In late February 2012, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 tongue and throat cancer. Since that time he has started his treatment including radiation and chemotherapy. He has had to have a feeding tube put in and eats that way most of the time.
My mom has started a blog herself that she updates on a regular basis with updates on how he is doing and things that are happening. You can read her blog here: www.johndevay.blogspot.com
Today I went with them to his treatment to capture the day in photos.
Watching cooking shows while getting treatment.
The bag has to be brown to protect it from sunlight.
Lunch time!
Mom puts water into the feeding tube first that goes into his stomach.
Turning up the speed of the food.
All done chemo. Now it's time for radiation. John goes for radiation every day.
This is the radiation machine. The radiation comes from the round piece at the top. The two side bars are for x-rays to line him up.
This is the mask that John has to wear every time. It is used to keep him in place and to line him up. Lasers are lined up with the marks on the mask to make sure he is in the right place. He must be lined up and not out by a millimetre.
The mask is held down on the table so that it can't be moved.
The mask is then lined up with the lasers.
The machine goes 360 degrees to reach all angles.
Then we head around the corner (quite a ways away so we don"t get radiated too). Everything is controlled from this room.
He is monitored via TV screens.
They start by taking x-rays to line him up to his CT scan to ensure he is in the correct spot.
The whole process takes approximately 20 minutes, but he only receives about 90 seconds of actual radiation.
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