MAY 2009 Rads

Good morning, everyone.  Had tx 6 yesterday.  Also met with the nurse, who took my weight (well, sigh . . . it's not down, but hey, it's not up.  It's not where I want it to be, but I can work on that!)  My bloodwork is normal.  Prior to treatment, they took about 4 x-rays, they said not to check progress, but to check positioning to make sure they are still in the right area.  After that, I met with my rads onc who examined my breast and surrounding area and said I was doing fine.  He'll check my skin each week to follow up on anything and hopefully nip it in the bud before it gets bad.

My hair situation is . .  .it seems to have stopped growing.  I was excited last week, it seemed like I was having good growth of gray hairs, but hair nonetheless, and this week, not much change.  I'm getting impatient, it's 5 weeks tomorrow and I've seen other women with gorgeous growth.  I wonder if it is true that it takes 13 weeks for the taxotere to stop causing side effects?  That stinks!!!

Cindy, my port wound is still achy too - the scar is slowly healing - I've been putting vitamin E oil on twice a day, but do you have a bruisey-still a little swollen area where the port actually sat?  You can see the outline of my port, or rather, where it was, and a nice bruise, plus a little swelling.  It's better than it was last week, but still gets achy if I do too much with that arm.

Head situation is slowly clearing up - I seem some improvement, and once I can stop wearing wigs this week, today is the last day of our big meetings, then I can let it air out with scarves.  I only am working tomorrow, and then am off from Friday through next week (whew!), so I can let it breathe.

Hope everyone is doing okay!

Ivorymom: You have such a wonderful prognosis. I do not know the exact % but I would think that you have the same % as any woman has to get cancer. 1 in 8. I am stage 2a so I have a 20% chance of recurrence. 2 in 10. I hate that. But I think I will look at it as 80% chance of being cured. I feel very fortunate for Herceptin. It is amazing how different the choices we make are. I never even entertained getting a mastectomy. I did not get a port. I have juicy veins. I had a 3.5cm tumor which is to damn big. Thanks for letting me talk about it. I rarely do. If it was not for the hair loss I think we could move on a lot quicker. I really hate loosing my signature waist length hair!! Its hard to feel sexy. But if it was'nt for the chemo I probably would not be feeling anything! I presented with a low grade fever and extreme fatigue that could not be identified for 4 months. Both my BS and Onc. said that it was not the cancer. Yet after surgery it went away! Now they admit that it was my immune system fighting the cancer. Is that amazing or what. I was playing the guitar when I found the dreaded lump. It was very sore. BYE BYE LUMP HELLO HEALTH!

I have my sims tomorrow. I have to make a decision on the micro met. My rad onc.wants to radiate my sub-clavical and ancillary nodes as a precaution. I am just kind of nervous as the thyroid is very close to the line of fire. Is anyone getting zapped in these nodes? Are there any SE to that???? I am confused as my onc. should be having a conversation with me prior to sims. I guess a path will be made clear to me tomorrow.

LynnV: Looks like we are on the same schedule. There are a few of us that are late may gals. We are lucky to have our sisters blazing the path for us.

How come you are not allowed to put a cool pack on you breast to ease the burning? Just curious.

hi everyone!

Welcome newbies!!

Had my blocking done, and didnt get anymore tattoos!1 So will start my Rads tomorrow and if all goes well will have the last one July 10th.. and keeping my fingers crossed on my TE...

Is anyone taking any extra vitamins or anything during rads or were you told not to?.. I was thinking on trying some antioxidents...Just a though... 

thanks for the input on vitamins chelev - I never thought about that....anyone know why xrays are taken each week during radiation?  What are they looking for?   just wondering...

Wow, thank you, barbiedahl -- your wise words will hold me up all day! 

Puppers -- I had the same question about the weekly xrays.  When I asked the tech about it this morning, she said they're just checking to make sure everything is still lined up right.  It sounds more like a quality-check sort of thing, though I still don't really get what would shift, unless you broke a rib or something??  Either way, though, it doesn't sound like they're looking for anything in particular -- just checking the anatomical alignment of where they're zapping us.

Today was zap #11 for me -- 1/3 of the way through!  Tired, mildly sore, but overall OK so far.

Welcome to the new folks, and thanks to all!

makes sense!

ajlive--That is what I have heard -that the aloe helps prevent as well as heal. 

