Fall 2013 Rads

MsPharoah

hi, lmamom and welcome, I don't have children to care for but I work full time and I worked all through chemo with no issues.   Have completed 13/34 treatments so far.  I am getting my treatment at 7:40AM, then on to work from there.  I am getting to the office a little later than normal.  I had the option of moving my radiation to a center closer to home, which is helpful for me.  You could also do your treatment at the end of the day, but if you are 1 hour away, you might not get the traffic just right.  I think mornings ensure that you put your treatment first, not work and I think that is a good thing.

Maybe you could get some friends or neighbors to help with the children and lend you a hand with the commuting, etc.

As far as being tired, I am told that the fatigue and other side effects don't start until toward the end of treatment and even then, it can be mild for some.   But just make sure that you put your health and well being first and foremost and take all the help you can get!

Hugs,

Sandra 

jc254

Just wanted to chime in about working while receiving radiation treatments. I work about an hour from home (nasty commute) and my radiation center is about halfway between home and work.  I decided to have my treatments in the afternoon, 4:00 is the latest appointment I could get.  I figured that if I had my treatment in the morning and arrived late for work, they would expect me to stay later to make up the time.  This way, I'm home by 5:00 and have some time to relax in the evening.  I worked full time during chemo and haven't had any issues working through radiation.  Tomorrow is my last boost!

4sewwhat

Jc254--yeah for your last boost! I start next Monday and can't wait to say that. Congratulations!

vwbordelon

Imamom - I am fortunate to work from home, but I haven't skipped a beat in regards to work.  I think it has helped me mentally to keep working.  Takes my mind off of the BC for awhile and I get satisfaction in knowing that I am still able to do something "normal"

jc254 - congrats on your last treatment!  Can't wait to say the same thing!

Gracers55

Great news that you are almost done! Must feel good. I start mid October. I think I'll do fine. Congratulations and the best to you!

4sewwhat

We are all gonna do great! Just stinks that any of us have to do it at all!



Just keep swimming ladies!

Bounce

What type of scanning is used during simulation and how long does the actual scan last?

Isn't it funny but I am worried about the radiation exposure!!!!!!

ItIsWhatItIs2013

Bounce...

My sim was a Ct scan.. No contrast, so no injection.....

Then day 1 was a few X-rays and adjustments.... Day 2 was a few more X-rays, then my first rads zap...... I lost it emotionally at that point (last Friday) sobbed on the table and couldn't control my breathing... Today (zap#2) was a breeze... One more X-ray image and then treatment. I'm suppose to get X-ray once a week to ensure the mapping is still accurate.

After chemo (horrible) I just want this all to be done!



2/28 done



Good luck all!



Lorrie

Imamom

To all those who worked through chemo/rads- did you have a choice? If you could afford to take the time off or work part time, and wouldn't risk loosing your job would you take it easy?

I feel like treating cancer is hard, and life with a full time job and 3 young children (ages 2-7) is hard- why make life even harder by trying to mix the two? If possible, I would like to get through this as stress free as possible and start enjoying life more. When going through chemo I temporarily cut back to half time and my boss is ok with me continuing to working part time, working from home or taking six weeks off while on rads. My workplace has been really great. On the other hand, I don't want to take advantage of them and I feel a sense of loyalty to try and put in the maximum (this is my dream job, and I started working here 5 months before diagnosis). All I'm hearing is women who have worked full time through rads and I feel like it's not justified to cut back... On the other hand (do I have any hands left??) I've always been superwomen- I put my husband through college and supported us and three kids for the last 9 years (My husband finally finished college and got a good job a month and a half before my diagnosis). I took care of the kids and the house (with my husbands help). I'm a little tired of doing everything and adding cancer treatment on top...

MsPharoah

Dear Imamom, I worked through chemo and radiation and I definitely had a choice in the matter. But....I do not have small children. And my husband is retired and picked up all the slack. Working for me made me feel better physically...it forced me to think about something other than cancer...no sitting around in my pjs. Lol. Understand that I had a wonderful support system in place.



You have to decide for yourself what works best for you and your family. Taking care of children and your home is a full time job. You will get distracted by all the activity and your children will probably enjoy all the extra hugs and feel comforted by your presence. Your health and well being is important now. I say take a rest, hug your children and hug yourself.



Love and only love, Sandra

vwbordelon

Dear Imamom,

If you could work part-time I think that would be the best option.  You have to put yourself first right now.  It is not easy for a Mom to do but IT IS ALL ABOUT YOU RIGHT NOW!.  I too kept working, but mostly from home, with no children at home and a retired husband.  I do think working is good for the mind!!!

