October Rads. 2009

Well, I finished rads on Friday!  I got to ring the bell!

I noticed most "finishers" bringing their techs/docs food.  So I opted for something different.  Nearly every day the techs would compliment me on my earrings.  I make some of my own jewelry and have a wonderful lady at Eastern Market in DC who makes gorgeous earrings.  I called her and asked her to ship me 20 pairs!  Then I made a leather-cord necklace with a nice masculine lampwork focal bead for my one male tech. 

The earrings were a big hit!

My skin looks like a BBQ picnic, one part baked potato and one part charred spare rib.  I'm using Silvadene andn not wearing a bra/prosthetic until it heals.

But I'm very happy to be done!

tracyanne:

does that bottled green tea have sugar or high fructose corn syrup in it? If so, the amount of actual green tea in it is probably too small to really help, and the sugar would cancel out any benefits from it. I read the label on one my daughter had been drinking. It might not be the same brand you are looking at. She is at college and I have been urging her not to get hooked on soda like the other kids. So she started choosing this instead, think she was doing something good for her body. But the amount of corn syrup in it was higher than soda!

It the one you like does turn out to have a lot of sugar, perhaps a health food store would have a better version?

I would like to start drinking green tea myself but like you, I don't like the taste. I was thinking about adding a few drops of bottled pomegranate juice to it. I have cherry concentrate too. Trader Joes has lots of good juices, maybe I will try several kinds. Maybe that would work for you too. I like green tea enough when I have it at a chinese restaurant. I might have to experiment with brands. I wish there were tea tastings so I wouldn't have to buy boxes of stuff I didn't like. Come to think of it, there is a chain of tea stores in the mall that let you taste first. And a tea store in Chinatown: not close to me but I could justify the trip someway.

Alaina: I like your metaphor! Baked potato and barbequed rib, indeed! Except it's making me hungry.

2 more days... 3 more boosts.

Feeling more energized cause I'm coming down the homestretch.

Got my bell and am going to ring it all day on Wednesday!

It's so special having you all to share and get advice from. Thanks so much for being there!

Congrats on the last day, PauldingMom ! What a nice holiday you will have. I know what you will be saying thanks for.

I also have not seen anyone bring treats. But except for one or two people I have seen more than once, I have not seen the same people daily, like I was expecting to. The waiting room is shared with the MRI dept., maybe that's why.

I was thinking about bringing cupcakes too, for my last day next week. The beaded bookmarks are a nice idea: how are they flat to go in the book, though? I'm trying to visualize this. I was thinking about making earrings for my group, though I don't know what to do for the young man I see everyday. He looks too conservative to wear a leather cord necklace, like Alaina made. For that matter, I don't know what any of them would wear in their off hours: what they wear at work is pretty unobtrusive.

I'm also not exactly sure how many to make, as the number of techs I see fluctuates. I'm told they borrow staff from a sister hospital.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Alaina - so sorry to hear your rads are so painful.  Maybe a sports bra (not too tight) or a camisole - or a combination?  Maybe get an ace bandage and cut it to the length you need and wrap it around outside a cami to try to hold the bandages in place?  I bought my daughter a wide ace bandage last spring for her hamstring - maybe a wide one like that , for a hamstring type injury, cut to length might help?  Sorry if those are crappy ideas - someone else might have better ones...

I think the bandage I got her was about 5 or 6 inches wide and she said it was longer than she is tall, so 5 to 6 feet long.  I hope it works for you.  I think I got it at Walgreens.

paulingmom and vmom I'm joining you with my last day tomorrow! Yay! Fatigue didn't hit me until yesterday, so I am hoping it goes away soon.

Hope everyone else is done soon too. Enjoy Thanksgiving!!

Ringing the bell for you too Kime! Congratulations!

I agree on the with MTG on being as topless as possible. Other then my brave nipple that developed a nasty wound underneigh it, my skin did very well, and I attribute that to the aloe and staying topless as much as possible. BTW, my nipple has started to heal. Guess it's not taking the boost as bad as I thought.

