AUGUST 2009 RADS

Lori - I'm done tomorrow too....and I can hardly wait! I'll be thinking about you ringing that bell...ring it for me too!

ccbaby & Peg...the finish line is right in front of you. Yahoo!!!  

Congrats to those finishing up today....you have a lot of people celebrating with you!

My boost are also hitting my nipple area because that is where my lumpectomy was.  It is getting raw and peeled over the weekend.  I got silvadene cream today and use a telpha non stick pad to protect it from abrasion.  I did wear my bra to work today.  It irritates under my breast but when off then the clothes rub the nipple area which is very irritating, so I just have to decide which of the two things I can live with.  They have said two weeks after treatment it should start to heal and to use the cream for the two weeks.  I have been able to get away with just aloe up until now.  Two more days.

Thank you kawee and Chris - yes we are done today!!! congrats Betstybuzz and to everyone else who is finishing up - YIPPEE!!!!  Now we just have to begin the healing process!  I feel pretty good - maybe it is just the adrenaline pumping but I am not tired at all and I ran 55 minutes tonight!  ravenruth and Peg - hang in there... you are almost there and it will be over before you know it. 

Just home from #28 today.  The rad oncologist told me I have 7 boosts coming up.  So far, I haven't found anything that really helps the burn--Chris, do you know the brand name for the pads?  I've tried going braless, but have a complication--a yeast infection under my radiated breast--so when I do go without a bra, the infection flares up.  I've about decided that I'll just grin and bear it until the 13th.

Congratulations to all who have finished!!

Gram...The brand is Vigilon - Primary Wound Dressing...they really are great.  I can sleep in one and wear one under my camisole.   Have you tried one of the camisoles with the shelf bra.  It is enough support to prevent rubbing, but not as much as a bra...worked better for me.

Take care..

Yes I have heard that.  You can't have it in the same place.  I had asked my oncologist about it but he said if I got cancer in that breast they would do a mastectomy anyway.  I am not sure how that works for people that had a mastectomy and then radiation.

Hi, All!!!  Congratulations on everyone finishing this week!  I am enjoying my first week out of radiation!  Busy busy busy!

My breast where the boosts got it is realllllly red...more red than the rest was.  Interesting, I wasnt expecting it.

I met with my very cool breast surgeon today, and he said looked good!  I told him that I now want to get a double mastect with reconstruction (yes...I'm totally radical.  I wasnt sure what to do when this whole thing hit me, so I sorta fell into the lumpectomy with rads, but since then, I've done a lot of thinking, praying, researching and decided since I'm young (37), I want to "whack em off and get new ones."  

My b surgeon said that was totally fine.  He said I would have to do the Tram flap for reconstruction tho because of the radiation which damages the skin (this is where I do have to do more research).  So I'm meeting with the plastic surgeon Oct 27 to discuss when the best time to do is and options, etc.  The less breast cells I have, the more I'll sleep happy.

He did tell me that I could not radiate a breast twice.  But I dont expect to because I will have no more boobies 

Hiya Kawee!  I wonder why they talked you out of it.  Maybe because of your stage?  That's why they convinced me at the time.  But it was cool because my surgeon said no prob - he just wanted to make sure I really researched having the mx because not everyone likes it. 

I dont think I am going to like cutting my boobs off, ha ha.  I'm scared witless!  But, I'm more scared to have potentially new cancer cells in my breasts again, especially because I didnt have any lumps or symptoms this time around, so what happens if I get another cancer but catch it later than my stage?  

I would be confused too in your situation.  Awoman that I talked to about it here had a double mx to make sure she didnt get cancer because her mom did at around your age (btw--her mom is now 93 or older and is suffering from alzheimers, not bc yippee!).  She got the silicone, and LOVES it.  She's young and spunky; more in shape than my fat self!  (As soon as my foot stitches heal, I'm exercising!!!).  On the flipside, my other friend's aunt who went to my surgeon was your age at stage 3 and just did the lump/rad.  That was 13 years ago and she's doing great.  So, like you said, I guess it comes down to what we are most comfortable with, right?

Anyway, LMK if you end up doing that too.  We can start a thread together and go through it again, woohoo!

Chris - Good for you!!!  I'm getting back into my daily walking.  I put on my headset (all fast music) but I can't keep up with the beat yet.  So I just do what I can.  From power walking to strolling, but I know I will get there.

PEG119 - You're DONE!! - Congratulations.  Now you go, girl!!!!!

Well I am in the silverdene barrel now.  Got a blister the size of a small pancake on the outer left side of the left breast.  Darkened breast, may never lighten up i was told.  I am overwhelmed by the fact that the onc told me rads were easy.  HAH!  Newly found lump on my right side on the collar bone, going for a scan to diagnose.  Hope its a B9 thing.  I have 7 more days left for this radiation therapy.  For me, honestly, the chemo was easier.  Large breasts are not fun for the techs or the patient when it comes to rads.  I had lots of mapping and lots of zaps.  I've used everything on my breast but Vicks!  Maybe? nah...anyways...hope you gals get thru this too.

I want a remodel if all is well a year from now.  The radiologist told me to wait six months and start the consultation process and go for it.  I know the experience was humilating for me.

To have large floppy breasts thru all this was embarrassing, painful, trouble, and the outcome to preserve them was a waste of time.  The left breast, which i now call Ugly Betty, is two inches shorter from two lumpectomies!  It is dark, red, has a huge blood clot under the nipple which never left, and the docs all say it could take two years to go.  The left one just scares the hell out of me. All that double D territory just looming for DCIS.  Does it, will it have cancer too?  I just wish the doctors would have tried harder to preserve my peace of mind and dignity.  At my age, 65, birthday 66  tomorrow, preservation should not have been a priority.  Keep in mind, I have other health problems and a recurrence when i am older is going to be harder to cope with.  I made all these arguments to the breast surgeon, but he was on "there are too many mastectomies" wagon.  That is true, but i should have been one of them. 

CCBABY- Congratulations!!!!  You made it, join the "So Glad To Be Done Club". 

congrats ccbaby - I will join the PFR club!

Christy,

I wish I had been there when you rang the bell!  Congratulations...now just heal!

Lemonjello--I agree about rads being harder than chemo--sounds like we have several things in common!  Hope the scan is B9--we'll think positive.

And happy birthday!  (Mine is Saturday--so we're both Libras and like that balance). 

AMY IS STRONG - and Amy is done!!!   Congratulations!! 

Windshift - Congratulations!!