June 2010 Rads

michelle_nj, mixin;  You're right about labels. The radiation nurse recommended aquafor.  Checked the back and found it contained lanolin.  Yup, it's imprortant to read the labels.  I'm allergic to lanolin.  Would have been great.

faithfulc:  Right after the treatment, I use emu and put aloe over that.  On the drive home, I take time out from sipping water and sneak more aloe onto my breast under my totally sexy, breast immobilizing,front-close, cotton sports bra.  I don't do this in traffic jams.

amidoneyet:  Happy belated Birthday! 

margie, BarbaraA, mabelle:  I went to the health food store about the cantharis.  Here's a link to approximately what I read there about spanish fly!!!

http://www.herbs2000.com/homeopathy/cantharis.htm

If you decide to use it, please let me know how/if it helps.

margiebits: The positioning tatoo between my breasts looks like a tiny, early melanoma.  My plan is laser removal.

redsoxfan: There have been storms here 2 weekends in a row and they disrupted the radiation machine both times. I was treated to a free breakfast the first time because they had to re-schedule. The second time, it quit twice and we had to wait 10 minutes for it to resume.

 It's nice to have a few days off. I hope you all are really enjoying yours. 

I started treatments last week, 4 down, 30 to go! It sounds so daunting so I'm just going to count them down week by week. Too early to report any skin changes or fatigue. I really like my rads onc and the techs are very pleasant and efficient. I'm using L'Occitane Ultra Rich Body Cream right now. Will see how it works as I get further down the treatment road. Gina

Today I begin week 4 of 7! I am so thankful for the 3 day weekend. It really gave my skin some time to recover. I too am having the tan nipple with red dots thing. My breast was also sore on Friday but has gotten better.

BarbaraA- Congrats on your final week! I hope to be celebrating mine soon

Hang in there ladies, we can do this!

Hi amIdoneyet~ What a great signature! We are close in date of diagnosis and geographical location... however I am currently being treated at Emory in Atlanta.

I started radiation last week. I will receive 6 weeks total.  I experienced some pain on my 6th treatment. It happened on the table and it did scare me a bit. My doctors have been good about preparing me but I did not expect internal pain. The pain felt like it was around my sternum, heart, lung and back. I met with my doctor immediately after that session and found out that it is most likely muscoskeletal pain and is expected. It diminished gradually and was gone by the end of the day.  I haven't had any more internal pain since. My skin is fine so far. I am using Sumigold cream (only found on line) but recommended by my radiation oncologist. It seems fine for now.

I am experiencing some depression at this point of my care. I think it's finally all caught up with me. I am so thankful to see I'm not alone in that area. People that have not undergone our situation simply do not or cannot understand. 

I am looking forward to getting home and may look to you amIdoneyet for some input on local oncology care (if you don't mind).... but for now... thanks for starting this thread.

Hi, not quite ready for radiation yet.  Want to say hello to other Emory Winship women and I hope we can meet while at the clinic.

PM me if you would like to have tea before or after treatment sometime.

Sheila

Hi Access,

 Thanks for sharing the post "Breaking up is hard to Do" - that was WONDERFUL.  Everyone needs to go read it.  I'm on rad #9 today - burning down my house!

Good luck with your treatments, I hope your skin hangs 'tough'.  Mine is just barely starting to turn pink...

Congratulations, Barbara!  I've taken your advice on emu oil.  Been on it for a week now and love it so far. Thank you!  (Are you moving over to the tamoxifen thread soon?)

On Tuesday, after my #11, the radiation oncologist did the regular check up and asked me what I put on my skin.  I told her 100% aloe vera and then emu oil.  She took a look and said she didn't think I needed it. Well, perhaps that's because I've been using it. 

The way I see it, the effect on the skin is cumulative.  Damage does not happen in one day.  Which means I have to use gel/oil BEFORE the skins shows signs of burn.  I'll definitely keep up the aloe vera and emu oil.

It's #14 today and then weekend.  Yeah for the break.  Hope everyone has a good one.

Congrats Barbara on finishing!  I have 3 MORE and can't wait.

It's actually gone pretty well, no real fatigue, but some skin issues. Mostly itchy and red and they gave me some home-made ointment with Vaseline and Vit E and God knows what else in it, but it seems to be working. And Hydro cortisone cream too. My skin just looked like sunburn, I guess because that area has been exposed to the sun in the past.. I am in the middle of my 8 "boosts" now where they only zap my lumpectomy scar. So the sunburned and itchy skin hardly bothers me at all, it just looks darker. I should probably try to tan the other side of my chest because really it just looks like I am more tan on the right side than the left. Now the boosts though are making my non-sun-touched skin very pink and sore, and my nipple is darker and a bit painful too. Wow, I wonder if the color change is permanent.....another body change. Lovely.  And I needed 3 more tats for the boost so now I have a total of 10. When I get bored I play "connect the dots" lol. 

Happy Belated Birthday Amidoneyet!  I think we have the same birth date....is yours June 29?  That is my B-day--I just turned 50 (groan).  I was planning to celebrate turning 50 in Las Vegas before all this happened, so instead I spent the day at the beach in Wildwood, NJ.  Go me! 

WooHoo for Barbara! Congratulations!

Congratulations, BarbaraA.  So happy for you.  (For the RedSox, not so much.)

I"m very interested in what you learn about alternative adjuvent therapy.  Please keep me (us all) informed about what you learn.

Good luck and God bless us all!

chita you can do it. Use that emu oil three/four times a day. The red dots (according to the radonc) is inflammation from the rads. He RX'd a cortisone creme for me which I use 2x/day and I do the emu 3-4x/day. The creme I put on the dotted darea and cover the entire breast w/emu. I cover the dots w/emu then apply the cortisone. Figure it can't hurt.

I was depressed too and fatigue knocks me down out of the blue.

You can do it!

Blarney I had a dry cough from tx#2 and still have it. The radonc swears it is not radiation related but rather the result of me quitting smoking 5-1/2 weeks ago. Jury's out on that. I pretty much disbelieve everything he tells me until I can prove him right. Great Doctor/patient relationship, right?

Forgot to tell you all: my last tx the techs presented me with a certificate that is awarded to all those who pass the examination in hard table, cold room, awkward positions and cold hands.

I sent them a edible arrangement with a card that said: It's been real and hope I never see any of you ever again.