October Rads. 2009

MTG ~ Yay!  I love presents!  What a nice idea...and much less fattening than the gelato that I am currently giving myself on down days.  I am going to do it!

Kime ~ Thanks for your response.  It really, really does help to feel connected to so many others who know exactly how it feels.  We are so going to get through this!  btw...we were diagnosed the same day...8/13/09 was the craziest day of my life.  God bless us all!

I''m almost done with rads and will probably start Tamoxifen late November. Not meeting with my MedOnc till mid November so I dont see myself starting any earlier. There seems to be strong differences of opinion: some med onc say tamoxifen makes cancer more dormant so the radiation doesn't work as well; others say starting Tamoxifen sooner is better and still others say it really doesn't make a difference. WHo know who's right ?

By the way, on the diagnosis front , at least your doc followed up with an MRI, mine did an Utra sound and came away telling me it looked like a cyst, was probably benign and come back in 6 months. Well 1 vacation, 10 lbs weight loss and 47 days later, I could actually SEE that damn lump. went to another doc since (luckily) mine was on vacation and he had me in for a biospy that day and the rest is history. No more ultrasounds for me unless they're in addition to MRI's or something new called Breast specific gamma imaging / molecular breast imaging.

Well, tonight I did more chatting than reading (trying to read all 180+ pages of the Tamox thread) but so be it. Night all, Tomorrow is FRIDAY, 2 days off and then my last day !!!! Horray!

yes the silvadene cream is the BEST!! I had to complain for 2 days before my rad onc prescribed it. I had problems with the area under my arm.

There is also a type of bandage they can give you there. I cant remeber the name but it is a self stick deal and actually helps with the weeping but at the same time keeps the right balance of mositure in. I had to demand this too.  Now depending on your area it may be tricky to keep it on.. if your are dealing with the under arm area you can also buy athletic self stick tape. ( it has no glue and sticks to itself) It can be found at Walmart, Walgreens etc...Now the trick is to wrap it around your body to hold the bandage on.

For me because I am by myself.. I found this both amusing and frustrating.

Hope this helps

Rhonda ~ I am here to tell you that it will absolutely be okay.  One day at a time we will get through this.  From all of the posts I have read on this site (lots!) many many women don't burn at all...and some experience only very manageable fatigue.  Try to save your energy from worrying....you may very well be one of the lucky ones!

My onc wants to wait until my rads are a month behind me before starting Tamox so we can have a baseline for how I feel without rads or hormones so we can monitor SE's...and he is still trying to convince me to take Tamox.  I am not convinced that I will.  In fact, leaning strongly towards no.  

I didn't mean to mislead ~ I am fortunate to have a wonderful husband who cares.  When I said "family" I was actually referring to "children".  And I don't know how women juggle bc with the daily reality of raising kids.  My husband and I have been married only 5 years...I have had an appendectomy, tonsillectomy and now this!  My poor husband didn't know what he was getting into when he married me!  Sheesh!  

Lucky cyst indeed, Linn!  I have had a mammogram faithfully for 5 years in a row since I turned 40 (the latest of which was in Jan '09.  My diagnosis was 7 months later)...none of them detected my slow growing tumor.  My surgeon says, based on the tumor characteristics, it has probably been there for a long time.  My gyno found a lump during my regular exam, and started me on a variety of tests (add'l mammo, sonogram, mri).  The lump she found was not the cancer, but the tests revealed the other mass which was IDC.  So I had a Lucky Suspicious Mass.  And fortunately, a gyno who was very diligent.  She had to fight for these tests with my insurance company, who has since stopped balking at my case.  It's kind of crazy what "Luck" looks like sometimes, eh?

The alien costume idea is beautiful!! 

Aah ladies, you've hit on yet another of my Pet Cancer Peeves. Mammograms do NOT find al breast cancers and the fact that many, many medical plans ONLY approv Mammograms is simply unacceptable ! That blond actress who started in Married with Children and now has moved on to more tv as well as Broadway (Ugh, what was her name? ) has started a major lobbying effort for this very subject.

