December 2009 Rads Group
Comments
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somanywoman
wow sounds great living at the light house, I have been out to fort jefferson beautiful out there. I live in Tavernier. Lived in Keywest and Marathon but prefer Tavernier. Let me know when you next visit and we can have a Margaritta lol.
I have two to go ladies and am soooooo excited to be done, best to you all
Michelle xoxo (((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))) xoxox
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Sounds good Steeny, my husband and I may just have to take the dog to the Keys again this summer and will definately stop for Margaritta....I prefer the upper Keys also, a bit less crazy.....
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Hi ladies just thought I would pop in for a minute while I'm at work. I'm having a really hard day. I'm in a lot of pain. The area underneath my breast is giving me a heck of a time. I have it padded with one of my DH soft hankies but I swear I don't know what else to do. I am just singing hallelujah's that this is the last full rads I have to get and I hope the area gets better in a few days. Steeny if your underarm has felt anything like this place under my breast is feeling after the last 2 days of rads I don't know how you have done it? You either Lissette. What pain and I'm no whimp!!! But this totally sucks!!!
Renee
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hhfheidi, that is a wonderful photo of you and your horses. I'm so glad you showed us that.
Jules, I'm delighted to hear that you are feeling better already.
Indomitable1, I'm sorry that you're so charred, and that split in your skin sounds painful. I'm thinking that you're done with the boosts by now -- if so, many congratulations!
Liza63, congrats on being halfway done. Isn't it encouraging when you finally reach that point? I can't answer your question about the dark area going away, since I'm only halfway through, myself. I assume that it will go away after you finish rads.
Michelle, your side-effects sound nasty -- yikes. I'll be relieved when you are done, so you can start healing. Many hugs, and may the time between now and the end of rads go quickly for you.
Renee, I'm sorry to hear that you're having such a bad time right now. Ouch, ouch, ouch. I hope that your boosts won't hit the problem areas, so you can start healing up. (((hugs)))
Me: Nothing much to tell. I have some new pink areas, but they're not bothering me. I did have what looked like a tiny blister on my areola under my nipple, then it broke open and became a piece of ragged skin that kept getting caught on fabric, and then it turned black and fell off. I wasn't sad to see it go
To all who've finished, I hope you are healing quickly.
To all still taking treatments, I wish you an easy time of it.
adrienne
18 down, 15 to go
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Mimi and all hurting, the healing is very fast as quick as rads are over.....so sorry some of you are having such pain.....
Did any of you get your book yet???
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Mimi
Thankfully I am numb under the arm from the auxillary node dissection so dont feel a thing. I would be a mess if I could feel it. Sorry your experiencing the pain. I have one more tomorrow.
Dr said she liked how it looked and said skin should turn around in 7/14 days yeah to us girls and back to nice skin lol xoox
Everyone, come join somanywomen for a margaritta in the keys xo
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heidi, Another awesome photo...what a life you lead!!...Who gets to hold an eagle, wow!!!...I once jumped in my canal to untangle a manatee that had his flipper wrapped up in a crab trap...I love animals esp., my dog Jack....It's like living with Lassie....He's so funny, he loves, loves, loves broccoli and has to have it mixed in every meal, then we have to give him 2 extra pieces when he finishes or he will bug you until you do...
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Heidi - I love that picture it is totally awesome and is probably the closest I will ever come to a real Eagle. Your boys are quite handsome young men. You look great too. Congrats on getting to finish up rads early that is always a ++!
My rad doc looked at my skin today and said of course what I already knew, I have dry peeling with a couple of open areas and since I start my boosts tomorrow and no more radiation to under my breast or my underarm those areas should heal up in 3-4 days. I pray so!!! He of course (is an idiot I think) and told me to keep using the cream. LOL!! He really isn't an idiot. I just have not been impressed with how he has treated me. But it is almost over.
I will be so glad, I will be singing "joy to the world, all the boys and girls, joy to the fishes and the deep blue see, joy to you and me", by the 3 Dog Night. hahaha!!!!Love you girls!!! Oh yeah, my grandma is better this afternoon they took her off the vent and she is on oxygen but breathing on her own. God is totally awesome. Now if this boob would just heal...
Renee
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Wow! So many exciting posts, some good, some others not so much.
Michelle: The doctor said she liked how it looked??? Sounds horrible. You have one or two left, thank heaven!!
All this Key West talk is getting me ready for upcoming week in Key West! Can't wait!
Mimi: So sorry about your grandma, and glad she is better today. So sorry about your dry peeling and PAIN. Do you have any meds to take? Chilled aloe? When my skin felt very tight and dry, that's when I started pouring on the Aquafor. That helped a lot with that dry feeling.
Somanywomen: Good luck with your Arimidex. You're brave to take the plunge.
