More than 50% of people diagnosed with cancer will receive some type of radiation therapy. It’s no secret that for most people, radiation therapy can be an uncomfortable and exhausting venture. It’s important to be prepared before, during, and after your radiation therapy plan begins. In this article, we will list a few ways to prepare for radiation therapy.

Manage Expectations

Gathering all the knowledge you can about your radiation therapy treatment will help you feel more prepared and at ease knowing what to expect. Be sure to ask your doctor or radiation oncologist all the questions you have and share any and all of your concerns before treatment. By arming yourself with information, you’ll know what to expect when your first day of treatment arrives.

Get to Know Your Team

You’ll likely have a team of people assigned to treating you over the course of your treatment plan, so getting to know each of them and what they are there for will help you feel comfortable with them and your overall treatment plan.

Make a Treatment Bag

Create a backpack or tote with both essentials and comfort items such as your favorite throw or blanket, a good book, headphones, snacks and drinks, a deck of cards, a journal, soft socks, other calming items or things that bring you joy. Include both items that can bring entertainment and items that can bring comfort during your sessions, which can often be uncomfortable.

Create a Support Group

Radiation therapy can be exhausting, both physically and emotionally. You may not be feeling great after your treatment, so having someone around to drop you off and pick you up may be ideal. Creating a strong support group of people you trust and care about to be around during your treatment is crucial to making it through the whole process.

Find a Reputable Burn Cream

A little-known but very common side effect of radiation therapy is that many patients develop harsh burns or patches of itchy red skin during their treatment. These are called radiation burns. Radiation therapy employs high doses of ionic radiation or radioactive substances to destroy cancer cells, and as radiation moves through skin it can often damage the area receiving treatment as well as adjacent areas.

Your skin may have a tough time healing between your radiation sessions, which is why it’s important to find a skin recovery cream that works. Rejuvaskin’s Skin Recovery cream uses key ingredients of bamboo, pea, and glucosamine to help with radiation burn treatment, which aid in boosting collagen production and soothing damaged skin. It helps build back up skin you have lost during the radiation treatment process.

Radiation therapy can seem daunting, but if you prepare before your treatment and continue to make your health and healing a priority throughout your radiation therapy, you will be able to focus on what’s most important: fighting your cancer.