Any February 2012 radiation gals out there?

mlm445

Also, someone else yesterday questioned the count time of the radiation treatment. My tech told me today that depending on the room temperature and other factors the treatment time may vary, but you always get the same dose.

  

Patriotic

Hi everyone,



Bak94, I hear you on the infection. What a disaster! Anyway, my RO said the preference is to start rads within 6-8 weeks after chemo or surgery. However, there are still benefits, particularly to reduce risk of local recurrence, to do rads up to 4-5 months later.



I get the bolis every other day. They told me it brings the radiation to the surface of the skin.



Thanks to the other 2 ladies who mentioned they are getting rads to an implant. I hope this won't be problematic. I am using what the office gave me 2 times per day; Lotionsoft. I also use pure Aloe Vera 2 times per day. It needs to be refrigerated, which is a bit of a pain. I sort of feel like it's not that important as to what you use. Just use something to keep the skin moist and supple. I am also getting PT which helps the tightening and lymphatic drainage. I had cording, too, post surgery. PT was a life-saver because the stretching I was doing on my own was not the same.



Off to treatment # 6.

Relda

Good morning everyone!



I am closing in on the last few days of my rads tx's. Today I have numbers 23 & 24. I will be done on Monday. I have to say the three weeks have gone pretty fast. Besides a little redness and very minor pain, as well as a little fatigue I have to say its gone very well. I'm really sick of the twice a day grind but it did cut the time in half so for that I am happy. I was approved for a "scholarship" at my cancer center - 12 free acupuncture sessions and 10 free group yoga sessions for people who are currently in treatment. This is good cause I've never done yoga so I need to start off slowly lol. I'm saving the acupuncture for when I start chemo, I heard it can really help with nausea and fatigue. I have my first yoga class this Friday. I love my cancer center!



Hope everyone has a great day.....

Chicago1958

Relda, that's wonderful about the yoga and acupuncture. Yoga with a group of people in a similar situation sounds very healing; you do have a great facility. Congratulations on wrapping up this phase and thanks for starting the thread.

pupmom

Had my 12th treatment yesterday and am doing great. Some redness but no pain or irritation. My energy level is normal. Keep waiting for the other shoe to drop, but so far so good.

rozem

mlm445 were your sentinal nodes tested prior to neo adjuvant chemo?  still makes me nervous that mine were only done at surgery, but my surgeon said that this is as accurate as doing them b4 plus all my imaging was clean prior to starting chemo

you are right...if it helps even a little then i will do it!

mlm445

Hi Rozam,

Yes, I had a PET and a node biopsy prior to chemo. The Pet showed low level malignant activity in the node and the breast had cancer. The node biopsy ended up clean. Even being node clean prior to chemo and surgery the RO decided, based on the PET, to do the node radiation. If I had not had the malignant PET, they may not have treated the nodes. Are they treating your nodes? I had a second opinion for my radiation and talked to my oncologist about it too...  Once everyone agreed I felt much better. Perhaps if you're worried I would suggest the same.     

rozem

hi mlm,

yes  they are treating my nodes, but this was after much discussion with the surgeon and RO - i pushed for it b/c even though my sentinal nodes were clean at surgery,  i did not have a SNB prior to chemo so i did not feel comfortable not treating the axilla nodes.  They both felt it would not offer much benefit.  I wish they had done the snb prior so i would know for sure but they don't follow this protocol at my cancer ctr.  So i am having breast and axilla rads next week.

SuperFoob

Howdy all!



Treatment #11 today....so far so good. My foob is tan, no redness or itchiness, just tan.

For those using Aloe Vera Gelly: I have tried four different brands: Lily of the Valley, Real Aloe, and two others I can't remember the names of. I totally like the Lily of the Valley the best. It soaks in better than the others. It says it has "Aloesorb" in it (whatever that is) that makes it absorb better.



My cording has changed somewhat. What used to feel like one large cord is now multiple small cords. PT has totally helped with range of movement and I can tell when I go for Rads that it isn't as tight when I grab the handles above my head. Yippee for small pleasures.



I go for a PET/CT scan tomorrow after Rads. I always get so nervous....like a test you can't study for. I'm hoping that since my CTC (circulating tumor cell) test came back 0, that it will bode well for my scan. Fingers crossed (and toes)!

el-jaye

Treatment #7 today.  Spoke to my Rad Technician today about the pain I had yesterday and he gave me a reecipe for a saline compress.  Told me the pain was most likely from the inflammation caused by  the rads.  So I am adding saline compresses to my routine.  Lets see what happens!!!

bak94

geegster-everything is crossed for a clean scan!

gerrib

Hi

This is my first post. I am in Australia.

