This posting is a photo easy of my photon treatment at UC Davis. To be sure you all get the idea, this is a nuclear research lab (not really a clinical setting).


After the foyer, you walk down this hall. On the right, behind the forklift is the nuclear facility. It is a 76" diameter steel magnet accelerator, surrounded by 10 feet thick cement walls on all sides.





Another view of the wall.





The you turn the corner and walk down this hall. The nuclear facility is through the wall on the left.




















Continue down this hall




Until you get to the Patients waiting room.






















Which really looks like this:





















On the other side of the waiting area, are two of the staff, at a stand of computers.


















To the left of the computers, is part of the research lab.

After waiting, you walk past the computers (they look old), down a smaller hallway.


















Down to an area, with more computers.


















Then, there is this smaller room, where they dialate my eyes.

I sit there for a minute, then turn the corner and sit in this chair, in front of the proton beam.

They made a special mask for me last week at UCSF. They lock the mask, into the chair, then lock my head in the mask. I bit down on a mouth piece, which is also attached to the chair. This ensures I can't move.

Then they raise the beam right up to my eye, and direct it directly at the tumor.

A large needle is inserted into my eye to ensure the beam is directed at the right spot.
Everyone then leaves the room, and watches and directs the treament from outside the cement walls on these four screens.

The screen on the upper left, shows me from above, so they can see that I do not move.

The screen on the upper right shows some settings on the beam and the angle of the beam, written with a sharpy on the screen.

The screen on the lower left shows me sitting behind the beam. Here the doctors are leaving the room

The screen on the lower right shows my eye, close up from a camera attached on the beam. They mark the iris with a sharpy on the screen, again to measure if there is any movement.

Another view of all four screens.

After about 2 minutes of the treatment, they take the whole assembly apart. At this point, I can leave out one of the back doors.