How is everyone?  I had my simulation today and the doc assured me I would be okay.  I felt better talking to him today......Ready to start already can't wait to be done!!!

hi ladies... 

hope everyone is doing well...zap 11 of 33 today... still good...started using aloe vera on the 4th treatment although rad tech and nurse both say that I probably don't need it until after first two weeks...rad tech took pictures (x-rays?) today but film is placed under the treatment table this time as opposed to the side the last time...he said pictures are needed to make sure they don't need to make adjustments...

 take care...

Hi all,

Bold I'm 23 days post chemo and still no signs of hair.  My taste buds however are coming along nicely.  You are so right.  With my triple neg status my recurrence rate is 20% but, like you I try to concentrate on the 80% chance of a cure

Barbie  Thanks for the inspirational post.  That's a great way to look at the whole thing.  l won't go down without a fight.  I'll live my life the best that I can for as long as a can.

I'm still waiting for my "planning" to be complete.  They say sometime early next week.  I'm not real good at this waiting thing and especially when they don't give definite dates.

Yes, I've been staying away from antioxidant supplements too -- but it's definitely okay to eat as many healthy fruits and vegetables as you want.

I'm 1/3 of the way done as of today; 11/33 rads! Woo hoo! So far so good. A little soreness from the tightening around the TE  but it's not bad at all. Definitely easier than chemo.

Bold, I was told that I could wind up hypothyroid due to the gland absorbing some of the radiation scatter from the room. My radiation oncologist told me to always face away from the area being treated (in my case turn my head to my right side).  

i am having tomotherapy radiation, and a CT scan is done every day prior to radiation, to make sure everything is lined up correctly. the radiation in the CT scan is factored into the overall radiation dosage, so it's not extra radiation. there are no markings done on the skin before treatment starts (except for the initial 3 tattoos) because of the daily CT scans. i get 4.5 minutes of radiation, and i'm in and out of there in less than 15 minutes once i get to the hospital. i will have boosts at the end of treatment. 

re: recurrence rate with triple negative cancer

deb on the lake - i'm TN, had Stage 1 IDC cancer with no node involvement, and onc told me that with my bilateral mastectomy, the chemo, and radiation, my chances of recurrence will be 4%, even taking into account the fact that my cancer was Grade 3. so how did you come up with the 20% recurrence rate for yourself? is that the statistic before treatment? 

i'm using aquaphor every day after radiation. i've only had 3 treatments, no side effects yet.

Yay Texas!  You're about a week ahead of me so it's great to hear your progress.  Cruise, I think I'm on the same schedule as you, my #6 will happen this morning.

I was feeling very emotional yesterday morning and it was kind of like a sneeze that wouldn't come because I wanted to cry but the emotional dam wasn't letting out the tears.  My Rad tech noticed and kept asking, "are you OK?" "you seem different today?"  I told her I was just feeling very emotional.  Fortunately, I had an appointment with my therapist yesterday too so I had a safe space to talk it out some more.  Then back to my busy life with afternoon class for son and beloved in-laws in from Boston last night.  My SIL is a bc survivor and she wore her, "Viva La Cure" t-shirt to dinner.  Very sweet.  Still need to find the time to cry, maybe tonight.  

Was able to meet with Rad Onc yesterday, my total dose will be 50 gray to most areas with a total dose of 60 gray (Gy) to high risk areas.  Apparently a gray is a measure of absorbed radiation dose and it is equal to about 100 rads. He showed me the very cool high-tech 3-d pictures that they use for dose planning and estimation of dose to collateral tissues (e.g., lung, heart).  After this morning, I'll be #6 treatments done and #24 to go, including five boosts to the high risk areas.  I have bolus tx every other day.  

 p.s., Yesterday I was so sleepy I almost fell asleep during the day.   Sleepiness is not something that I think of as fatigue, but my husband begged to differ with me.  Is this the kind of "fatigue" we get with rads?

My radiation oncologist described the fatigue as similar to how you'd feel if you spent the day in the sun. I'm not sure if that's accurate. The few times I've felt it, I completely zonked out for a few hours.

I think I'd rather be fatigued from a day on the beach, with a cool drink in my hand. Oh well!

1 down, 24 to go!  Quick and easy today ... hope it stays that way.