And yes, MRIs/ Sonograms/ etc are better. So what if there are "false positives". That just means you're on alert and you and your doctor have the option of taking a wait and see attitude (maybe with a 6 month follow up, instead of a year) or doing a biopsy.

Agree with you about the MRI.  Finally convinced my rad onc to order this - but now can't have it done until Jan/Feb (something about inflammation in the radiated breast? - I don't even keep my eyes open during radiation - heck if I want to know what is actually happening inside of my poor breast).  They wanted to follow up on suspicious areas in my "non" affected breast in March.  But, I am worried now.   Wating until March just seemed like a bit of a stretch. 

For those of you who feel as though you are alone - you're not alone.  We are right here with you and I am so grateful that you're here for me.... 

FOUR days of rest from radiation.  I can't believe it.

Told my DIL today that I am going to be crabby for awhile.  I've earned it.

Liz

Alaina - Yes, yes, Christina Applegate; thanks. She captures the essence of our conversation; here's the link to her site: http://www.rightactionforwomen.org/  (PS Went to College in Baltimore and boy do I miss those steamed crabs !!! My mouth is watering just thinking about them.)

whitefishcustom - You've got a clever cat. And yes, radiation is, for most, relatively easy and goes surprisingly quickly once the first 10 days are behind you. My bits of advice - moisturize liberally (but if you get itchy bumps, easy off it to make certain your skin isn't reacting to the moisturizers);  go topless when possbile, the air an absence of rubbing against clothing help; dont let shower water hit your breast directly; and pre-shop/ buy yourself gifts for  days when you're down.

All - There's something I learned about a few days ago called "Breast specific gamma imaging or molecular breast imaging" that's supposed to be better than MRIs (which I'm learning aren't foolproof for small breasted women) and also lots less expensive. Will post more once I've done more research.

Hello to everyone

I'm  rad 17/27 and so glad there are only 10 more plus 2 more accu boost. So far no problems with rads. I will be celebrating this milestone too Suzanne.

vtmom - Not certain how you feel about Aquaphor but it is thick enough that you can actually layer it on your areola all the up the sides and on top of the nipple so that the area gets a really major dose of moisturizer, I'd sometimes put the Aloe on first and that way the aloe wouldn't dry out as quickly as normal. Either walk around topless (if that's an option) or use a large, old t shirt since it will be sticky and can be kind of gross afterward

Alaina:

WOW do you sound busy - go girl!

All:

5 more rads to go...I'm really red under my arm and my boob is getting there, but with 2 days off to rest, I'll be fine.  I just layer on the cream and do lots of laundry...  I'm very tired.  I can't agree more - go topless or free in an oversized shirt.  My rad onc said to keep stretching my arm over my head to keep the skin stretched - it's gotten tighter with the rads.

Hang in there all - you can do it!!

hello again to all October rad ladies, so I have been away for a while, will read up on Oct, some of you must be done by now.

I have been under the weather and had to stop the treatments for a while, am now better and had # 23 yesterday. The center was all decorated and everyone was in costume, they gave out delish. pumpkin decorated sugar cookes, hugs all around, it really it great to have a center with compasionate and friendly techs.

Look like my last day now will be november 12th instead of november 4th. Darn it.

I had an emotional/physical breakdown, ended up in the hospital because I also had an abmormal ekg, my biggest problem was actually pain in my leg, it turned out to be a sciatic nerve pinch. But oh, the heart gets better treatment than a darn leg, like one nurse said, it seems to be the most important part to check first,

Seems to me I was breezing thru this, diag. june, surg. july, rads start end of sept, almost done, doing good, driving myself, shopping, picnicing, visiting, but never really ever during these months have I dealt with the fact the I have cancer, I just pretended it was not there, and did not deal with it.  Oh yeah, doing fine, it's a breeze, in out the rad center 8 min flat and so on.