I started radiation today. I will be having 6 wks of 5 days per week.

I'm sure I felt tingling in my breast after treatment and my trachea feels dryish. Don't think it's my imagination.

I was told I don't require chemo. I was told it would improve my prognosis by 1% and both oncologists advised against it.

 I am 61. I will start Tamoxifen after rads (that's what you call it?)

 Anyway looking forward to sharing with you

Gerri 

shron

Will have my 4th of 33 treatments today. I had my first treatment on Fri. and Sun. night I was exhausted , I just attributed it to stress. Also a bit nauseous over the weekend, thought maybe I was fighting the flu. I do hope to get comfortable with these treatments, cancer is definately not for sissies

mlm445

geegster- positive thoughts headed your way.  Rozem, sounds like you are doing everything you can..you sound strong, detailed and detemined... a good recipe!

#2 down today..31 treatments to go. I asked today if I should where sunglasses...didn't seem crazy at the time (who doesn't want to protect your eyes) but now that I think about it the tech's prob rolled the eyes on that one    

mlm445

Gerri,



I too would swear I felt a tingling at the first treatment. They said it was possible. Anyone else have this happen? Welcome

dancetrancer

I felt a couple twinges a few hours after my first treatment.  Haven't felt anything since.  I had my 8th of 28 treatments today.  I now have a pink sunburn across the breast which lasts 24/7...seems a bit early for that already...holding out hope that I don't end up burning bad.  Marching forward, want this OVER! 

Chicago1958

No tingling or zings for me. (I had #7 today.) No redness or tanning either, so far. I'm fair-skinned but not large and my skin tends to be oily rather than dry -- wonder how much those kinds of things enter into it?

Now I'm wondering if I'm tired from messed-up hormones instead of radiation, because I started another period even though my blood test shows post-menopausal. I have an appointment with an ob/gyn Monday. Couldn't face seeing her after the first period last month, because I know she'll want to do a biopsy, but now I'm ready to get it done. Bring it on!

It does get easier to do the treatments as time goes on, don't you think? The technician said I was an old hand now, and I told him by the time we're done, he'll be lying down and I'll be driving the machine... I like that mental image!

Chicago1958

P.S. Mim, I also like the mental picture of lying back with sunglasses on! And I am going to check back later today to see if there's an update from Geegster. Welcome, Gerri! El-Jaye, I'm hoping that the saline compresses help, and thinking good thoughts for Shron re: nausea. Also glad to know that YorkieMom made it to the 12th treatment without side effects--encouraging!

macatacmv

Hello all, had my first treatment today. The techs have gotten the table adjustments down so my shoulder is still intact. It went very smoothly. The hard part for me is the boat ride takes so much time. I live on an island so I have to take the ferry (45mins each way) A very kind Road to Recovery volunteer picks me up drives me to the cancer center (10 min), waits for me and drives me back to the boat. The whole process takes 4 hours. whew! I felt kind of blah and achy after working for a few hours after I got back so have been taking it easy. I use my right arm (dx side) alot during work and it has a burning, tingling effect going on, since I am self employed i'm trying to give myself a break.

Anyway I am glad that I have ya'll to compare notes with and know I am not alone. 

geegster I too am using the lily of the desert aloe vera gelly it was recommended to me by the nurse at center. hope your scan went well.

Renee728

Hello! I just started my radiation on Monday the 13th. First day I felt a warm sensation and day 2 I had some needle like pains around my lumpectomy/reduction incisions. No other symptoms since then. 4 down - 24 to go :O)

My story is not as bad as some I have read about and feel my outlook is positive though all this stuff can wear down even the strongest of women. Lump found at annual check up in Sept, lumpectomy with reduction in Oct, 4 rounds of chemo Nov-Jan, rads are now underway and will have hormone suppressants though I don't know what kind. I am 40 and believe I am going through menopause with all the nightly hot flashes and missed periods.

With rads I am a little worried about fatigue. I have an hour+ commute to work, hour+ commute to treatment, 25 min ride home, and then make up my remaining work hours. A bit exhausting all by itself but I fear that it will worsen as the days and weeks of rads add up! The only other thing that I fear is that I am a redhead so I may have a higher risk of burning and blisters. I am doing as much moisturizing as humanly possible.