Heidi: Eagles! Wow, what a photo!! I did not realize eagles were so huge. I head a gyrfalcon/peregrine hybrid once. It was perched on my arm. That was surprinsingly big and heavy too.
Adrienne: You're more than halfway through! Hooray!
Me: I have ONE MORE TO GO! Tomorrow is my last treatment! The last five are boosts. My skin never (yet) turned black, but all the skin has peeled off the entire radiation area. Under the breast and under the arm it's raw and red. It doesn't really hurt very much, thankfully. I keep it gooped up with aquafor. I get super tired, esp at the end of the day (like now). The doctor said that side effects will continue to increase for about a week, and then start slowly to fade. He said the fatigue could persist for months. I'm hoping my skin doesn't give me any surprises.
Anyone give thank you notes or gifts to the radiation techs? One of mine has been especially kind and friendly. He was out for two days last week and I could see the difference. When he was gone, I felt like a thing that was not involved in the proceedings. But when he is there, I feel like I'm part of the team. He is super and I guess I'll write a thank you card at the least.
Good night all!
Bonnie
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Sorry some of you are in pain. Hang in there its soon over (((hugs)))
Mimi I am still praying for your Grandma. Thanks for the update.
Somanywomen, no book yet. (I should have checked to see if it was in Kindle form..duh me..lol).
Heidi, Love the pic. Im glad you will be finished sooner.
Bonnie congrats on being finished tomorrow! Dont forget to celebrate.
Nothing new here. A boring day, but boring is good now.lol...
((hugs))
Jules
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hey bonnie let me know when your passing maybe we could have an icecream i am right at mm92
today is my last day yeah I am very tired, I get 2 weeks off from my Xeloda and then he is uping the dosage to 3000mg
I do my next brain MRI on Feb 8th and hope they are shrinking.
Michelle
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I'm getting very scared. Does everyone get such bad side effects from radiation? I go back to the radiologist on Monday to see if I can start back on them. The hole from the seroma is healing and is quite smaller. I don't know if I can do this.
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Dear Veggy,
I was one of those who had very little side effects from the radiation. Some rash causing itching and tiredness so here's hoping that you too will have no problems.
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hhfheidi- I'll ask on Monday when I see the Radiologist. I only had 4 treatments and had to stop because of the open wound.
Today is not a good day for me. I literally could not wake up this morning and started to yell in my sleep.My son came in my bedroom and had to wake me. I had hot flashes all night ands sweated and then would freeze. Right now I feel sick to my stomach and feel like pasing out. What I wouldn't give to have a pain-free day.
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Veggy - for all my complaining my side effects from rads have not been bad at all. I have not really had any tiredness since I started on my thyroid meds, so I think that was what was causing the tiredness. I have not had an itchy rash at all. My underarm has burned but after a week or so and some cream with lidocaine in it that was doable. The area under my breast has only come up in the last 2-3 days and become painful. I think alot of women's and men's skin gets dry and pulls for a few days, mine is now some better. I think that if you are smaller breasted then you are on the luckier side of things. I happen to be a D cup and still have very dense, full breasts. Overall they have told me that my skin has held up very well and not at all as bad as they thought it might be. The key is using the creams and following the protocol that the RAD Onc gives you to use during your treatements.
Hope you feel better soon. Don't need you passin out.
{{{{Veggy}}}}
Renee
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Renee- I think now I am a C-cup on both sides. Before the lumpectomy I was lopsided; I was a D-cup on that side. I hope you are right. I hope I make it through this okay. I think I have read too much info on radiation and its side effects. I didn't research chemo and its side effects as much as I did this. I managed to do okay on the chemo and survived it. It wasn't fun but "doable".
When I went for the PET scan they found nodules on my thyroid. So after radiation they want to take out one of the nodules and see if it is cancer. There is a 95% chance that it is okay. It's that 5% they are worried about. I am not looking forward to another surgery.
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Veggy--Please don't get overly alarmed at the nodules. They are more common than you'd think and most likely are fluid-filled cysts and benign (been there, done that!). As far as SE's are concerned, I had my 21st rad today (33 total) and have had NO burns or fatigue. Other than some local tenderness and slight swelling, I can honestly say that so far, this has been very doable. The part I dislike the most is the tedium of having to be there every day. I firmly believe that there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of women who have minimal or no SE's from rads, but we don't hear from them simply because they're not posting in the BCO forums. You can do this!
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Hi Ladies!
Veggy- Don't worry about rads. Of course you can do it. It''s really not so bad. We just complain to each other on here- but it's totally doable. Just annoying more than anything.
Mimi- So sorry about your grandma. It must be tough and uncomfortable- hang in there!
So far, I'm healing ok. Skin is peeling and the silverdene cream the doc gave me is great. I've already gone through 2 bottles. lol I have one refill left but I think I'll just ask for another if needed.
