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Radiotherapy: a personal experience
Parents, carers and children themselves may have anxieties about their treatment and what the different procedures will be like. Some patients have chosen to share their experiences on public websites, and we feel that it may be useful for children who are preparing for their own treatment to read what they have written.
Below is an extract from a blog by the parents of a young boy who underwent radiotherapy at the Churchill Hospital in 2009.
"Every day he has to be at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford to undergo his treatment for the next six weeks. This involves him lying face down on a table with his face in a specially moulded mask to keep his head very still.
Once he is comfortable and the nurses are happy with his position he then has a mesh hood put over his head. This hood serves two purposes, the first being that it helps to keep his head dead still and the other is they are able to use this to put sticky tabs on to line up and map out the exact place they want to zap him.
Whilst he is in the radiology room being set up, and during his treatment, we have to stand outside and watch the procedure on two monitors in the control area just outside the room. The first day was expected to be full of anxieties on both his part and ours as parents.
The professionalism of the staff is outstanding. Everything they do not only makes him at ease but also us as parents too. Each step was explained to him inside the room and to us outside watching on the monitors.
The actual zapping treatment only takes around 15 seconds but the preparing him and putting him in the exact position takes quite a bit longer. From the time we got in the hospital to the time we left was 45 minutes.
Everything that has happened to him through this ordeal has amazed us with the way he has dealt with each challenge that he been placed in front of him."
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If you would like to share your experience with us, or if you have a personal view that you feel would be helpful to other patients, please do contact us at feedback@orh.nhs.uk