"Easy" part of treatment? MY A**!

Reality

Too funny - When I see my RO next Mon. I will think of him as being a "little bitch" and coming from a mold. That will help me get through my appointment with him. Thank goodness he is always in a hurry. He asks me how I am, makes some dumb remark in an attempt to connect with me, looks at my radiated area and sends my insurance co. a big bill.

BlueCowgirl

Actually I love my RO...It's my first onc who was the issue...

Actually, hearing how bad rads have been for others, I am feeling like a whiny baby with my blisters...But my 1st onc was definitely cut from that mold.

truebff

I finished yesterday, December 12th. God Bless all you ladies going through this.

BlueCowgirl

Congratulations truebff! I hope you have something special planned to reward yourself for reaching this milestone.

truebff

Thanks. It was sooooo hard. Every day was hard. We went home and had champaigne and filet mignon. I plan to sleep for a month. I hope to have a special treat on Valentine's Day week when I am all better.

BlueCowgirl

Truebff, you go girl! Take care and rest and I hope that your post-Rads SEs don't involve any pain, blistering, or explosions.

But wait...there's more...I know it takes some people a lot longer to recover, but just wanted to report that once the worst was over for me, I still cannot believe how fast my radiation area has healed and how super it looks now. After all that skin loss and peeling and weeping, the skin looks just like it did pre-rads. I am proof that in some cases, even when you have some nasty shiz going on w rads, it can get totally better with no visible scarring...amazing.

truebff

Great to know BlueCowGirl. Again and again, I appreciate this gutsy thread so much as it gives us a way to rant and share in a more outrageous way, which is *attitude* which is healing!!!

vivirasselena

I can top ya.....on top of my horrifying and painful radiation burn......I GOT SHINGLES!   Yup! My entire red chest blistered and itchy with shingles.  OMG

Now, I have to go BACK under the knife as a squamous-cell carcinoma (skin cancer) has popped

up on the radiated side of my chest. It's a RARE complication from radiation burns.  AND I JUST HAD REPLACEMENT SURGERY December 5th!

Just damn

Mandalala

BlueCowgirl, good to know that healing can be fast!

I am done now, they skipped the last 5 boosts as the radiation burns were too bad. They are still bad (I have to wash them with salt solution – water hurts too much – and I have to take painkillers first). But at least, I don't have to go there and make it worse any more. They told me before the treatment started that they hardly ever stop it, no matter what ... so I didn't expect them to. Glad they did anyway ...

Vivirasselena, that sounds extremely awful! Hope all of it, including skin cancer, will heal and go away quickly.

Reality

BlueCowgirl - I have not seen you on any of the threads I visit. Just wondering how you are doing. I do not have horses, but will look on the horse lovers thread to see if you have been there. 

'you are in my thoughts,m

Sher 

Reality

Duh to me - guess I P.M.- I think I will do just that.

Spinnerpom

While reading some of these posts has filled me with a sense of dread at my upcoming rads (being a fair-skinned redhead), I admire the courage of you ladies who are undergoing and have undergone far bigger challenges than my lumpectomy and 6 weeks of radiation will provide. Big hugs to you all and happy holidays!

JSwan

Spinnerpom -- I am Scandinavian and very fair skinned.  I am on my last week of 33 rads and have had no problems at all beyond a little redness on my collarbone.  I wish you the same.

Hope60

 After chemo, I expected rads to be a walk in the park....it was NOT!  Luckily my skin held up fine....breast turned red like I had a sunburn, and my nipple looked like a flying saucer.....but no blistering and oozing.  The skin started improving as soon as I was done and resolved completely in an amazingly short time. But I just felt physically crappy from about 4 weeks on, and it lasted for months. Definitely took much longer to get my energy back after rads than it did after chemo.  But this could be that the combination of chemo and rads was hard on me....can't really say if it was the rads alone.  To all going through rads now, just keep in mind that it goes fast and will be over soon! Spinnerpom - I am also very fair skinned and sunburn easily....I was expecting the worst but like I said the skin issues weren't too bad.  Hugs and good luck!

truebff

I am now two weeks out since finishing all rads. My skin is beginning now to improve. I think I am near the "after rad peaking" and expect that in four to six more weeks, I will look closer to normal again. The surgery scar all but disappeared from the intense and continually worsening burns I got from rads. But now the burns are remedying slowly. I have had alergic reactions to the rotating creams that I have still needed, but "air-only time" and benedril lotion (for itching) have helped the MOST.

