SEPTEMBER 2008 rads group

Anonymous

 Thanks Makraz and KAK !!

After a morning of waiting hell (I know we all have been there) - The breast surgeon's nurse finally called me back and said that the results were normal -- thank God!  I have to go for a followup appointment on Monday.  I still didn't get a results letter from the clinic where I took the mamm. So on Monday I'll yank some chains at that clinic as to why it wasn't sent!! Believe me they will remember my name when I get done with them. No excuse for worrying someone -esp. with as much as I've gone through.

 vhqh !! I'm so very happy your hair is growing

 Hugs and Prayers to you all!!

Makratz

Rose47 and vhqh - Congrats to you both!

vhqh

Work is going good although I'm picking a fight right now.  I work Mon-Thurs, they signed me up for a 2 day training class on a Thursday and Friday, I have treatment scheduled for that particular Friday.  My solution.....be gone for 2 1/2 hours for treatment.  Their solution ..... drive 30 miles to another facility the following week for the training as my absence for that short time period may interfere with their team building interactions!  Negotiated compromise is for me to go get my blood draw Thursday before training, get the Zometa Friday during lunch, return to training with tubes hanging off my port and then after training ends Friday I return to the center to get Herceptin.  I could easily put treatment off until Monday but I'm just being stubborn and obnoxious about being forced to go to training plus I'd have to use leave time that I'm trying to conserve for when it's truly needed.

Oh, and did I mention the training has absolutely no bearing on my work duties?  But I am classified as unit team on a technicality so I've got to do it even though I will NEVER use it.  Nice thing is that my chemo nurse is the wife of one of the big bosses, she was not impressed.

Anonymous

Sorry I don't know where else to ask- I checked the help section but didn't see this question - how can I delete my sent messages? There is no delete button for sent messages?  Thanks!

mzmiller99

Rose - I'm not sure either.  Did you post to the moderators?  They may be able to help  you.

Susan

Anonymous

Hi Susan, No I haven't done that - wonder how I do that?

nancy258

Hi all.  Glad everyone is doing well.  Congrats vhqh on finishing up with the additional rads.  And to Rose on your 6 month mammo.  My 6 month was fine, now looking foward to May when I'll have my 1 year.  Boy this year has flown by fast.  Texan, did your itchiness go away?  I've just started getting really itchy under my arm along the SNB scar and under my boob.  Driving me crazy.  I moisturize twice a day so I don't know why it's suddenly so itchy and blotchy.

Anonymous

Hi,

I posted about deleting sent messages and then read there is no way to delete them ;(

Thanks Nancy258 - I'm glad yours was fine too!  I think we are still healing - my SNB scar is still reddish - looks like to me it need to heal more.

TGIF!! Hugs to everyone!!

roberta37

Been awhile since I've been on this thread.  Nancy258 - mine started acting up again in January.  One of my scars (the SNB) was reopened because of the radiation and that took almost 3 months to heal.  I'm just now not getting any itchiness.  I do have stiffness in the radiated area and I'm trying to stretch it every day.

VHQH - glad your finished the additional rads - sorry your work wasn't more understanding.

It amazing to think all this was over 3 months ago.  The time has sure passed quickly. 

NancyD

Roberta, I am going to PT to help stretch out the scar and radiated areas. I didn't realize how tight it had all become until I was reaching for a platter wa-a-a-y up in the kitchen cabinets, and boy! did I feel it. My therapist is also watching for early signs of lymphadema and has gotten me a prescription for a light sleeve to wear prophylactically.

If you're covered for it, I'd go and get some PT time in. I've had the scar and pec muscles slowly and carefully massaged now for a month, and I definitely can feel a difference. I also have a set of exercises to do...much more than the ones they give you after a mx. And I learned how to do a MLD massage of my arm.

roberta37

I am covered and it sure wouldn't hurt.  My muscles in my shoulders are tight also.  Just have to find a good therapist around here.  