I am happy to read that most of you have not had many issues with rads so I am hopeful.

Thanks for the starting this post - it will be helpful during this journey! Looking forward to Spring and new beginnings. More special this year than in years past :O)

Best regards to all!!

SuperFoob

Howdy! Got my #12 today plus my PET/CT scan. My Onc will have the results tomorrow. I hope for no phone calls since no news=good news. They always call right away when it's icky. I will pick up the report myself on Monday and have a look see.



Hi Renee! That's my middle name. Chemo can cause "chemopause" (ie: menopause). It can be temporary...or not. Also, my RO told me that skin tone isn't as big a factor as some assume it to be. He said it is more about genetics. He said they have seen fair skinned red heads with no major issues as well as dark skinned people with all kinds of burns, etc... One never knows!

I have an olive skin tone and, so far, I am tan...not much redness. But, if it does get bad, at least my foob is still kind of numb.



Chicago: That is sweet of you to look for my update. Such a wonderful 'family' here.



Smiles!

gerrib

Hi Mim, Chicago, geester and maca.. and Renee  Hope I got that all right

2nd treatment today and no sensation or tingling, but I swear I had tingling and a dry throat/ windpipe yesterday after 1st treatment although the technician dismissed the idea. That's what's good about here as I can see that dry throat is sometimes experienced. She seemed to be saying it was only likely that I would experience a dry throat if I had rads to the throat. 

 maca..  and renee you have a long trip and work as well Renee!. Good luck to you all 

Gerri 

Chicago1958

Well, Geegster, I will keep sending those good thoughts throughout the day today! Here's hoping for no phone calls!

I feel lucky (once again) that my drive to the treatments is only about 20 minutes each way. Like Maca, I am self-employed and have kind of put myself on "medical leave," doing only half-time work until radiation is over. Once it is, I'll probably take a full-time regular position with my favorite client--given all the medication ahead, the idea of having a backup to my husband's insurance is suddenly appealing! Renee, is there no way that you could cut back on your work schedule for a while? That sounds really grueling.

Gerri, I hadn't heard that about dry throat, although it makes sense to me, the esophagus being where it is! What's the solution, drinking lots of water?

Question: do any of you have nightmares? I'm very calm and cheerful on the surface, but I keep having dreams where I look down and see that I have the skin of an alligator, and think, "oh, that's the radiation" or I see a little loose skin, scratch it, and suddenly all my skin peels off...

bojo

Today will be #20. 10 more to go.   My breast is pink all over and my nipple extremely sensitive.  This is my second time around first time was left side. I will have to say that at this point first time around i already had very yucky blisters.  So hopefully that won't happen this time around.

dancetrancer

Hey bojo...do they just keep on radiating you even if you have blisters?  Just curious what happens if you do develop significant skin issues.  Here's to no blisters for you this time around!!! 

GirlPowerDebbie

Hi all,

After my first one my boob kinda tingled - didn't hurt or anything, it was more of an "awareness" that something happened in there.  The next day I mentioned it to the tech and she said I shouldn't have felt anything, so I figured it was in my head.  Those of you who felt "something" after the first one validated me - I know I am not out of my mind!

I have #17 of 30 today.  Skin still good, no pinkness or tenderness.  Sometimes I wonder, since everything is invisible, if they are really doing anything at all!  My boob does feel a bit denser, that is about it.

Mac - the ferry commute must seem like for-e-ver, knowing what is on the other side waiting for you.  You are in my thoughts.  Find a good view, and hitch your wagon to it!

Have a good weekend ...

GrandmaV

I had number 5 today.   Nothing really to report.  Have a nice weekend everyone.

bak94

Day 3 for me. RO recommended Calendula cream 3 times daily. Anyone use this?

belleeast

hi all, week 2 done,5 weeks to go. breast is red and hurts a little - like sunburn. they gave me some cream aquaphor to put on at night. hope this doesn't mean i'm going to have major skin problems later on. guess  it's just wait and see. glad it's the weekend so we all get a little break. have a good weekend everyone!

el-jaye

9 down - 21 to go!  So far so good.  Slight pinkness around incision site.  The saline compress is wonderful!  It calms the itchy skin and soothes the pain from the inflammation. 

 Here's to a wonderful and restful weekend for everyone!