Go with your gut - it's God's way of talking to us!

Have a great day!

jc254

Imamom, I worked full time throughout because I'm single with two kids in college.  I'm also an independent contractor and don't get paid if I don't work.  Believe me, I'm not superwoman.  Working was good for me in that it forced me to get up and look presentable even when I felt like crap.  It also took my mind off my troubles.  If not for work, I might have spent more time on the couch feeling sorry for myself. But, it was also exhausting. If I had the choice financially, I would have worked part time.  That might be the best option for you , especially since you seem to enjoy your job so much. You are lucky that your employer is willing to work with you.  You are not taking advantage and definitely not a wimp if you choose something other than full time during radiation.  Good luck.

lpc

1st rads today. 27 more to go.



I worked thru chemo and will work through rads also. Work kept me feeling normal and coworkers have been tremendous support for me. I felt the activity was good for body and brain. No young children so choice might have been different if I did.



Lisa

graceforme

Hi ladies, I had 26/33 today and I'm really hurting now. My underarm are feels really tender. My PT told me yesterday that it looks like it might blister. Using the lindi skin cooling pad gives some temporary relief. I also just started feeling my throat feels itchy. I worked part time through chemo but I'm seriously considering taking some time off if I keep feeling like this.

GrammyR

Hi ladies - just a quick note. I had #27 today out of #29. Last day Thursday -halleluhah. Luckily not much burning or redness.Told to use pure aloe only.

I found Fruit of the Earth brand gel works well after mistakenly buying a brand with 5% alcohol. Ouch, that stung and made it worse. Very fatigued and feel like I wrenched my chest twisting too much. That usually clears on the weekends. Occasional shortness of breath but clears overnight.At almost 66 you don't bounce back so quickly. Still I have long " to do list " to start in the coming weeks since it took over 2 hours every day travel time back and forth. I had my surgery several years ago so no nipple to get sore. Big hugs to all of you going thru and approaching RADS. Oh, I also had
no problems with swallowing which I was advised I may get.

Jo6202

GrammyR,

So good to hear you only have two days left. Woot, woot! About the aloe, my RO gave me some to use and it contains alcohol and parabens. I can't believe he is giving this to his patients. I am going to look for that fruit of the earth brand before I start rads next month. I'm almost 64 and I know what you mean about bouncing back. This has been the longest ....it didn't help that I had to have a re-excision.

ItIsWhatItIs2013

I worked through chemo, but took quite a bit of time off during my bad week.... I plan on working through rads as well. My apts are all in the evening (they stay open till 8pm) so hopefully I won't miss much work, but if I do get too worn out I have a great boss that has been extremely flexible through all of this. I would say that you just need to see how it goes & do what your body is telling you.... Everyone is different, but the common thing I've read is that there will be quite a bit of fatigue.



My RO gave me Calendula, but I've stocked up on other stuff that I've read about on another thread... Also added lavender oil. You can use it neat & studies show it is good for burns (hope it doesn't happen).. My RO just shrugged when I mentioned the lavender, but she didn't say 'no'...





Good luck to all!



Lorrie

3/33

JeriGrace

Imamom, I really struggled with making decisions about work. I'm a teacher and work about 10 hours a day with most of it on my feet and only a short break for lunch. I tried to work on my "good" week because of feeling that obligation to my students but I eventually had to listen to those around me who were telling me I needed to take care of myself. By pushing it i made it harder to recover between treatments. Now that I have finished chemo and am ready to start rads, I have to go back to work to do report cards and parent conferences. But once I have done that, I plan to take off the last 3 weeks of radiation. I know I will be fatigued and I want to give myself time to recover. I would always feel so guilty when others would say they worked through it all with little trouble. But then I started to understand that everyone's circumstance, both at work and home, is different and you really do have to do what is right for you. I am so fortunate to have excellent insurance and sick leave. I have never abused it and this is the time I need to use it. You are getting a lot of good advice here and I just want to add that if you decide to take off, don't feel guilty. Take care of yourself.

Imamom

Thanks everyone. In my heart I know the right decision is to cut back- it helps to hear it though, because I really was feeling guilty. I agree that work helps to keep your mind of things- I'm just going to be flexible and work from home when I'm up to it.

In a way, I was really lucky with the timing of my diagnosis. I had recently quit a job that was making me miserable and started working at my dream job and they have been great about accommodating me during this rough time. My husband had just started working, so I didn't have to worry about being the sole provider, and I was able to cut back temporarily... Lots of silver linings!

TwoHobbies

Hi all. I have completed 7 sessions and look a little sunburned but also have some small rash like red spots. I was just checking to see if that is normal or could I be reacting to the cream? Of course I saw the doc yesterday and this was not there!