Does everyone still have the outline of where the radiation was.  Just wondering how long that takes to fade.

Have a great weekend.

  

JulieC

Hey Roberta,

I finished rads the first week of October and still have a tan rectangle around the radiation area.  My boost area is still a little darker than that.  I even still have a blue spot from the SNB that was done in April.  Doesn't seem like that is ever going away!

Take care,

Julie

NancyD

I still have a red rectangle under my arm. The physical therapist always comments on it, says it looks dry there, but that's only because there's some peeling skin still...very light. I'm wondering if it's actually my deodorant that's pilling up. I use Tom's of Maine.

I think it's a reaction much like a suntan. I don't completely lose the "difference" lines my bathing suit leaves from year to year (and I don't actually do any heavy suntanning, wear the highest rated protection I can get), so it doesn't surpise me that the radiation treatment left some pigmentation that might be long lasting. After all, isn't that what sunlight is, radiation?

Makratz

I finished rads Oct 27th and I still have a "tan" on my entire breast.  I also can see the circle where the boosts were given, it's a darker tan.  My nipple is still pink too.  I'm not sure it's ever going to go away.

nancy258

I have a tan mark under my breast and the nipple is a little darker, but that seems to be fading back to normal color 3 months later.  I just noticed this morning what looks like broken blood vessels covering almost half my breast.  Weird, maybe it's connected to the itchiness which has gotten a little better this week.

StephH

I still have a tan line and I finished Oct. 21.  I didn't know all of you were still on here, I just decided to check in as I haven't been on here for a long time.  I was surprised to see the ol' Sept rad group at the top.  Hope everyone is well, I had my mammo 2 days before x-mas.  Came back all clear.  Still not on tamoxifen, my oncologist hasn't called for the appt. and I know it is partly my responsibility but I have mixed feelings on it anyway.  I just had a wierd pap smear result come back and have to get another pap in 6 months instead of a year.  So in addition to the mammo every 6 months, I'll be doing that as well.  But I guess I can look at it as either torture, or preventive maintenance.  And, oh yeah, about the rads, I still have the tan on the entire breast and the itchiness some of you have had.  My check-up with the rad dr is in March already. 

Makratz

Hi Guys,

I just had my 6 month bilat mam today, first one.  Was not fun.  I was called back in 3 times to redo the mam's.  Boy am I sore and since I am an A cup, it was hard to get it all in the machine.  I spoke to the doctor who was reading the mam's and she said they saw calcifications in both breasts.  She enlarged the images and I could see them too.  She told me not to worry, so of course I started worrying immediately.  I have an appointment with my onc and bs in March, onc the first day of march and bs the last day.  The radiologist told me not to worry, they probably wouldn't do anything so soon.  She said I could need more biopsies, which I will do if I have to.  I really thought this was going to be the end of all this.  Very discouraging!

mzmiller99

Hi, guys - this isn't a rad problem, but are any of you still seeing your rad onco? 

I saw my med onco today and asked him why I would be seeing her in Oct., not that I mind seeing her - she is the best!  But, it is a long haul for me and I wasn't certain why she would be checking on me, instead of him.

And, he just took my aching old self off Arimidex!!  I hated to complain, but the pain has really gotten severe in the past couple weeks, and it goes from my neck to my toes.  I'll be off everything for a few weeks and then try Aromasin.

Glad this group is still together!

JulieC

Hi Susan,

I saw both docs for a follow up to my first mammo in November.  I see the med onc next week and don't see the rad onc until November which will be a year.  We have a new med onc and personally, I'd rather see the rad onc.  I saw the new guy for my first follow up and I didn't leave with warm and fuzzy feelings for him.  Maybe next week will be better.  At least it is just for follow up and not treatment.

Julie

mzmiller99

Aww, Makraz - Big "sucks" to your news.  Crap.  The good news is that they didn't find any masses, though.  Did you have calcifications before? 

