February 2011 Rads

BrilandGirl

Amyjo49:  You mentioned that the calendula lotion stings--check the ingredients and make sure it doesn't contain alcohol,which is very drying on skin.  When I was checking out the Boiron products, I noticed that the lotion contained alcohol.  The company's website, www.boironusa.com, lists the ingredients.  Per the website, the cream has the highest concentaion of calendula (10%) and doesn't contain alcohol or petrolatum.  Glad to hear that the treatments are going well so far and hope your Miaderm arrives soon. 

FireKracker

Amyjo--#4--good for you.I use the calendula cream and it does sting a little.I just checked the label.mine has no alcohol in it.I do love it tho.My RO told me to use it for 4 weeks after the rads then go back to my reg.cream.my reg.cream was always utterly smooth.in tx.dr said too may ingredients.i looked at it now.goin back when i finish the calendual.I FEEL GREAT NOW.

Jualita on the2010 sistas thread someone posted about SE of rads mos-yrs later.thats the first time i heard of that too.i thought i checked everything out.i could be wrong.it would be nice if someone helped me out here??????????

bottom line..there will always be the good and the bads.We make choices here.And we follow our heats.It would be nice if the sistas would all post I FEEL GREAT TODAY...I really do.Sure down the road I too could have problems.but i feel good today.i feel like i did the right thing now.With this giant monster we have to live for the moment.THE RADS QUOTE...A WALK IN THE PARK.

HUGGGGGGGGGGGGGS K

ToriGirl

AmyJo-thanks for asking about me!  Doing just fine..only had my first 2 treatments last week, so this week will be my first full week...I"m  just hoping and praying for the best...I hope you continue to do well as well...

Looks like I will be completely done around April 7th or 8th...Don't have an exact day as my RO hasn't decided how many boosts to do...so 28 regulars and the boosts are TBD... 

grannydukes--THANKS for coming back again and again to cheer us on!  You are great and your support is very much appreciated!  xoxoxo 

Everyone...have a most blessed day!

Tori

Elisimo

BrilandGirl - checked the ingredients and there is no alcohol in the calendula that I am using.  There are a lot of things that make that place on my are sting. Sometimes just plain water will make it sting.  I think it may just be very sensitive to touched.

Tori - we are close to the same schedule so we can compare notes as we go through this.  

It is late and I need to get some rest. It has been a long day today.  Hope everyone has a restful evening. Joy and blessings, Amy Jo. 

Sherryc

Congrats to those who have finished rads and good luck to those who have just started.  Best advice I can give is use your creams and if you start itching tell the techs right away so that they can work with you.  I am 4  weeks out and all healed up now.  Still tanned and hoping that will continue to fad.  I really don't want that to show in summer wear.  My RO gave me a prescrition called XCLair cream it was really good and I used it from day one.  I used a little aquafor but it is very greasy.  Had some itching that my RO prescribed Kenalog for and that helped alot, was much better than the OTC hydrocortisone.  Again good luck it is a task to go everyday but it really will be over before you know it.

walker2222

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Keep lotioned up.



Since I finished last Wed. I am really starting see the skin healing. I am still using the silver cream the dr prescribed. See him next month for the last time. Starting to fell good that I can have my surgery in May to take care of my recon issues.

Adey

Five down, 23 to go!  Been using the marker with little clear circles but requested tattoos be done tomorrow.  I don't mind dots and it seems easier what with all the lubing.  (c:

FireKracker

Its nice to see everyone doin just fine.moving alone with the tx.Im 2 weeks finidhed and i do feel great.I made a mistake the dr told me after 2 weeks i could go back to what ever i was using not 4 weeks.im still gonna finsh the calendula gel because IT FEELS SOOOOO GOOD.

Hoping everyone who went for txtoday.had it over real quck and remember to cream,cream and cream again.God bless.hugggggggggs K

Elisimo

I am using the creams like they are going out of style!  I have finished #5 and have 23 left to go. I am already starting to feel like I am burning.  They say it is too early for me to start to burn yet, but if you have on polorized sunglasses and look at me you can see red blotches all over the radiated area.  That is what used to happen if I was out in the sun for 10 minutes and if I stayed out any longer I would have a sunburn that got worse after I took a shower. That is why I am covered head to toe when I go outside any time of year now.  I am hoping that the Miaderm cream will get here tomorrow.  In the meantime I am using the Calendula lotion and emu oil. 

I am having a issue with the seatbelt hurting where it crosses over my breast.  Anyone else had this problem?  I am wondering if putting a little pillow across my chest then doing the seatbelt will help.

Hope everyone has a restful evening.  Joy and blessings, Amy Jo 

FireKracker

YEA that seat belt hurts.ever since i had the lumpectomy it hurt and it still does.Who ever descovered the way it crosses over the breast must have been a man....I too put something soft for protection....wonder if that will ever change????

libraylil

Fluid drained today, see RO again next Tuesday to reCT and maybe re tatt.  Hope Rads are back on track. True to what the RO said there was a boatload in there.  Top part looks a little weird , but not awful. BTW my sister in law read an email where I referred to getting tattoos...she thought I was having mid life crisis.  libraylil

walker2222

Libraylil had to be rescaned too, due to unexpected surgery. The did not have to re tat. Hope you do not have to.

Teklya

Hi there.

Wed will be 2 weeks since my ending rads and today is my best day.  I feel so much better, skin is doing better, still peeling like mad, but no soreness like before.  Plastering on the cream as often as I can and keeping the skin moist as I do not want to have dry areas that can catch and hurt. 

Very tired and real lack of energy, but that can only get better, right?