Did anyone else do radiation with an implant? Mine is holding up great and just wondering what other people's experiences are???
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Steeny- I just completed #21 of my 30 treatments today. I have a bolice used twice a week. Tuesdays and Thursdays.....I did have a double mastectomy on 5/21/2009. Finished Chemo on 11/16/2009 and now doing radiation....
Lissette- I saw your profile and I SWEAR your story is mine.....Found lump myself....IT HURT!!!! Was told aaawwww no worry Breast Cancer doesnt hurt....Did my very first MAMMO...and Ultrasound to check this thing out...I am 36 years old, NO FAMILY HISTORY....did test negative for BRCA...Nursed my last child....and had all my kiddos young.....GO FIGURE......
OH YEA......BREAST CANCER DOES INDEED HURT.....
Lots of love....
MAY GOD BLESS US ALL
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Oh yea ladies....How many radiation treatments were you all scheduled for?????
I was scheduled for 30....
Wonder how they decide that?????
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Lissette - Glad you are healing well. My grandma is actually much, much better today. She is off the vent and now OFF her oxygen as well. She is 100% breathing on her own and has been moved out of ICU into a private room. Woo Hoo what a great 65th birthday present for my Mom!!! (this is my mom's mom that is in the hossy).
Veggy - if you can withstand chemo you can definitely manage rads. There is no comparison. It's been a long time since I took chemo (back in 1981) but you never forget what it was like. LOL! Blah!!!
I will say this for me: if I could do a do over, I would have had bilateral mastectomies and forgone the rads, and done the reconstruction. That is just for myself many women have no qualms about rads and do great, I actually haven't done badly. I just don't value the difficulties I have had to go through in order to keep the bad boobie.
Today I had my first compression boost, it was done with two heavy metal plates that are shaped liked a waffle cone. They are held together with a steel rod across the top. They put these on each side of your breast and then push them together pulling the breast up off the chest wall and the breast is litterally squeezed up between these 2 plates to the point of pain, but not suppose to be extreme, but as much as you can tolerate. Then they take this screw wheel that is on the rod and tighten it into place and run masking tape from the edge of the carbon bed you are lying on up over the top of the plate and do the same on the other side to hold it in place. All the while your arm on that side is extended straight up over your head (no positioner this time). They mark dots on my skin with a sharpie then took x-rays (what the heck for I'm not sure?). Then the Radiation specialist that does care plans had to configure the measurements and how much rads to give me. Then they give me my first boost. My breast was squeezed in those plates for about 25-30 mins. It is throbbing now and is really sore. (I'm sure that not EVERY place is so behind the times and as barbaric as where I have to go in Podunk, Alabama)!!!!!!!! When I got up is when I told the tech that this is so not worth saving a boob for.... and I meant every word of it.
I did tell her though that I had no one to blame for my bad decision but myself. I should have never let my surgeon talk me into doing something different than what I wanted. Rads is great and it saves lives, I just am wishing I had chose MX. Oh well we never know why GOD has us to endure the things we have to. I guess I am having a bad day today. Sorry for the RANT!!!Hoping that everyone that is still getting rads is doing well with no problems!
Hugs Renee
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angelsabove, I believe it's a crap shoot and they just toss a coin and hope for the best...It is simply amazing how different all of our rad treatments have been.....
Michelle and Veggie, sure hope you your tests come back as clean as possible..and all of you heal soon from the se's....
To all, don't forget to add tumeric with black pepper and take your supplement of green tea at same time to get most benefit.....I just add it to one bite of my food, usually it's pretty discusting, but with all the anti-cancer properties of these, I just swallow it down whether I want to or not....Just do it!!!!
Renee!!!...sounds like a torturing technique that they might have used in the mid-ages......That sounds excrutciating!!!!!.. My boosts were just aimed into the lump area, didn't feel a thing....
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somanywomen- It is the darndest thing I've ever seen in my life!!!!! I have been a nurse for almost 27 yrs and honestly I haven't ever seen or had anything used like it on me before. When I told the tech after it was over that it hurt she said, "you should have said something", I told her it didn't hurt when they started but I didn't know I was going to be in it for almost 30 mins. I mean give me a break... my breast, under my breast and my underarm are a little burnt!! and I have a Seroma in my breast ( I think this is what caused the most pain) but now I think the tissue is just bruised. I'm just so sad... I want to cry but it would simply do no good.
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I've have no history of breast cancer and nursed both my kids. I found the lump myself and kinda knew instantly what it was.There was no pain or discharge. My family doctor told me it wasn't b.c. I went to another doctor and she felt it was b.c. after feeling it. She immediately did a FNA the same day. The first week of June I had tests done every day. First I chose to do chemo to get it out of the way, then surgery and last rads. I did 4 rads with 31 more to go.