Amazing how whats going on in your head can have such an effect on your body. I have been so tired and dragging around for about a week, and now that today is my last day I can hardly sit down I'm so excited. Feel like a kid about to go down stairs to look in my xmas stocking.

(((((((RING, RING, RING))))))

tracyanne - congrats on being done! I love the John Wayne quote - hope you don't mind but I have added it to the Nov. rads thread for all the ladies there to read also

vtmom and tracyanne - CONGRATS on being done. I am almost there. One week from tomorrow, so getting anxious.

Kime, glad you like the John Wayne :- )  As far as healing goes, the skin over my rib just under my breast is more purple-red than ever.  I knew it would continue to darken even after treatments ended, and yeah, it's darker and it hurts worse.  Starting to peel and feels like it's going to crack open despite creams.  Ouch.  Thankful I don't have to go in for any more treatments because I think it's had all it can take. The itching has intensified, too...watched the Texas game with an icepack there and that seemed to help.  Was looking forward to wearing a bra again when going back to work Monday, but looks like I may still have to camouflage the asymmetry between the natural breast and this one by continuing to dress in layers.

ALL DONE!!!  Getting less sore by the hour.  The rads team came in with party hats and horns.  Didn't feel much like celebrating at that moment.  But I sure got choked up last night at Thanksgiving dinner when it was my turn to say what I was thankful for.  Hang in there vtmom.  Don't let the B*****d get you down!  

Vtmom:

Now I have personal experience of what you went though with your sore nipple.

I had no idea one ... small ... spot... COULD... HURT... SO... MUCH (!!!!**YOW**!!!!).

It was swelling a lot so I should have known I was going to have trouble.  A week ago the doctor just said put on more Radiaplex cream. Because of the swelling I think some skin was trapped with no air circulation (not that it could get much anyway under my clothes: but my house is too cold to go for more than a few minutes shirtless.). The skin cracked at the side of the nipple and quickly became infected. I think being moist with cream actually made it happen. Of course I noticed this at 10 pm, before the Thanksgiving holiday.  The pain kept me up all night so I did not make the best Thanksgiving meal in my history. I managed to find a tube of Bacitracin around and put that on, which I think helped. I could not stand to have my shirt or bra touching the nipple (because it presses it down), so actually cut off a 2" slice of toilet paper tube, cut slits into one end to open it like a fan, and taped it over my nipple. It projects out about an inch so nothing can touch the nipple. I have been wearing (and sleeping in) this thing for 2 days now, and taking my leftover codeine to be able to sleep. 

When I went in for my boost today I was counting on seeing the doctor, but there was just a skeleton staff on duty. There was not even a nurse available. They did call a doctor for me, who said to just buy Neosporin, but to call him if I spiked a fever. I asked the techs about the Domeboro you used, but they had never heard of it. Is that over the counter?

It's going to be a LONG weekend....

Linn, I love your idea of the toilet roll for keeping a safe space around the nipple. Wish I had thought of that.

I found that any type of cream made the infection worse. It needs to dry out and keep dry. The domeboro really helped with that! Don't know if you read far back enough... but the best way I found to really soak my nipple was to mix the powder in warm water then dip in a sake' cup or a shot glass. Lean over and put your nipple into the glass, press up into the breast, then you can sit for 20 min. or so, and give it a good soaking. Dry it well and keep it dry. I even quit putting aloe on it until I was done with the boosts.

Yesterday the big ugly scab around my nipple came off. The area around my nibble is still swollen and feels like lizard skin, but it seems to be getting better each day. Now that the infection is gone, I am slathering it in aloe, which feels really good. Still letting it air out as much as possible.

I used 1/2 packet of domeboro in 1/2 cups warm water.

Hang in there... once your done zapping the area, the infection heals up very quickly!

((((((HUGS))))))