October Rads. 2009

Last RAD yesterday!  Two more Taxol treatments and then onto Tamoxifen.  Getting there slowly but surely!

OOPS.  Kimmer, our messages must have come in at the same time.

 BELL RINGING LOUDLY for you!!!!!!!!

Good job.

Liz

Liz, I too am having bad pain at the rib under the breast, and my radiologist explained it to me today.  He brought out his anatomy book and showed me how each rib is half cartilage and half bone (the outer half is bone, the inner half toward the heart is cartilage).  Those two "halves" have a joint of cartilage connecting them, and it is that joint that gets inflamed with radiation treatments.  That's why the pain is so easy to point to...it's not a generalized soreness but a real "spot" of very bad pain.

He's having me take 400 mg of ibuprofen three times a day to reduce the inflammation, and he gave me hydrocodone for the pain.  He also told me that it would get worse before it got better.  I was saying how glad I was I had only four boosts left and was done, and he didn't want me to get my hopes up that I'd be pain free after Tuesday.

I was given the domobro (sp?) stuff today too...soak four times a day for fifteen minutes using a washcloth.  The package says it's aluminum acetate.  Aluminum!  So strange, all this radiation stuff. 

The pain under my arm is bad, too.  The burn there is a deep purple and feels like it goes so deep.  No peeling for me yet, just the red/purple burn square getting darker every day.  Nausea continues off and on...lots of crackers and 7 up lunches for me lately.

I also am having pain at the rib, where it meets the sternum. I asked the rad doctor about it 2 weeks ago when it first showed up, and she said it was "probably not related." I didn't buy that as I have seen too many people here mentioning it. Tracyanne, the explanation your doctor  gave makes sense. It also is a small sharp pinpoint, not overall. It is easy to distinguish from the overall breast soreness I have. I notice it most when exercising or bending/twisting in ways that affect the rib cage.  Also when I lay on my left (non-radiation) side. I am taking Aleve for the general pain, maybe it has been helping with the rib pain as well.

Counting boosts, I will be done about Dec 3. I had to take an hour and a half long highway drive today and had to face the fact that I am not up to a longer drive. I don't feel that tired but find I am dizzy when driving. Today I had to drive on the right side all the way, thinking at any second I would have to pull off. Driving on curves is the worst. The non-highway, stop-and-go driving I do to get to my rad appt is no problem. I am supposed to pick up my daughter at college for Thanksgiving, the Wednesday before. I can tell now I won't be able to do it. I started feeling it at the beginning of rads and now it is getting worse. Weird. I'm wondering if rads have caused my body to be short of some vital nutrient. Anyone have this?

Vtmom: you are finally getting down to the wire. Sorry you are having so much pain. Hope you ARE done at Thanksgiving.

Congratulations to all who are done!

EP3, BauldingMom, VTMom, Kime, Liztaylor and all, thank you for your thoughts.  I have been visiting the "new guidelines" thread a lot because I am so ticked off about it it isn't even funny.  I am infuriated because it will make it harder for my daughter to get the care she needs to prevent from being in the same predicament that I am in now.  I could have saved 2 years on treatment had I been listened to in 2007 and I would have had choices, unlike what I have now.  It was a new GYN fresh out of college who was basing my treatment on those guidelines because it states only women 40+ need to worry about it.  Well, now it will be even WORSE.  MTG..I know you have read me non stop today about it!  I also know that everyone feels the same way I do about the BS.

Anyway..about me.  I didn't have rads yesterday.  I was so angry yesterday evening, that I got my shoes on and went for a walk...to where my husband called my cell worried about me.  He point blank told me that he was coming to get me because he didn't want me walking in the dark and was worried about me.  He was upset with what the nurse said too. 

So, today I went in knowing that I would be seeing the Dr.   My husband point blank said that he was coming with me and we would have to bring the kids (the hospitals around here are freaking out about swine flu and have pandemic signs everywhere and don't want kids in the hospital)  He point blank said that if they don't let him come in then we would leave...of course it didn't come to that and everyone understood.  The receptionist was ticked that the nurse said what she did and even watched Phoebe (my 1 year old) while we took the boys back with the Dr!  She is a sweetheart anyway.  When we went back to see the Dr. the nurse was amazingly polite (my hubby though she looks like she was a rude person by the air she had with her).  The Radiation Oncologist was asking about my scrubbing my skin (which I never did) and I explained, I didn't know how to get the Silverdene off because it clumped so badly..we also explained about the honey and that it wasn't the regular honey.  Anyway, the Dr. felt that it was THEIR fault for not explaining about the stuff better.  He then said I should have the rest of the week off.  I told him that I couldn't and that if I stopped it would be the end because William needs to go back to work.  I asked him if I could just continue and he said yes and that I would burn more, which I know, but that is something I will live with. 

My skin looks so bad that when I was getting my first boost today one tech asked the  other if they were going to mark me with a marker  and she looked at him like he was crazy and said, "I am not going to touch that skin..YOU can if you want but I am not!"  It is not taking much for the skin to just sluff off and leave the red weeping sores.

I swore that if I ever got this bad, I would just stop the treatment...and then I found out what stage I was in.  I couldn't live with myself if I had stopped and it came back..I would feel like I let my husband and kids down and that I didn't do everything in my power to get rid of it.

So, that was how my day went!  I am tired and sore, but one more day done!

