Radiation recovery

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  • SAB
    SAB Member Posts: 1,498
    edited April 2013

    April:

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  • RMlulu
    RMlulu Member Posts: 1,989
    edited April 2013

    Hi y'all busy TGIF!



    April - yippee! HAPPY DANCE! :))) speed zappin! Woohoo! Can still hear the gong out here in sunny hot CA. Hummm now how to pamper yourself?

    Janis - yeah scar tissue keeping fingers&toes crossed on stomach and mammo:)

    Kate - enjoy your girls night out and congrats on the taxi drivers!

    SAB - score big on the interview:) sending confident thoughts your way.

    Josie - SE from rads present for a few weeks I would cut yourself more slack. I leave bags at the store all the time...drove with handbag on roof of car many a time when son was babe:)

    Brookside - you have good control over your class...so you must have been a hoot:) cause you keep us in :))

    RunFree Sew Bunkie Lemon - y'all are nailin it on the head. This is some journey were on, but I'm sure glad to share my roller coaster with y'all...glad we rotate who's up front as long as all our hands are up high in the air....wheeee:)

    Lynn - hydrate moisturize free boob and laugh...think healing light. Want to share the front seat on Monday my last boost your first zap!

    Hoping I don't tear up on Monday...rad team is so great, but what a relief to be done and headed home...so ready for an early morning paddle on the lake.

    (((Hugs)))

    Cindy

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  • GiGiL
    GiGiL Member Posts: 928
    edited April 2013

    Janis, so glad to hear it is only scar tissue. Now to get the other things taken care of.



    April congrats on being done. Now just take a deep breath and enjoy the fact you don't have to do THAT again. Rest all you need to, then get a mani-pedi and maybe a facial. You deserve it.



    Kate have a wonderful evening. Enjoy!



    Lynn welcome.



    I am back from Florida and enjoying the 73 degree day moving my father to a senior living apartment. He is 84 and we lost my mother quite suddenly in November. He has been so alone. It will be good to have him nearby instead of 5 hours away.



    Who went home on AI ladies? I haven't even had time to watch.



    Hi to everyone else. Hope all of your weather is as gorgeous as ours in Minnesota. I haven't been able to say that for a very long time. Over 6 months ago!



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  • LibraryLynn
    LibraryLynn Member Posts: 83
    edited April 2013

    Wow, thanks everyone for the fabulous welcome! I plan to do a lot of pug snuggling (I have four pugs) and reading this weekend, in preparation. I so appreciate all of the great advice. I am a horrible water drinker, and I know that I have to work harder at it during this time. I'm hoping that is my biggest challenge through all of it.

    I like the advice about the protein. That is something that I have not read, so thank you.

    I have extremely fair, thin skin, so I am very concerned. During my sim, they put a few adhesive stickers on me, and I wondered what they would do to me. Well, they left big red welts, and I think the tech was a bit taken aback. She made a comment about really having to watch me closely during my treatment. I, too, hope it's a non-event. 

    But, as I try to do several times a day, I remind myself that I am lucky. My surgery went well...my oncotype score let me dodge chemo...and I am looking at the light at the end of the tunnel here. "Count your blessings every day", as my grandma always told me. 

    One of my blessings is definitely finding this forum. Thank you all, very much.

    Lynn

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  • justmejanis
    justmejanis Member Posts: 1,847
    edited April 2013

    April BIG congratulations on completing rads!  Doesn't it feel wonderful?  It is!  I know I am jumping for joy today too.  We have much to celebrate!

    Congratulations Sweet Lady!!!  The rest gets better and better!

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  • MostlySew
    MostlySew Member Posts: 1,418
    edited April 2013

    Oh good, Janis, you found that picture of Sab and you and me.....I seem to remember being the one on the left..



    April....yippie.....that done feeling is so great. We'll be interested to hear your SE's if any but it looks like this trial is a great thing. I'm really impressed with your gift basket. I think your co-workers cherish you! I'd hold off on a mud bath till that poor boob heals up from the zaps, but anything else sounds great.....



    Lynn, yep, you'll get lots of tips from us. Use whichever ones work. As far as your really fair thin skin goes the skin/hair color is not indicative of problems or ease in rads. So...your fair skin is not putting you at bigger risk. I believe the techs were talking about your reactions to tape....by the time my surgeries were over, I was also allergic to all surgical tape. I think your techs will just plan on not using tape on you. In some places it seems that they use tape over permanent markers to make extra marks on you. So....don't worry about burning on that account.



    Run free, I'm glad that resonated with you. The lost, grieving feeling does get better and better, it's just a surprise SE of cancer. It's quite possible the T won't bother you in the least, or if it does, the SE's may well lessen over time. It's great you're starting it now, by summer you should be up to running again. It may take a bit to get fully back up to speed, but I'd think any speed will feel great to you. So....here's to your last week, coming up and then your big party..



    Josie....just one and done for you, gal.....seems like a walk in the park now, doesn't it?



    Bunkie....did you get out of your bedroom yet? Toxic smell all gone? Sure hope so.

