This may be your Gamma's radiation

I'm normally curious, so I'll ask a million questions about the technology involved in my treatment.

This whole brain tumor(s) thing is a glaring exception. I haven't asked nearly enough questions to satisfy my own curiosity. Mainly because all of this mess has been thrown in my lap over the course of this week. What a way to really fuck up a perfectly good birthday, right? Yeah, that thought has crossed my mind. A few times.

Anyway, I started radition yesterday. So, as of right now, I've had 2/15 treatments.

Tuesday (I think. This week has been a bit jumbled/busy...) I had my "mask" made before I left from my appointment with the radiation oncologist. Perfect timing for Halloween, you say? ALMOST.
The tech really just stretched a soft, warm plastic mesh over my whole face. Really. She took a piece of plastic (comfortingly warm, very pliant) and covered my WHOLE HEAD as I lay on a CT scan stretcher. You guys, it *was* pliant for a very short period of time. Like around 20 seconds. And then, it hardened into "Jason" from the Friday the 13th movies. Except I could *almost* breathe through it without freaking out.
I really tapped into my yogic breathing & meditation for this. And I will continue to do so for the next 13 sessions. Luckily, the radiation sessions are very short, around 5 minutes. All I have to do it lie perfectly still. The "mask" helps my head stay put. My body is a different story. That is where I rely on previous attempts at meditation to help. (So far, so good. The only other contender for *I'MGOINGTOFREAKOUTNOW* level is the brain scan MRI.)
Like I said, radiation is very quick, compared to an injection. But very odd.
With chemo, I just SAT, in a recliner, for hours.
With scans (CT/MRI/PET/bone), I just have to lie perfectly still for 30-45 minutes. (Narcolepsy makes this pretty easy. I mostly take a nap.)

With the radiation, it's very fast, but it SMELLS. It smells like someone (EVIL) is waving bucket of old, dirty, bleachy water in my face. It's not a pleasant smell at all. After the first session, I had to ask the radiation tech if "it" was supposed to smell. I didn't describe the smell at all, mostly because I was bewildered.
**Please note that the techs are in a totally different room while I'm getting the actual radiation. The just put my mask on, get me lined up properly, and head out. One doesn't want to irradiate a perfectly good tech. They're apparently not easy to replace.**
The tech just giggled at me, and said, "EVERYONE asks that question!"

I took that to mean that *EVERYONE* asks, so yes, "it" does smell, and NOBODY describes the smell because it's gross. Really gross.