I have not yet worn  a bra since beginning of radiation and hope that will be okay when it is time to try that. 

take good care and just breathe. . .

Teklya

Polyana

Do you normally have xrays each week when u r on Rads...this is what they do for me every Mon and then they start treatment. I wanna ask is this familiar to you..

raincitygirl

Yes, I did.  All the way through until boosts started.

heathermcd

Polyana - yes, I have my weight and then x-rays done every Wednesday.

 Today will be treatment #15...just a little over halfway through. I am tanning, with some slight redness...I think it helps that I have no feeling in that breast area because of the mastectomy. Otherwise, doing good!

walker2222

They do the xrays for positioning not for diagnostics.

Polyana

raincitygirl,heathermcd and mjbmiller thanks it really comfort me. I thought is was diagnostic and I thought lots of strange things... I am planned to have 28 sessions ending on March 17th...I think they said that you need to do a chest Xray after you finish, have you been told so or not yet.

They gave me a cream for the skin area, did not use it till now.

Not sure of this, but if you had mastectomy, was it difficult for you to always look at the surgery site..to me it took me a month and half to start looking, I get in the bathroom to shower with the lights CLOSED. Still not use to it, and don't watch my skin regulary so I REALLY don't know how it looks.

R U feeling some tightness in the area too and the arm has some tightness as well not as before. I am seeing an LE specialist this week for evaluation.

Thanks and keep in touch will be handing on to you support and good advise, experience and answers..

Ummmwah

FireKracker

Telkya---hello-yes it does get better...and real soon is what they tell me.This is what the dr said.rest and sleep is healing ..do it as much as you need to.listen to your body.dring a lot of water,eat protein and use lots of cream.Monday was 2 weeks I finished the rads.i finished peeling last week but have slight pain under the arm.all normal.still using lots of cream tho.

I want to tell you girls a story.many yrs.ago my son had a bad sunburn.I had an elderly neighbor who told me to put egg whits on the burn.i was young and i listened.overnight it went away.I told this to the nurse she said the protein probably did it but ask the RO.I did.he said if you want to do it wait till after 2 weeks.im gonna try it tomorrow just to see because im still a little burnt.Ill let you know.please dont anyone try it while in tx.

libraylil

mjbmiller  good to know before I start.  Since BC I am natually suspicious of everything.libraylil

Elisimo

Today after the rad treatment #6 the pink blotches were really visable so I put on a gob of Calendula gel and by the time I got home they were no longer visable.  So I am going to keep the gel in my purse until the miaderm gets here then I will try that one.  Still using the emu oil in the mornings and the evenings. The Calendula mid-morning, after my treatments in the afternoon and at bedtime.  Everthing is looking good so far to me, so I will see what the RO says tomorrow when I see him.  Has anyone else started burning this early in rads?

Jwatrlily

Tomorrow is my simulation verification then Friday is my first rad tx.  Away we go.  I'm hoping for the best.  In case some don't read closely or have forgotten, I am Triple Negative but I am a fighter so hoping and praying for that golden 3 year mark when my highest risk of recurrence goes down.  I'm going to lose the big toenail on my left foot.  So weird!!!  Of all my 10 toes, that is the only one affected by the Taxol to the extent of losing it.  My fingernails are not normal but I'm hoping they will be again one day.  For some reason the fingernail issue is bugging me the most.  My hair is coming in nicely but not long enough yet for me to be comfortable going without something.  If the weather would warm up more, I'd probably wear baseball caps.  I was maybe 25% salt and pepper color but what is in, is white!

Hugs,

Juanita

Adey

7 of 28 down, no burning yet, got tattoos today, 1/4 done!

Eloise

amyjo49 -- I started getting pink in my first week, my doc said that it wasn't really burn but inflammation.   Try taking Advil/ibuprofen.  That said, my skin only got pinker and pinker until it went into the red and peeling stage I'm in now.  I'm glad you have Miaderm on the way, I didn't start using it until late in week 3 when I decided the Cetaphil my doc had recommended wasn't doing the trick.  Maybe if I'd been on Miaderm from the beginning I wouldn't have quite so much peeling and redness. 

Elisimo

Eloise - thanks for the information.  I will keep using all my calendula cream, lotion, and gel liberally until the miaderm arrives.

I learned today that I now have 2 more treatments added to my total so I will not be done until March 26th.  So I am not done with 7 of 30.  I am really tired and bones are aching a lot tonight.  

Hope everyone has a restful night. Amy Jo 

ToriGirl

Just finished #6 of 28 regular treatments...boosts are still pending right now....  

Time to "lube my boob" again shortly....trying to keep up on it as much as I can to prevent any yuckiness, but only time will tell! 

Hope everyone is doing well!

peace and prayers,

Tori 

Adey

Finished 8 of 28 today, lubing often, tiniest bit of pink starting to show up.  I here you're not supposed to "feel" rads... I certainly do.  Gettin' there!

FireKracker

Adey--what do you feel????

Adey

GD- Hmmm... kinda hard to explain, during the zap with the bolus kind of a spreading warmth, during the nodes zap not much, after tx an achiness and warmth and tightness.  I don't have pain but I do feel the effects.  Hoping to keep that little bit of pink to stay little!  Lube that boob!

FireKracker

Adey-did you tell this to the techs?if you didnt you should.they need to know everything.I dont know anything about the spreading the warmth maybe someone will jump on here that may have had that.I did not.BUT i told the techs ever little thing that I felt.I did feel the tightness under the arm after tx.but my techs and RO told me that was normal.when ever i felt the tightness-pulling i put the cream on and kinda massaged my arm...keep creamin..dont forget to drink lots of water too.one more day and then 2 days break.yay.when do you see the RO?