When I was driving I never noticed how tense I sat at the wheel (hubby was gonna take me, but after the first 2 days I decided I hated to sit there and do nothing and I would drive myself. 150 miles round trip.  I was tense on the radiation table, I was tense everywhere I went and during anything I did since june and my body finally decided to tell me to stop that nonsense. After the lst week of rads I have only been able to sleep 3 hrs per nite, decided to take a nap after rads then and could not sleep at all at nite by week 4. Appetite plummetting,  Start of week 5 sciatic nerve put me in such an intense pain I could not stop shaking, got arm and chest pain as well and my husband took me to emergency, when my ekg was abnormal, I have a coronary stent implant, so I was sent to then hospital where my heart doc is, and after 2 days he declared heart still working good. Howver the leg pain was a diff. matter, heat and pain meds did not help at all, I usually vomit when given narcotics so they don't get a chance to work on my pain, really my leg had  the most pain than I have ever experienced. Finally found a combination of nausea med/ pain med that made it bearable, but still no sleep, and leg pain was eased somewhat by walking only.

My primary talked about xray mri and cortizone shots, when my daughter mentioned a Chiropractor, I thought why not. First think he said was no heat ever, ice every 20 min, off 1 hr and try to rest the leg, he did an xray and showed me where my back was out of line, excactly where the siatic nerve starts, and I had my first adjustment wednesday, another one on friday, and I am finally on the mend. I will probably see the chiro 2-3 times more, I have osteoporosis, so the ajdustments have to be moderated a little, but they give me no pain what so ever. The pain in the leg comes and goes, but I manage it now that it is not so intense.

I had a big pity party for one (me) and cried alot, gads that felt real good afterwards, and I then realized I never even cried once since I was diagnosed way back in June. My primary doc has now prescribed ativan and I slept from midnight to 6 am - and have taken several little 30 min naps during today, and feel so much better. So now my husband is driving me every day, I either work a cross word puzzle, put the back of the seat down and rest, play a handheld game, listen to the radio or tapes, and do feel more relaxed that I have in 5 month. So hopefully I will be done with cancer treatments Nov 12, which means I spanned, Sept. Oct. Nov Rads.

I think my skin liked the break from Rads, look normal, but feel like leather, I am gonna ask if I need something else, am still just using pure aloe as instructed, missed the red wine for 2 weeks, darn, but pain meds warms to not drink alchohol, so I didnt. Havent taken any pain meds today, so look out, tonite a samll glass of red wine.

Anyway I am glad to be back and will now read some of the boards.

dsgirl

dsgirl ~ So sorry for all your trouble...and glad you are finally doing better and getting some good sleep!  Yum!  I wanted to tell you that I once had the awful sciatic pain you are having.  It was AWFUL!  I, too, went to the Chiro and he helped me immensely, but what really made the biggest, lasting difference was adding some yoga.  It might be just too much to think about right now, but it sounds like you could really benefit from even a little yoga, both for your sciatica and tension...not to mention it really helps with your sleep.  Just a thought.  Continued healing to you!

I hope everybody had some fun on Halloween! 

DSGirl - So sorry you're having a rough time. While we're all going thru rads, your huge commute increases the stress exponentially. I'm so glad you've decided to allow your husband to do the driving. I think that we spend so much time being strong during BC and trying to prove that we're just as independent as always that sometimes we're reluctant to accept help to simply lighten our load. Please keep in mind that our loved ones WANT to help. It makes them feel as if they're contributing, involved and showing how much they care. Even my 83 year old mother has gotten into the act  - cooking and sending me food care packages. Sometimes it's wonderful things like cold poached salmon (Gotta love Mom's cooking); sometimes it's odd things like a bag of whole raw cranberries (She read about antioxidants.) But, always, I know she's showing she loves me and cares and is doing something to help me go thru this. Let your husband do the same and enjoy the ride.

All - Tomorrow is my last of 33 radiation treaments After 4 days of various muffins, cookies, bagels and pastries, my final fattening thank you gift to my rads team is this:

A little gross but hopefully we'll all laugh our butts off. I couldn't have asked for a nicer, friendlier, more efficient group of ladies !!