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by borbulon 993 days ago
even radiation is different for different people - I have had a couple of treatments for brain metastases and due to my proximity to Boston I am lucky to get the most up-to-date treatments available. There's something called Proton Beam Stereotactic Radiosurgery which is a single session, they are somehow able to curve the beam so it enters in three different places and the place where the beam(s) meet is the place that gets the treatment. It's a single session and I don't have any side effects at all.

But yes, when I spoke to radiation oncologist when I was diagnosed 2.5 years ago (and before they had a full picture of what my cancer looked like), he told me to expect to be hospitalized multiple times because the lymph nodes they'd treat were so close to my esophagus and the treatments would burn my espohagus. "Thankfully" the cancer was spread too far and the field was too large for radiation, so the only radiation treatments I've had have been the ones described above.

More info on the different kinds of Stereotactic Radiosurgery: https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/stereotactic-rad...