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  • Joan811
    Joan811 Member Posts: 2,672
    edited April 2013

    I think you all know about reading more than one page of posts and then getting to this box and forgetting all the stuff you wanted to say to those we care about....brain skip here.

    Yes, I find reading the written papers the most difficult part of my classwork.  I am pretty hard on their grammar and spelling.  Hey, it's college?

    Kate, I hope you had a good time....glad you are getting transportation support for chemo. 

    April, you are on pretty fried hen today....so glad for you it's over.  Of course, I had to calculate the grays and compare it to the average annual dose....I think it was .5 million times ... but I'd have to go back and check. 

    Lynn, I hope you find that rads are inconvenient but do-able.  Try not to fear the next steps unless there's a reason...many of us do OK on the A.I. drugs.

    Brookside, so you are looking at this from a new perspective - your own!  It is quite an accumulation of physical and emotional stress build-up.  We enter a cocoon when we start rads treatment....we interact with the medical team daily and the focus is on us.  When rads are finished, we are, as was said, "bounced back on the street" of reality.
    A lot of inward thinking seems to occur during these transitions.  And we emerge (oh, I'm going to be poetic) a new butterfly....many of us cancer free.

    Nite all,
    will try to keep up with you!

    Joan

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Hi Janis,

    Thank God it is only scar tissue. I am so glad.

    Hugs,

    Kate

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Hi Sab,

    I bet your new haircut is darling. Your photo is so super cute.

    Hugs,

    Kate

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Hi April,

    Congrats! Congrats! Congrats! I am so glad you are done. I am also so glad you got such a nice gift. Enjoy! You deserve it.

    I had such a wonderful time with my friend, and doctor, Tracy. We started off at the Malibu Inn. It was gorgeous out, and we sat outside. There are a few people that we usually bump into , and they were there again today. We like to drink at the Malibu Inn, but we don't like their food. We stayed in Malibu for dinner, and went to La Costa Mission Upscale Refined Mexican restaurant, and the food was delicious. As we were sitting there we saw Danny De Vito come in. OMG he looks shorter in person than he does on film. I had so much fun, and I am so blessed to have her for my friend. We laughed and giggled all night, and never said one word about cancer. Janis I love your cancer free weekends, and I am going to do my best to copy you.

    Hugs,

    Kate 

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Runfree,

    Only one more week to go. I will be so happy for you when your treatments are over. I will pray that you do well on Tamoxifen.

    Hugs,

    Kate

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Welcome Lynn, but sorry you have to be here. Lemon and Bunkie thanks so much doe your support.

    xoxo,

    Kate

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Hi Cindy and Gigil. Thanks so much for your support. Gigil I am glad your dad will move closer to you. Nobody went home on American Idol. Candace and Amber were in the bottom two. Ryan announced that since the judges didn't use their save there was an extra week in the schedule, so everyone was safe. I was thrilled that kree was in the top 2.

    Hugs,

    Kate

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    I had such a good time tonight, but when I got home I had a voicemail regarding my chemo appointment at 9 am Monday. I am going to do my best not to think about it. i am not that worried about Monday, because my doctor said I won't feel sick till 24 hours after I get the treatment. Oh well it is mostly the fear of the unknown. I am strong, and resilient, but all I can say to God is enough with testing me. Ok I just vented and I will be fine the rest of the weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

    xoxo,

    Kate

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  • BrooksideVT
    BrooksideVT Member Posts: 2,211
    edited April 2013

    Lynn, I also am very fair and everything irritates my skin; I loath EKG's because of the stickies.  My RO told me that skin color has very little to do with how your skin holds up.  Apparently she was right, as I finished with only minimal issues.  Although you will be scheduled to see the RO only weekly, a nurse and an RO will always be on duty, and they really do want you to bring any skin changes to their attention. They have a huge stash of creams, ointments, and dressings, which they whip out as needed.  A radiation oncologist will also be on call evenings and weekends.

    Also, the techs are wonderful resources.  I am way more wimpy than most, and my techs referred me to their manager, who spent an hour explaining some of their procedures, and generally calming my fears.  Meeting with him is probably the best thing I did during my early treatment days. 

    As Joan indicates. you will be enveloped in a cocoon of care.  It won't seem that way, of course, but your daily zaps will be a joint project by docs, nurses, techs, physicists, dosimatrists (or whatever they are), engineers, and whatever other groups I never even knew about.

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  • SusannahW
    SusannahW Member Posts: 470
    edited April 2013

    I love this thread and the women who are a part of it. I haven't posted in ages, but have been following all your posts,. Kate, good has blessed you with an endearing personality. Everyone will be with you on Monday. Sending you a big virtual hug.

