Face Mask

Before I got a CT scan and MRI of my head yesterday, I got a custom mask made. It's to keep my head in the same place for the radiation treatments.
(Please note that these scans were just for planning my radiation - the doctors were not concerned about anything new with my cancer.)
At the radiologist's office, in the same room where I'll get my actual radiation, while I was horizontal on a table, they draped a warm material on my face - it felt like rolled-out pastry dough. I read elsewhere getting it was "like a spa treatment," but I've never had a facial treatment at a spa. It cooled and firmed up very quickly, in just a minute or two, so that they could take it off and I could look at it. Because it was a lightweight, molded mesh, it reminded me of chain mail, like medieval knights wore with their armor.
Here's a picture:
http://www.cancer.gov/images/documents/e2114b6d-ac77-4339-8b26-7de730783ac7/pic2.jpg
When I looked it up on the Internet, I learned the mask is made of "thermoplastic."
If you want to read more, this webpage has especially good info about planning radiation:
http://www.radonc.jhmi.edu/radiosurgery/treatmentoptions/stereotacticradiosurgery.html

When I got the CT scan, they put the mask over my face and attached it to a base so that my head position in the scan is exactly the same as my head position when I get my radiation treatments. (For some reason, I didn't need the mask for the MRI.)
The attendant who accompanied me from the radiologist's office to the scanning office carried my mask, attached to the board, under her arm. When I asked, she said I'd be able to take the mask home after my radiation treatments are done. Maybe I'll put it with the molds of my teeth. ...