Colette37:  Sorry to hear you are having such a time with the rads....you are right, if you quit and it comes back you will never forgive yourself with the "what ifs".....so keep in keepin on.  I remember thinking going through chemo that it would never end but it did.  My rads end today and I can't hardly believe it.  Since I'm TN this is all they can do for me now.  I need to start exercising and changing my diet which I'm trying to do.  I'll pray that things get easier for you.  Take care.

Hooray Kimmer51 and White 929!  I am so happy for you!  Watching you all cross the finish line brings me understanding that I can do it too!

 Happy happy holidays, all you girls out there!!  Wishing you comfort and joy!

PauldingMom...I am glad that I was able to get you to laugh..even though I didn't mean to!    It makes me feel like I did something positive!  I now only have 3 left and I can get through it...at least there are places where I have sores where they are no longer doing the rads so it can heal, so there is a positive part in it all.  William already has been doing nightly stuff ever since I was on chemo because I was on ambien CR..and I am now on it again.  I am so thankful that I have a wonderful hubby!

kime  thanks for the thoughts...And I will give him a hug..He has been my rock and what I keep thinking about when I keep going forward with my treatments.  The one area over my sternum has already started  to heal!  Yay!

The bad part though, is I think we all have reinfected ourselves...I came home after rads and I started developing a fever..I don't know if it is because of the sores on my chest (I am on antibiotics for those things for profolactic) or if it is because I reinfected myself with the flu that I had on Sat...Nap time now...hugs everyone!

LizTaylor1 - Ok, that's not fair. I'm a really upbeat person and this doesn't make sense but your simple gesture of leaving the bell on the bulletin board has made me tear up. It really is a beautiful thing to do. Congratulations on finishing rads and on being a really good person !

Oh, and Liz - I have a bell I plan to bring on my last day to ring, and will now leave behind with the front desk gals to start a tradition for folks to "Ring The Bell" on the day of their last treatment!

It is a brandy new treatment center. I'm the 3rd person to get zapped, and will be the 1st person to be finished.

Yeah!  Everyone!  I am so proud of all of you wonderful ladies!

Ouchy, ouch, ouch, ouch!

My brave broken nip is in the field of my boost. Had the 1st of 6 yesterday and it did not like it at all. I continue to soak it in domeboro to pull out the infection. I have found the best way to get a good soak is to put the soaking solution in a sake' cup (looks kind of like a shot glass) lean my nipple in and the sit up while holding the sake' cup in place for 15 min.

The wound is looking very ugly... and the doc. didn't want me to put anything on it to start healing it till after my boosts. But I had to do something, so I put a smiggen of tea tree oil in my sake' cup and put that on my wound. Feels better already.

Don't know if any of you have played around with tea tree oil, but I just love the stuff. It stops a yeast infection immediately and is great on cold sores - BUT, you use just a teeny, tiny amount deluted in water.

4 more days, 4 more days..... OMG, I am so ready to be done with this phase of my life.

Hope you and yours are doing well.  

Re: deciding against tomaxifen. After a ton of research I decided not to take this drug for the next 5 yrs. It adds a very small % to the cancer not coming back, and has terrible side effects and a % of creating bigger problems then the bc I had.

I have been a workaholic for a long time, and am taking this whole thing as a huge kick in the butt to get my act together. I decided I will make some major changes in my life style and get this body into good physical shape.  I quit drinking coffee, and am working on improving my diet. Will start drinking green tea as soon as I am done with radiation, and will start an exercise program as soon as I get my energy back.... which I am hoping will be in the next 2 weeks.

Question to all you who have finished with radiation: Did you find the boosts more tiring then the regular treatments? How long after being done with radiation did your wounds heal? How long before your energy came back?

Today I have been fried. Slept on and off all day, and it's not quite 8:30 and I'm ready for bed. Is this from the boost or just an accumulation of all the radiation?

Two boosts left for me.  My rad onco said the dose is the same, just that the fielf is narrower, so I do think our tiredness is a result of the accumulation of radiation and not just the boosts. 

The pain of the rib cartilage inflammation is controlled well by the hydrocodone, but the skin pain sure is intensifying. I can't see blisters per se, but I do see little red bumps now on the red skin at the fold under the breast.  Keeping up with the soaks and the cream, but ouch, ouch, ouch is right.  Vtmom, the shot glass image brought a smile to my face--how creative of you! 

I wonder if tamoxifen's effectiveness is in part based on just how ER positive a cancer is.  Mine was 90% ER positive.  I've decided to try it, and figure I can stop if the side effects become bad.  I fear weight gain the most.  I worked very hard to lose an extra 40 pounds before this cancer thing came along and I would feel so discouraged to have it come back.

I too plan to adopt more healthy habits.  I've never been a tea drinker, but I have found through trial and error a green tea drink that I like...it's green tea with raspberry, sold pre-packaged in the same aisle as the ocean spray cranberry juice, V-8, and such.  I also have been eating more green veggies and fresh fruit.  I quit going to the gym three weeks ago--just too fatigued and sore, and didn't want to expose myself to the flu virus any more than being a schoolteacher already exposes me!  Will start again soon after radiation ends on Tuesday.

I hope this poor skin regains some softness.  It feels like elephant-hide leather now.  Not like my skin at all.

HI,

For those of you with sore nipples:  hang in there!!  Think pain meds.....

I decided not to take tamoxifen, too.  Just didn't want the side effects - figured the surgery plus rads would account for enough of the decrease in stats re: reoccurrence.

BELLS are ringing!!!!!!  Can you hear them???

Love,

Liz