My energy was wiped out *completely* since the last week of rad, and since finishing, and first two weeks of post-rads, was sleeping up to 20 hours a day, not able to stay awake more then 7 hours a day max. But as of about four-five days ago, I started only needing abut 12 hours of sleep (a HUGE improvement!) and my waking time has improved dramatically as far as energy then!! Getting the sleep I NEED has been and continues to help my healing tremendously!

I credit much of my returned energy to keeping up even a minimum of exercise during and after rads. (I lightly "inside" jogged 20 minutes a day 3-4 times a week during rads + the post sugery arm exercises 3-4 times a week + 10 minutes of yoga 3-4 times a week divided that into the standing part one day and the floor part the next day, so not all at once) and now have been able to increase my whole routine to 5 times minimum a week. I always, always checked in with my energy though -and still do- to make sure I am exercising WITH my energy not against it or pushing where it is depleted.

Girls, I HATED rads. I had to fight EVERY day to make it through. I burned. I suffered. I died every time. It is WONDERFUL to report that I am -even this early- now heading to the other side and returning to a feeling of health, light, and life! 

I hope this helps any of you going through this tough, tough treatment. Hang in there, ladies!

mumito

Truebff I know exactly how you feel.I still cringe at the thought of ever having go through rads again.If my cancer Metastisizes I will really have a problem because I will refuse anymore radiation.

Elizabeth1889

mumayan, I feel the same way.  If I ever get mets, I will do chemo again for sure, but I honestly do not know if would do rads again.

Leah_S

After my mets dx, one of the first things I said to my DH was, "If I need rads again I will go to 'X facility', never again 'Y facility' " where I had rads. I didn't have bad skin problems but the techs treated me like I was another piece of the equipment. If I said "Good morning" when I went in the room so I would get a mumbled "Good morning" back, but if I didn't say it then no one did. There was NO other conversation AT ALL with me unless I asked a question. On the last day one of the techs said, "Did you know this is your last tx?". Well, duh. Then she said, "You have to stop at the office for the tx form for your HMO to get transportation credit from them". Um, you think your salary will be decreased if you say "best of luck" or something?

Leah

vivirasselena

I will never do radiation again.  Surgery and chemo were a breeze compared to radiation.

Never again

fightlikeagirl2011

WOW!! This really scares me. I start rads in January and my onc said it was much easier than chemo. Chemo was horrible, so I can't imagine what rads will be like if she is wrong! What a beast BC is.

fightlikeagirl2011

WOW!! This really scares me. I start rads in January and my onc said it is much easier than chemo. Chemo was horrible, so I can't imagine what rads will be like if she is wrong! What a beast BC is.

kmur

Hey girls,



Bluecowgirl....I hope you are feeling better



I just wanted to hop on to say I did 28 rads and although I did burn at the end it was not too bad. I was given a script cream and it worked very well. The skin that came off was ,well, GROSS but I made it YAY... I know you will get there too



Fightlikeagirl.... Everyone is so different I think. I thought taxotere was hard others thought it was easy. Just wanted to send you some positive thoughts. Rads for me were much easier than chemo and was my small light at the end of this tunnel and this crazy year +. I am now one year out from rads and all healed ( little bit tighter on the radiated side but otherwise all good) now just need to keep on !!!



Good luck to all you girls

Kim

PlantLover

Fightlikeagirl ...  Awww, please don't think just because some of us had bad experiences that you will.  As kmur said, we are all so different!  From what I've read on this site there are probably more positive experiences with Rads then negative. 

