There are lots of tips for handling radiation at this thread:
viewtopic.php?t=32621After radiation, I had a ‘complete metabolic response’, meaning no cancer cells were visible on a PET scan (but some still suspected to be present, which pathology later confirmed).
Hope this helps, and good luck!
Rob