MARCH 2010 Rads Group

 Congrats to all finished that today!  I'm so excited for all of you!!!

Sherri - are you all through today?  I must say I'm a bit envious of you as we were on the same chemo schedule and I still have a ways to go.  But, I'll be finishing up right behind you so all is good. A BIG congrats to you!  I hope you have a big celebration planned for today!

Cabmom - my onc is scheduling a bone scan for me.    My hips have really, really been bothering me at night and she wants to rule out any problems.  She said it would be highly unlikely if it is a BIG problem (can't bring myself to say the word) so hopefully it's not anything to worry about.  I just hope it's a combination of working out too much., chemopause and just my poor hips getting old.  We'll see next week.

beceen, sorry to hear you've been struggling with rads, too!!  I know what you mean, sometimes it feels like you're handling it just fine, and then sometimes you're NOT... it's been up and down for me.  I think it was after my 10th treatment that I had a full-on, sobbing meltdown.  It took 2 techs and a nurse to calm me down.  I emailed 2 people for therapist recommendations, including the oncology social worker, and called the breast cancer support group leader to get back on the email list for that, and went to see my oncologist for a prescription for anti-anxiety meds, and even emailed my surgeon to vent about all my troubles (she is so sweet and listens to me and calms me, even if she's not the one who can "do" something about my problems), and met with the rad onc again to have him explain to me AGAIN why I need so much radiation... oh, man.  Sometimes it feels like cancer is my full time job right now.

As for feeling alone and wanting something to grab onto, I know what you mean.  What's been helping me a little bit is my MP3 player with soothing songs, 72% dark chocolate as a mini-reward after every radiation treatment, and reading the Tao te Ching.  I also find it helpful to stuff my jeans pockets full of little love notes from friends and family, photos of loved ones, crystals and stones, and various little things that friends have given me, like a tiny angel figurine and a piece of lucky sea glass.  I try to focus on this love instead of the terrifying radiation.

Also, I have been parking my car a half hour walk away from the hospital, and walking to and from the hospital as many of the days as I can.  Getting a pedometer made walking more exciting, ha.  Also, the techs laugh because they can tell which days I've walked to the hospital because my chest is all sweaty when I take my shirt off.

I actually cried like a baby on my last day of radiation.  On my last day as I was walking into the treatment unit, all the ladies said to me 'congratulations your graduating today' and I started to cry, cry and cry some more.  They all hugged me, and hugged me more when I left.  Even when I was lying on the treatment table I continued to cry...  the last day of treatment was very, very overwhelming for me.

My treatment team was absolutely incredible with me the entire month.  So much so, that I ordered a basket for them, filled with 'bunch of fruits, crackers and cheese, tin can of danish cookies'.  I also purchased a nice card to be attached to it.  I was surprised when it was delivered right around time I was finishing treatment, but was happy to see them receive the basket - -  wow was it ever an incredibly large basket.  They were worth every penny I spent on the basket. (did not do this for the chemo team as did not receive the same compassion and support unfortunately).

So for those of you that have already finished your RADS, was your last day a emotional day for you too?

Charmaine

Sherri: I went into my local florist and asked them if they do baskets and they said yes and asked me what I wanted in it.  Sherri, most well known florists will do baskets if you ask them to, just tell them what you want in it and often they will go out and get the stuff to put in the basket.

Look in the Yellow Pages for Florists and look for advertisements that state they do baskets..

Another thing you could do also for your team - if you know of someone that does a 'large variety of different cheeses and crackers' and buy a couple bottles of sparkling apple cider to go with it.

or

You could contact Subway Sub and they usually deliver - order a platter of mixed meats sub quarter sandwich platter (usually a whole bunch on a platter of quarter size subs)...

So many ideas...

Charmaine

Today was my last treatment too! So delighted its over!  Cant really say I found it that emotional, I just smiled through it and almost ran out of the building!      Gonna celebrate by going for a nice Italian meal with my fabulous boyfriend this evening, he has been so good throughout this whole ordeal....

A BIG CONGRATS to all that have their last treatment today!  WHOO HOO!!!  I hope you all go out and celebrate!!  Even though I still have a couple more weeks to go, I'm already planning what I'll do after my last appt.  I'm going to let both of my kids play hooky that day, so that my family can all be there when I ring the gong, then out for a nice lunch and if the weather is nice, maybe we'll go to the zoo.

Sherri - thanks for the words of encouragement, I'll keep you posted about my scan.  CONGRATULATIONS on finishing today!  FINALLY through!  You must be so relieved!

JoJo - I'm right behind you on treatments. today is #18 for me.  I also have the itchy spot thingys on my chest.  My nurse gave me samples of XCLAIR cream to try out, so hopefully, that will calm the itching down some. 

Happy Wednesday to everyone.

DeniseAckerman, Treadsoftly, and Sugar77.....congratulations to all of you on your last day of treatments.  I know how happy each of you are today.......

Charmaine, yes it was very emotional for me.  It was actually the first time that I cried at radiation and all of the staff have been so kind to me.  They even had tears in their eyes.  I cried almost the entire time I was on the table.....it just hit me like a ton of bricks as I was laying there that this was my last time and I was overcome with emotions and I couldn't control them at all.  As hard as I tried to stop.....I just cried harder.  It was quite a day!  So thankful to be done. 

Hope everyone else is having a great day and all the rest will be over soon.......

OK, so I had the set-up for my boosts today.  My chest now looks like it has a giant bulls-eye drawn on it.  They used markers and told me to be sure not to wash them off.  Now how the heck, short of not showering for the next week and a half, am I supposed to keep these marks on???!!!!  Does anyone that has already gone through boosts have any tricks or ideas as to how to keep these things from coming off?  My poor little SB definately deserves a treat after what she's been through :-)

Forgot to ask the onc but I'm assuming it's okay to start using regular deodorant.....does anyone know for sure?  I know....dumb question but I figure better to ask than be sorry !

Thanks Mary....I didn't receive discharge instructions but I appreciate the information.  I think I might be rushing things because I just want to feel COMPLETELY normal again!

They use marker pens for my rad treatments, and then they put a clear sticker over them which is very flexible and you don't even feel them.  If they start to get a little loose on the edge, they just replace them.  Can shower without a problem.  Only had to have one replaced so far.

Had number 17 today and am exhausted! am lucky to be off work, for those of you working thru this i commend you, dont know how you do it!