SEPTEMBER 2008 rads group

I just finished my 16th treatment today - basically halfway done!  YEAH!  I have felt really good so far.  It's nice to get it over with first thing in the morning, then go to work, and get on with the rest of the day.  I'm starting to get a kind of rash on my chest - not the breast, and it itches a little, but I've been using the Aloe gel, and it does seem to help.  I visited with the rad. onc. earlier this week, and found out I was having 28 treatments, and 5 boosts.  I should of asked but I didn't - are the boosts just one shot aimed at the lumpectomy site?  Right now I get 2 zaps - it's on my left side.

 Hope everyone is doing well.  It's beautiful here in Kansas - weather wise, and the mums are gorgeous.  Have a great weekend.

 Kim

Hi Sharon,

I'm so sorry you are having to deal with being away from home. I wish you were more comfortable. Can you go out and buy a foam cover for the matress? Wow snow already?

Yes, Kim the boosts are right on the lumpectomy scar.  The mums are beautiful here too!

Take care everyone.  Enjoy the weekend.

Wow everyone is just moving along.  vhgh - are you completely finished rads now - that must be awesome.  

PrincessS - I've have had trouble sleeping since the beginning of this journey and starting rads has actually helped.  I've only done 9 so far so any side effects haven't really hit yet.

NancyD - yea on having only one more to go.  I have to agree with you about work taking your mind off things.  I'm working part-time and it's more for me than for the place I work at.   They have been so awesome at the cancer center to schedule me mid day so I can go to work first for 4 hours and then 20 minute car ride to treatment and then 45 minute drive home.  Most days I'm home to meet my son half-way home from school.  He decided at the age of 9 that he was old enough to walk home from school on his own.  Love that he wants to be independent but it's a really busy street so I compromised and meet him part way were I can see him walking up the hill.  As we go on in the year he can walk more on his own.  

Everything for me is going god so far - no real redness or soreness.  I'm going to try an acupuncturist today to see if some of the side effects (hot flashes, night sweat, insomnia and fatigue) can be  helped.  My extended medical actually pays for about 4 sessions so I thought it would be worth a try.

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  It's raining her in Vancouver, BC but it makes for a good weekend to get indoor stuff done. 

Nancy D-I had DCIS so no nodes were messed with in the surgery.  I just took some Tylenol PM and that did the trick. 

tkone-I started to feel the fatigue in the 3rd week, just a little.  By the 4th week it was gone, I am now in the 5th week.  I don't know if it will come back or not, we'll see.

I finished treatment 13 this week and I can feel the fatigue - it didnt really hit until the weekend- I have kept up just feeling more tired than my usual self and going to bed earlier!

Kristy 

I'm sorry vhqh - that really sucks.  

NancyD and Skye--woohoo! So glad for you. NancyD, do you have any plans to celebrate after your final treatment tomorrow? We'll all be cheering for you.

 vhqh--Sending good thoughts your way.

I've got 9 more to go. I was feeling pretty sore, but then my boss (who is an MD) gave me some pure calendula gel to put on my breast. I was a little reluctant, afraid it would interfere with rads, so I decided to just use it on the weekend. It helped SO MUCH after just one application. I was amazed. So I feel ready to tackle another nine treatments.

Had to do a little bit of an attitude adjustment this weekend--had to fight down some anger and "Why me"s, but I think a lot of it was just pure fatigue. I felt like a fussy infant! Just needed to sleep it off.

 Here's to a good week for all of us! 

Wishing everyone a good week and extending congratulations to those of you who are finishing- be sure to stick around and drag the rest of us across the finish line!

Kristy

NancyD - great that you've crossed the finish line.  It's been a long road.

I just did my 10th today and so far everything looks normal.  Did feel tired today but I think that's more the lack of sleep than the radiation.

I'm getting pretty impatient with the hair - seems to be coming in very slooooooooowly.  My husband likes to point out patches coming in - like I need to hear that.  How long did it take for people's eyelashes to come in after they fell out after chemo (mine lasted 6 weeks and then were gone).

I get a break this weekend as it's our Thanksgiving (Canadian) so I'm looking forward to that.

Hope everyone has a great week. 

Hi, everyone!  I've missed you all!   Vhgh, I am stunned to hear your news.  I hope that treatment helps.  I will be thinking of you & praying for you, as I'm sure everyone else here will, too.  Please keep letting us know how you are.

I've been really down for the count since I last posted with the combination of the cold & the end of rads. Turned out I had a sinus infection, so last Friday, my primary doc put me on an antibiotic, so I'm starting to feel better from that.  And I finished rads today!  Yay!  There was some confusion about whether I was going to get boosts, but no boosts, so I'm really done!  Congrats to NancyD, too!  After my last rad this morning, I went to visit two of my oldest gal pals, who first made me breakfast, then later took me out to lunch.  This weekend is the BC Waterfire in Providence, so I plan to go to that, too.  May have to do a bit of retail therapy this week!

Ace, NancyD, vhqh & everyone, they gave me Silvadene cream for the bad blistering/burning.   That Alra stuff sounds great, too that Makraz mentioned.  I started to get red last Wednesday & by today, I started having what they told me is folliculitis, where the hair follicles open up & get red & blistery/weepy. With the 3-week protocol, they told me I'm going to get worse all this week & maybe into next week, then get better.  I've been using straight aloe, but not too much Aquaphor because it's too goopy.  Today I put on the Silvadene, which did feel soothing & laid down with a soft-covered gel cold-pack on my whole breast.  That felt great!  I go back to see them in two weeks so they can see what my skin is doing.

Ace, maybe you should call your primary doc about your asthma & not wait till you see the rad onc again.  One thing I do know about asthma (I get it if I have a bad allergy attack or a bad cold) is that lying down flat, like we do when we get rads, is a position that exacerbates bronchial inflammation.  In fact, I did have to use my inhaler last week myself before & after radiation, because of this damn sinus infection making me cough so much.

I'm glad I'm not going to work this week!  I plan to go back next week.  I pretty much didn't have a choice about staying out of work this whole time since my lumpectomy, because I have to be able to lift patients in my job (I'm a PT), & my surgeon wouldn't allow me to do that kind of lifting for at least six weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving to Roberta37.  I don't know, Roberta, you look pretty cute in your photo, even without hair!  But I send you lots of "hair-raising" thoughts.  You know, one of the ironies of this whole experience is that a year ago, I grew my hair long & sent it to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths program, which makes wigs for women with breast cancer!  So, who knows, maybe one of you out there is wearing my hair!!!

Hugs, Kathi

P.S.  Here's my blog link again, as requested:  www.kksphotos.com/blog.html   Enjoy!

Congrats to our finishers! 

I have one more regular zap and then 8 boosts and I'm done.  I think I have the flu, though.  My 4 yr old had something last week and I got a flu shot on Thurs yet I'm very achy, feverish, and sore throat.  Not fun, and then add the peeling, burning skin.  I'm quite a mess lately.