We'll be hoping for the best!  And, maybe, just maybe, you can wangle some new boobettes form this.

Hugs, Susan

Anonymous

Makraz, me too that 6 month mamm hurt! I was sore for a week! Then the breast surg. did his exam- I'm just now getting over the soreness. I only see my breast surgeon for followups.

Makratz

HI Guys,

MZmiller99, I had calcifications before my initital dx.  I just hate this.  Now the waiting because they really don't do much for this.  Anyone else have this happen to them?  Rose47, did they find cals on your 6 month?  I sure hope not. 

NancyD

Mzmiller, I'm supposed to make an appt to see my rad once this month, but I'm kind of putting it off. Her nurse practitioner has been the one to usually see me.

They've been very good about taking measurements of my arms to watch for lymphadema. Did your rad onc's office do any arm mreaurements while you were in treatment? That would be the reason I'd go back...if I was concerned about LE, they would be the ones to have the best records. They also referred me to a physical therapist when my muscles started tightening up after radiation.

nancy258

Makraz, sorry you had to get that right after your first mammogram.  Not what you wanted to hear for sure.  Calcifications are supposedly very common.  It's when they form clusters that they are very suspicious of them.  They will probably want to keep a close eye on anything that could possibly develop.  The radiologists know how to spot problems right away, so if she said not to worry, that means something.  If she thought it were serious, you would think she would have sent you right off to the surgeon.

I saw my rad onc 6 weeks after radiation, and I won't see her again for 9 months.  That would be the 1 year from when I started the radiation.  The med onc I saw in January and won't have to see him again for 6 months.  My BS seems to be the one driving everything.  I see her more than any of them, Jan and again in March.  She told me to expect a bunch of retesting in May (1 year from my dx)  Unfortunately, she's the one with the busiest waiting room!  It's always at least an hour wait, and there have been times I've waited two hours.  Ugh!  But, I like her, and I guess we just do what we have to do.

mzmiller99

Nancy258 - Thanks for the info.  I guess my med onco is the one who's directing traffic.  Maybe I'll keep my appointments with the rad onco and bs.

NancyD - I never thought about lymph.  I didn't have any problems after surgery, but could something develope later?

Susan

NancyD

Susan, most definitely. The radiation treatment is as much a cause of LE as the removal of the nodes because while it may sterilize them, it also can damage or kill the remaining ones.

mzmiller99

NancyD - Had no idea.  Thanks for the info.  Darn, there's so much to keep track of now days.  I'd like to go back to the good old days when high cholesterol was my only issue.

Anonymous

Good Evening ladies, I'm fighting a cold - you would think with all this Vit. C I would be fine - wrong!! Ha!

My mam was fine - just scar tissue. I go back in July for the 1 yr. followup.

Have a restful weekend everyone - enjoy the long weekend!! Hugs!!!!!!

KAK

Crap, Makraz.  I'm about to go off and get my six month mamm.  With my one normal breast and one lopsided, tiny breast.  Oh, lord.  I'm taking ibuprofen beforehand, per a suggestion from a mammographer here on the forum.  Also, BTW, some of you may already know this, but I had a hard fall last week on black ice, slammed down on the ground flat on my back.  No broken bones, but got a concussion, which they didn't even check me for in the ER (!!), so when I kept feeling awful, I went to my own PCP and he figured it out.  Grrrr.  Feels like menopause and cancer brain cubed.  Hopefully it will resolve in another week or so.

Wish me luck on mamm.  I see my surgeon next week for check up.

NancyD

Kathy,

I slipped and got a concussion last month. Must be something in the ice...it has it in for all us bc survivors. My ER did a little better, though. They did a CT scan of my brain. Glad they were able to find it there, lol. Did you see stars?  I did, and had a feeling down my arms to my hands like an electric shock. Then couldn't move for like a second or two.

Good luck on the mamm.