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Hi Sab,

    I tried what you said to do regarding tranfering a photo fron fb to this site, but It didn't work. In fb I opened the photio. right clicked, chose copy, opened photo icon bc page and pasted. then clicked on insert, and as you see above it didn't work

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  • SusannahW
    SusannahW Member Posts: 470
    edited April 2013

    Lynn, I am also very fair with sensitive skin. I got a terrible rash and infection from the surgical tape after my lumpectomy, yet I was fortunate to have minimal skin problems during radiation. I was very attentive to creaming my skin, let it air as often as possible, and wore camis instead of bras for the whole 7 weeks, and then for about 2 weeks after I was done. Salt water soaks were helpful.

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  • placid44
    placid44 Member Posts: 497
    edited April 2013

    Lynn,



    Maybe you are allergic to medical adhesive? I am. They use paper tape with me.

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  • edwards750
    edwards750 Member Posts: 3,761
    edited April 2013

    Kate - good luck on Monday. I love your attitude. Just curious did you have the Oncotype test? You have a low stage, low grade cancer which is I have to admit disheartening that you are going through all this. I know there are no guarantees but you would think the odds were certainly in your favor. diane

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Hi Diane,

    I did not have the oncotype test. The odds were definitely in my favor regarding breast cancer. I only had a 4 mm tumor, and I was grade 1 stage1. My breast is doing fine. The problem is that I now have bladder cancer, and the stage is much worse, tumor much larger etc. etc. Thanks for your support.

    xoxo,

    Kate

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201079284446530&set=a.2026863753493.2126597.1301023545&type=1&relevant_count=1

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    <object name="Slideshow" id="Slideshow" width="425" height="425" align="middle" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="configurl=http%3A%2F%2Fws.shutterfly.com%2Fshare%2Fexternal_slideshow_config%3Fsid%3D0AauWjJi4cuGrkY" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed id="Slideshow"  width="425" height="425" name="Slideshow" align="middle"  quality="high"  type="application/x-shockwave-flash"  flashvars="configurl=http%3A%2F%2Fws.shutterfly.com%2Fshare%2Fexternal_slideshow_config%3Fsid%3D0AauWjJi4cuGrkY"  pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"  allowscriptaccess="always"  allowfullscreen="true"  bgcolor="#869ca7"  src="http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf"></embed></object><p style="width:425px;margin-top:0;text-align:center;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AauWjJi4cuGrkY&eid=118">Click here to view these pictures larger</a></p>

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    I finally did it. on my last post look at the bottom where it says share shutterfly, and you will see a photo of me and my 9 year old granddaughter Emma in Chicago

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    <object name="Slideshow" id="Slideshow" width="425" height="425" align="middle" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="configurl=http%3A%2F%2Fws.shutterfly.com%2Fshare%2Fexternal_slideshow_config%3Fsid%3D0AauWjJi4cuGrmQ" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed id="Slideshow"  width="425" height="425" name="Slideshow" align="middle"  quality="high"  type="application/x-shockwave-flash"  flashvars="configurl=http%3A%2F%2Fws.shutterfly.com%2Fshare%2Fexternal_slideshow_config%3Fsid%3D0AauWjJi4cuGrmQ"  pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"  allowscriptaccess="always"  allowfullscreen="true"  bgcolor="#869ca7"  src="http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf"></embed></object><p style="width:425px;margin-top:0;text-align:center;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AauWjJi4cuGrmQ&eid=118">Click here to view these pictures larger</a></p>

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    On the post above If you press share shutterfly you will see a photo of me and my friend Tracy in Malibu last night. Please let me know if you can see it

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  • SusannahW
    SusannahW Member Posts: 470
    edited April 2013

    Kate, you did it, I could see both photos! Who knew how beautiful u are, your granddaughter too! Great photo of you and your friend.

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    A photo of My granddaughter Riley and her dog Roxie. I am taking this photo to chemo for comfort<object name="Slideshow" id="Slideshow" width="425" height="425" align="middle" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf" /><param name="flashvars" value="configurl=http%3A%2F%2Fws.shutterfly.com%2Fshare%2Fexternal_slideshow_config%3Fsid%3D0AauWjJi4cuGroo" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed id="Slideshow"  width="425" height="425" name="Slideshow" align="middle"  quality="high"  type="application/x-shockwave-flash"  flashvars="configurl=http%3A%2F%2Fws.shutterfly.com%2Fshare%2Fexternal_slideshow_config%3Fsid%3D0AauWjJi4cuGroo"  pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/go/getflashplayer"  allowscriptaccess="always"  allowfullscreen="true"  bgcolor="#869ca7"  src="http://www.shutterfly.com/flashapps/flashslideshow/Slideshow.swf"></embed></object><p style="width:425px;margin-top:0;text-align:center;"><a href="http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AauWjJi4cuGroo&eid=118">Click here to view these pictures larger</a></p>

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  • katehudson25
    katehudson25 Member Posts: 2,467
    edited April 2013

    Finally you can see some photos. Please press the bottom where it says share shutterfly. I posted 3 photos. 1. My granddaughter Emma and I in Chicago. 2. My friend Tracy and I in Malibu lst night. 3. A photo of my granddaughter Riley and her dog Roxie. You will notice it says photos posted by Joyce F. My real name is Joyce, but I hate it, so my friends call me Kate

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