Chemo was doable. But the chemo nurses were the best. They were caring, personable and very fun. I miss them until I go to have the port flushed. But they are the best!
My thyroid surgeon thinks I have hurtle cell cancer of the thyroid. That 5% drives me insane!!!!
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Renee, Go ahead and cry, it might even make you feel better, lord knows you have that right after today...It's amazing the attitudes of some of these so-called healthcare techs......It's like they lose all human and humane emotion...If they had just given you the compassion that you deserved at having to go through what ever the _ell that was!!!!!...it's like we almost need to take a personal rep with us to make sure that we are treated with a little dignity.....I've had a few of those uncaring techs and I personally let them know how uncaring that they were and hope this never happens to them and they are treated in the manner that they just treated me....When necessary, I do report them and will not let them ever around me again.....I wish I could have been there with you....she would not have gotten away with that attitude after what you and your poor booby have gone through lately.......What a shame, unfortunately it happens all the time.....
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Veggy, you can do it! When you are finished you will feel better, trust me. Hang in there. I had nausea too (rads doc said not from rads but today my regular doc said yes it was..and the surgeon said it too). Looking back, the Side effects werent bad, the trip daily was.
Mimi, Im glad your Grandma is doing better. Thats great news.
Somanywomen, my doc today said tumeric can mix with my other meds and excelerate them. Hmm I wonder if its true. I dont know what to do.
Angelsabove, I had 32 treatments of rads. No chemo though.I think it depends on the diagnosis type and the doctors opinions.
I saw my back pain team last week, went to the regular doc today for blood pressure check, cholesterol check etc. Back to the same grind.
Take care everyone and hang in there,
Jules
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Hello all,
Veggy, I'm so sorry that you are feeling sick. I hope that stops right away: you've been through enough.
I know that the side-effects described here sound scary (they scare me, too), but some things sound worse than they feel. Remember too that several of the women on this thread got through rads with minimal side-effects. I've only done 19 treatments, and I don't know for sure what will happen later, but so far the only problem I've had has been burning sensations, like a moderate sunburn. I'm a redhead with very sensitive skin, so this didn't surprise me, and painkillers have kept it from being terrible. I haven't experienced any real fatigue yet, either. At any rate, no matter what happens to us, it will soon end, and we will heal up.
I hope you get good test results.
Michelle, I'm glad that you aren't hurting. And... congratulations on finishing!!!! Wahoo!
I'm hoping for excellent results from your MRI.
hhfheidi, I love that eagle photo. Very cool. Glad to hear that you're not getting many side-effects.
BonnieSF, thank you for the encouragement. You must be done with your regular treatments by now -- many congratulations!!!! I'm really glad that you're not hurting much. I'm right there with you hoping that your skin doesn't give you any surprises. Fingers crossed...
Renee, I'm so glad that your grandmother is doing so much better. That is awesome.
Your treatment today sounds like torture: I can't believe that you had to go through that. You just go ahead and rant on. I'm sending you a big, healing hug (((((HUG))))).
I had a hard time deciding between rads and a mastectomy, too. I could tell that my surgeon thought mastectomy was the best option (for everyone). I was second-guessing myself right up to the day I had my first treatment. It's hard to sign up for weeks of scary and potentially painful treatments when you could have surgery instead. However, I keep reminding myself that when this is done, I will still have my breast. Lots of people didn't have that choice, so I am lucky.
Lissette, I'm relieved that you are healing up, and that your implant has held up beautifully. Wonderful.
Angelsabove, Congratulations on finishing #21-- you are over 2/3 done.
I am scheduled for 33 treatments (25 regular treatments plus 8 boosts). I don't know how that decision is made. I think folks with mastectomies may get fewer treatments, but I'm not sure.
Jules824, I hope your back is feeling better soon.
Me: The burning sensations have increased, and the doctor suggested that I switch from Naproxen Sodium to Ibuprofen. He said I can take as many as three pills (600 mg) at a time, three times a day, if I need to. So far today, there's very little pain, so I'm a happy camper.
My skin is holding up well so far. Today the doctor said that my skin looked really good for this stage in the treatment, and that he doesn't expect me to experience really bad side-effects. He did say that I should experience some dry desquamation (skin peeling, but dry underneath), but that he didn't think I'd experience moist desquamation. I hope he's right
Basically all I can do is take really, really good, gentle care of my skin and hope for the best.To all: Hang in there: we'll be feeling better soon.
Since we have been sharing animal photos, I thought I'd show you this one taken a couple of years ago in my back yard.
adrienne
19 down, 14 to go
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I am done ladies and am so happy, no more driving.
Veggie, why are they not doing a biopsy of the thryoid first. I had one very easy procedure?
Michelle
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