Phantom of the Opera mask, scan & schedule

A few days later we got my next appointment, which was for last Wednesday (13th Feb).  No indication of what for, so we went along to find out.  I had called and discussed the treatment with the oncology registrar in the meantime, as I was unclear on why the radiotherapy was over such a large area to treat the lymph node - I now understood that they wanted to cover a larger area to make sure they got any cancer cells that were still hanging around in the tissue around the tonsil and in the area between the tonsil and the lymph node.  I was also clear that the chemo was once a week, but the radio was every day (which we had not understood on the previous visit, somehow).

A few days prior to the appointment, we got a letter about the PEG insertion, scheduled for the 26th (hospital stay from the 25th - 27th).

On arrival at the oncology department, we were somewhat surprised to have my name read out before our appointment time!  I went to be weighed (which showed that all our attempts to fatten me up had come to naught so far), then had an unpleasant 'cannot find the vein' cannula experience (it was a bit cold, so my veins were hiding, so not their fault).  I then lay on a bench in front of the CT scanner, and they laid the warm, wet mesh of the immobilization mask on my face and proceeded to mold it.  It was quite pleasant, like a nice facial massage, though as it dried it did tighten up - not much chance of me moving in that, that's for sure.  They then injected me with some 'contrast' and I had my CT scan, which is done in the mask so they have a scan of me in the fixed position which will be used for the radiotherapy.

We were given my treatment schedule, which starts on Monday 4th April (the week after the PEG surgery) and we went home.

As of today, I have a week with no hospital visits, back at work.

And I have a Ukuleke I've bought so I can try to learn to play it.  Plus a growing pile of DVD box sets and films.  I'm almost looking forward to it (er, not really, though I do kinda want to get on with it now).