Radiation therapy given as external beam treatment like at the Hembree Mercy Cancer Center will not make you radioactive. You can continue to enjoy the same contact with family and friends without fear of exposing them to radiation. When the external beam machines are turned on for your treatments, radiation is produced and aimed directly at the treatment area. Then when the machines are turned off, there is no storage or transport of radiation and the radiation is gone the instant the machine is turned off.

Radiation in the form of internal radioactive sources or brachytherapy, will cause you to be radioactive for a period of days to weeks. You will either stay in a protected room until the source of radiation is removed or will be sent home with specific written guidelines depending on what procedure was performed.

One thing that is very important to remember is that radiation therapy is site-specific. Only the area that is being treated will be affected. For example, if you need treatments to the throat, you will only have side effects related to that area such as dryness of the throat, difficulty swallowing, hair loss in the treatment area only, and reddening of the skin in that area.  You will not be nauseous due to radiation unless the area being treated is your abdomen. Some of our patients receive chemotherapy at the same time as radiation which could result in hair loss and nausea regardless of the area being treated with radiation.  One of the aims of radiation therapy is to reduce side effects to a minimum, and to help the patient to understand and to deal with those side effects which are unavoidable.

Image Guided Radiation Therapy (IGRT) is one of the latest advancements in Radiation Therapy and we feel very privileged to have it at the Hembree Cancer Center.  Currently, Hembree is the only cancer center in the River Valley to utilize this IGRT system in the treatment of lung, brain, gynecologic, urinary and head and neck cancers.

Normal structures and tumors can move between treatments due to differences in organ filling or movements while breathing. With IGRT technology, we take an X-ray seconds before treatment which allows us to pinpoint the tumor daily. The system then assists in positioning the patient with millimeter accuracy as well as tracks patient movement throughout the procedure. Because of its improved precision, IGRT enables us to deliver higher treatment doses within millimeters of the tumor, significantly reducing the risk to neighboring healthy tissue and improving long term clinical results.

Since Hembree Cancer Center is a part of St. Edward Hospital, we have numerous other services to offer our patients.  St Edward has people that can help you spiritually, emotionally as well as financially. The nurse in our department will help you with scheduling appointments as well as send you in the right direction in other areas. She may refer you to a social worker who has a vast amount of community resources. We are proud to have the American Cancer Society on site the first Monday of every month for all cancer patients.  We also refer patients to the Don W. Reynolds Cancer Support House. Both of these organizations can supply you with access to support groups, nutritional assistance, travel assistance, mastectomy supplies, and wigs.

You will first have a consultation with the radiation oncologist who will review your records to determine that you are a candidate for radiation.  If so, the next step in the process is called a simulation. During this appointment, a plastic mesh mask will be made of your head. This involves warming a flat piece of plastic in a water bath. It is then stretched over your face and head while you are lying down. It initially feels warm and wet and hardens in about 10 minutes. This mask will hold your head in position during planning and each treatment. A CT scan will then be done so that the radiation therapy team can create a specific treatment plan for you. Once the treatment plan is complete, usually several days to a week after the CT, you will begin treatment.