You know, I think I would rather do chemo again instead of radiation too (Man, what a choice, lol) but I don't think I'm ready to say I'd never do rads again. 

jellybean5

I just had my second surgery to clean up the margins where my tumor used to be so I'll be starting radiation soon. I hope my experience won't be horrible. I wasn't nervous about my two surgeries though reading your stories about radiation is making me somewhat nervous.But, it's to make me better afterall.

Mandalala

Jellybean5, this thread is where much of the worst go. I am sure that most people who find radiation easy write far less about it than those who have problems. So for every unnerving story, try to imagine one or two stories about nothing special, just a little red skin. Hope one of them will be yours! 

truebff

Hi.I am just short of four weeks out (after finishing rads).  I am wondering how long others were sore, had swollen nipples, etc.

I am still in pain, still have swollen nipple and aerola, still red, though that is slowly beginning to resolve, still feeling VERY weak, tired, and not myself and recovery is VERY slow.

Am I alone here?

sdmeyers88

I was told by my doctor that radiation was a walk in the park.. It was very stressful, I hated the place, and suffered horrible depression. I dont think i have ever really dealt with the cancer. was diagnosed late july 2011 with thyroid and breast. had thyroid removed august and breast removed sept. expansion,, then rad,  I completed rads this week. Am seriously burned and have tried a lot of remedies, Cant take pain meds and have basically done all of this with no pain meds. I have not got my thyroid hormone regulated,,, is a long process,,. and am getting ready to tske tamoxifen... am on zoloft and klonopin for anxiety... have awful acid reflux and etc... as I ramble on i relalize this is a rad section... so will go back to that subject.. Find that the expander is like a rock and the skin very tight. Looks like I have red dots all over my foob and extreme redness and irritation under my arm. Found out the hard way not to use soap. Have AD ointment, pure aloe, and 1% hydrocortozone cream, I am allergic to the sulfa drug... any help or thoughts... I just need to talk... And ... scared of the tamoxifen

truebff

sdmeyers88,

Wow, I really get your distress. Where in the country are you? (If USA?) I too have very sensitive skin, am alergic to sulfa, am alergic to lanolin, hate scented smelly stuff or sticky stuff, had horrid burns and irritation... 

I found that I had to "rotate" four to five creams... most from the rad "recommended list" and some from health sites and/or recommended here.   It was finding the least harm of one and then roating when I needed other help: one for itching, another for hydration, another for burn, another for pain, and a rotation of a few more just for healing after the rads (avacado oil, almond oil, castor oil, vitamin E straight from the capsule, etc.).

I can't and won't take hormonal therapy. I can't take tomoxafen and I am opting out of the aromatase inhibitors, going for Chinese med instead to manage any extra hormones.

I think "being scared" is VERY healthy in that YOU need to be in charge of what you choose and there is a LOT of pressure for women to just accept stuff.

If you are really wierded out, I would suggest taking the time it takes for you to feel a sense of your own choice and empowerment in every part of your treatment. I HATED radiation, but I did choose it. It made sense to me. I still HATED it. I had a very severe time enduring it. i am having a lot of trouble getting over it. But baby steps by baby steps, I am swimming beyond. You will get there too. We all will.

If I can be of any help, PM me. There are tons of GREAT STRONG women here! Lean in to us.

And if there is a bc support group where you are, they are the BEST!

Hang in there! And please let us know on hard or bad days as well as on good better days. 

Blessings!

BTW, 88 is my lucky number!

chiefswife

I finished radiation on Dec 3, 2010, that's 13 months ago, I am still pink when I look in a mirror, my nipple is kind of white in color and my nipple no longer stands up erect if I am cold. It's constantly flat looking. I burned really bad, and blistered. They gave me one week off to heal, it helped me in the long run to completet the treatment. It was horrible, but I'd do it again if I ever have to on my opposite breast. I pray I'll never need to though. Radiation was way worse then doing chemo, my oncologist found it hard to believe me when I told him that, he said it's usally the other way around. 

Elizabeth1889

chiefswife, I found radiation much worse than chemo, too, and I did not really burn.  I felt nurtured by the MO, chemo nurses, and all of the staff during chemo.  Rads was lonely and depressing.