TwoHobbies

Imamom take care of yourself whatever that means. I am so far finding rads about 400% easier than chemo so I'm not expecting to need to take off work but I know it gets worse towards the end. I would say work as long as you can but do not hesitate to take the time you need.

IrishDancingMom

Hi Grace..

Sorry just saw your reply. I'm HER2 negative so I couldn't be in the trial anyway.

Kirsty

canuck46

Hi Everyone- Just back from a family reunion in Montreal and exhausted by the drive!  Checking in on everyone.

4sewwhat - I had "tats" (no spelling error lol!) and start simulation on 9/30! I had never heard of a mold being made for more intense radiation.  Good luck.

D4619awn- Hope you get a good report!

Imamom- never feel guilty about doing what is right for you.  Think of it as "maternity leave" LOL.  We never felt guilty about that!

I know as Monday approaches my nerves will kick into high gear - am hoping I get lucky and breeze through rads.

Hugs to all you great ladies!

Bounce

Has anyone had or is scheduled to have rads of 15 plus boost of 5?

4sewwhat

Canuck! It's all good. We are going to do great and be done in no time. Just hate that the gas money is cutting into my Christmas budget! No nerves needed for Monday. We are going to kick this thing to the curb!



Bounce. There is a new "Canadian" method of rads they are doing now. It is a shortened version and depending on tumor size, etc some people qualify for it. I didn't so I don't know too many particulars about it. When I asked about it they said because of my tumor size and number of nodes I couldn't do it. I know it is about 3-3 1/2 weeks instead of 6. I don't know how they alter the dose.



Trudge on everybody!

kika2013

Hi, Bounce--I'm having what the poster above calls the Canadian Protocol, slightly different from yours in that it's 16 regular (I guess that's what they call them?) treatments and 5 boosts, so 21 total. I don't know anything about amounts of radiation per treatment, but apparently there is no difference in success rates between this and the more standard 33 treatment protocol. Less time commuting for radiation sounds good to me, so I'm going with it! I start on Tuesday. I had a small tumor (8mm) and no nodes involved, also very low-grade cancer so I imagine those factors went into the decision to offer me this plan.

MsPharoah

Two hobbies. I have completed 15/34 and at treatment 13 I got the little red rash/bumps. Its probably normal for you to get the red skin and rash. Starting to itch a bit but the tech tells me my skin is really holding up well. So far so good.



Grammy R. I ordered the fruit of the earth aloe today. I found out silvadene ointment has sulfa in it and I am allergic....so, that will not be an option. Congrats on finishing rads. Hats off to you.



Graceforme...Sure hope you feel better. You're almost done.



Good luck to all of us through this treatment.



Sandra

FierceBluebird

Hi Ladies.

I'm starting rads soon but no date just yet since I still have healing issues. Had a DMX on 7/19 with DIEP immediate reconstruction, but had many complications and a failed flap.

My left breast which is the flap side is getting radiation. Had my simulation done and three tattoos. They called back and want to do another CT scan, this time a Gated 4D one. Has anyone had this done?

I'm so tired of all this. I was diagnosed in January and did 5 months of chemo. Pathology report was good so for that I'm grateful. But just so tired and I haven't even started rads yet.

Thanks for all the good tips about ointments.

L2girl

Hi all,

I have complete d 6 of 30 on the first breast. Since the first 2 or 3 I started to feel some soreness on the inside, kind of like a swollen feeling. Now I also have the sunburn look on the outside esp around the areola. I was surprised to feel anything so soon, but I guess I have always had very sensitive skin, and been sensitive to pain, etc. So, I think I am probably the exception here. But so far, it is nothing I can't manage. It helps me to wear a sturdy sports bra. I also bought some soft coobie bras that someone on one of these forums mentioned. It is nice to sleep in for me.



I am actually enjoying going to rads. Everyone is very nice, and the sessions are over before I know it. I find it very interesting to watch as the machines move around me. I never know when they're actually emitting the radiation, and when they are just adjusting. I don't know, maybe I expected to see or feel a beam coming out!



Anyway, for those of you who are nervous about your upcoming treatment, there is really nothing to be scared about. I felt really nervous right before, but now I am used to it.



Thank you to everyone on these forums for your helpful advice!

vwbordelon

Jo6202,

I bought all of my "stuff" off of Amazon - they havea the Fruit of the Earth Aloe.  I am using all of the skin products that were recommend on another thread for "skin care" (sorry don't know how to link to it).  Found them all on Amazon either cheaper or same price and they were deliverd to my door.  Very easy!

Good Luck to you!