Predicting ones reaction to radiation

Hello,

I don't think "they" can truly predict on how you will react to radiation treatment. ....but I was told that if you are light skinned you might have a greater chance of burning.  I took this to "heart"...I am very pale.  I used the lotion I was given (Sween 24 from Coloplast).....officially I only had to apply it once a day but I lathered up at least twice a day.....I just kept it very slimy.  I was fortunate....I did not blister until the last few treatments.

Since I am on the pale side I never "sunbathed" as a youth....so I can not tell you if that is a factor.

Good luck to you!!!!  Make sure you let your Rad people know of your concerns.

Hi there 3Monstmama - I feel exactly the same way as you!  Oh, if there was some way to get out of rads!  Of course, I could always not do rads, but then I would always worry about a recurrence. Part of me wishes I would have had a mastectomy just to avoid it, I've even thought of calling my surgeon to ask her opinion about having a mastectomy now. It's funny how it scares me so much more than going through chemo. I knew I could get through chemo, but radiation.....there is just something so ominous about it.  Have you met with your rad onc yet?  I go in for my simulation March 15th and then will start the end of March.

Sugar77 started a new thread for those of us starting rads in March...come and join us!

There is no correlation to burning from the sun and burning from rads. Really!!! I am fair skinned, freckles, red hair and burn after 5 minutes in the sun. However I did great with rads which I finished December 31. My skin went a bit pink and towards the end I put a soft washcloth between my bra and skin as it was rubbing a bit. I put on the organic Jason's aloe twice a day as instructed and then aquafor towards the end. But rads was a breeze for me.

I completed rads just before Christmas 2009. I am a redhead with very fair, sensitive skin and freckles. I expected to burn to a crisp, but that didn't happen. My onc did say that I would not necessarily burn and that rads is different to sun exposure so I couldn't use that to predict whether I would burn or not. I went slightly pink but no blistering or peeling. Now you wouldn't know from looking at my skin that I had rads.

I was probably more terrified of rads than any other stage of treatment, including my mastectomy, but it was OK once I got started. Good luck to all those going through rads or about to start. You'll be finished before you know it.

3momstmama, some doctors (and the "treatment and side-effects" portion of this site) say that people who have fair skin are more likely to have more dramatic skin side-effects. However, the two radiation oncologists I talked with both said that this isn't true. They said that they are completely unable to predict who will have more trouble.

As for me, I am a very fair-skinned person (freckled redhead) who sunburns extremely easily and who is sensitive to irritants such as detergent residue in clothing. Heck, I've even gotten a rash from sunscreen. Because of that, and because my surgeon, who was trying to steer me toward mastectomy, told me that I'd burn due to my fair skin, I was really scared about radiation. However, it was not nearly as bad as I had feared. Yes, I did have burning sensations in a one-inch strip of skin above my breast: it felt pretty much like a bad sunburn, and it necessitated my taking Advil daily, and a one-half dose of a more serious pain-killer 3 or 4 times during the series of treatment in order to sleep. However, other than that, I had no problems at all. I've been finished with treatments for just over a week, and none of my skin has peeled. 

Because I was so worried, I did really baby my skin during the treatments: I washed with baby shampoo 3 times a day, and then oiled up with calendula oil (by the way, the doctors and nurses told me I was washing too often). During the washing, rinsing, and oiling, I just lightly skimmed my skin with my hand: no rubbing, and no washcloth. I went topless at home, because my breast felt hot, and letting that heat escape helped a lot. I quit wearing a bra a week before treatments started, and I haven't yet started again. I slept on my back with my breast exposed, and with my arm away from my body to expose my armpit.

All this was an annoyance, but I knew that my skin would get fragile because of the treatments, and I wanted to avoid doing anything that might make it peel before new skin underneath had a chance to mature. It seems to have worked, but maybe I wouldn't have had trouble even if I hadn't done all that. However, the nurses and techs at the radiation center did say that they could definitely see the difference between people who took good care of their skin during their course of treatment and those who did not. When they saw that I was getting really red in the area at the bottom of my breast, they expected me to peel there, but I kept that area really well oiled to reduce friction, and I made it through without peeling.

Yes, during the treatment I had some emotional ups and downs, and there was one time that I definitely second-guessed myself and wished I had gone the mastectomy route. However, I reminded myself that mastectomies have their own risks and side-effects, and that second-guessing feeling passed by the next day. Now that treatments are over, I am very happy that I have my breast. 

One other thing that helped me a lot was that I stayed physically active. I walked or cycled to my treatments (totally surprising the nurse, who had told me early on that I wouldn't be able to do that once the fatigue hit). The doctor told me that the exercise was the reason that I never experienced real fatigue. I did fall asleep suddenly for 10-15 minutes in my recliner a few times in the evenings, but that was the only evidence of fatigue for me. The exercise helped me deal with the stress, too.

So, my recommendation is to eat well, drink plenty of liquids, take super good care of your skin, and get regular exercise. You'll get through this faster than you think.

Good luck to you,

adrienne 

3montsmama and Mommaof2, I am right there with you!!  My simulation is Mar. 15, and I am trying not to drive myself crazy with the second-guessing!  Part of me still can't help wondering if a mastectomy would be better!!  I've already been through a lumpectomy and 2 re-excisions, but I also talked extensively with my surgeon about the mastectomy option...I was the one who brought it up, because she doesn't think I NEED a mx, mostly because I'm only 31 and now have clear margins.  She tells me radiation really isn't as bad as I think it is, but I'm still scared of it.  I'm going to TRY radiation, but there's still a possibility of me freaking out after a couple treatments and going for the mastectomy instead.  Yes, even after lumpectomy + 2 reexcisions - my surgeon would do a mastectomy if I asked. I'm worried that I will be too much of an emotional wreck to even be able to lie still enough for the radiation to work!! 

I'm trying to be comforted by everyone's inspiring stories about how they sailed through radiation without (m)any problems, or how it wasn't nearly as bad as they thought it would be, but.... there's no way to predict how a person will react.  I'm not comforted by the rad onc telling me that the serious side effects are "very rare," because I've beat the odds so many times already here.  I'm only 31, super healthy, no family history of BC - there was only a 1% chance I even had cancer in the first place... then I ended up with mucinous cancer, which accounts for less than 2% of all breast cancers... so when someone tells me "There's only a 2% chance" (or whatever!) of developing side effects, it really doesn't mean much to me at this point!!!