February 2011 Rads

msbeasly38, what kind of work out do you do? im asking everyone who is working out for info i want to start but scared i will hurt myself!! take care

Thanks ladies,  I seem to be ok on Monday & Tuesday, Wednesday may or may not be good depending on the week. But Thursday & Friday I am wiped out.  I come home so tired I make it to the couch.  Work has been extremely stressful since October.  I am a mid level supervisor and we are required to spend time on all 3 shifts. To add to this I don't sleep well. I am often awake for 2 - 4 hrs a night. I am thinking about workin part time to aleviate some of the stress.   If I do that, I can delegate some of my duties & hopefully sleep a little better. Right now I am  adjusting my schedule to make up for the time I have to leave for treatments (easy to do with our reqirements).

I've done 23 tx and one of the things I noticed was that I went red very early on and I was worried about how my skin would hold up and whether I'd end up very badly burned but it seemed to stabilise a bit and not get too much worse from that point. I have 2 regular tx then 5 boosts to go.  I'm still very red, itchy and peeling a bit but if you had seen my skin early on you would have thought I would be in really big trouble by now!  I'm very fair and have sensitive skin.  So my point is, hang in there and keep applying the cream as much as you can.  And whilst it does get tiring going in every day, I'm actually amazed how quickly the time seems to have flown by - for me anyway.

Good luck grannydukes with only one tx to go!

And twoozzs, I hope you can get part time work as it sounds like that will help alot.

I also have te. I cannot wait to exchange them for implants although now with the rads I dont think it will be for quite some time. I went ahead and had a double mast...I finished chemo 3 wks ago and have had 3 rad treatments and I the bolus is used every other time. I have been told to use aloe and aquaphor, it sounds like alot of others use the same.

Lakefront - i'm having the bolus every time. Did your RO explain to you why they use the bolus? I'm still a little confused!

Librarylil - Sorry you had a hard time with the RO. I also cried when I met with mine. Different reasons, but same idea. The cream my RO gave to me is a diaper cream for babies and then some other lotion. Both contained parabens (which i'm steering clear of because of my ER+ BC). I mentioned this to my RO and she said that, really, its ok to use anything within reason and her patients use a variety of things. I ran my combonation by her and she agreed that it was fine and already used by a number of patients she is treating. I am using Calendula gel mixed with 100% aloe vera gel 2-3x daily. I paid about 5.00 for each (much cheaper than ordering the Miaderm) So far its working great. I bought a tube of the calendula and then a bottle of aloe from our natural food store and mix them together in my hand. The RO actually said if the office could afford to purchase the Calendula cream and hand it out to everyone they would because it works so well. My naturopath also recommended opening a vitam E capsule and adding it to the mixture. I haven't done this because the aloe already contains E and I don't want to "overuse" antioxidants and mess up treatment.

where do i find candendula gel ? i have the the oil but cannot find gel? and of course im not using the oil on my bc breast oh i guess it no longer has bc???? whatever...

I found the Boiron Calendula ointment on Amazon after receiving the first two tubes thru my onco pharmacy at $7.00 per 1 oz tube.  Amazon had it cheaper but you had to buy 3 tubes.  Just got an email from Amazon that they do not have in stock right now though... the $7 per tube is not bad but I've been using it so much I've practically gone through 2 tubes in just over 3 weeks!

Update: I was just looking and found it at another website... vitacost.com.  It is $3.88/tube and their shipping is $4.95 per order no matter quantity.  Never have used them though so cannot make comment on the company.  Just wanted to pass info along.

Hi Krista!  I am having 28 + 8 too.  Exactly halfway through last Friday.  Will start my boosts next week then go back to the remaining 10 regular rads after that. Not that I'm counting, hehe!

Hey ladies! Happy Super Bowl Sunday to all.

As of Friday, I have been formally released from my daily visits to the cancer center for radiaiton treatments. I had 27 regular shots and 9 boost treatments. My RO said the area being treated would "pink up" but what he should have said was that I'd turn red as a lobster with radiation burns. But, the redness faded even as the boost treatments began. The clinic gave me a cream called Vanicream that I alternated with applications of aloe. I also used an Avon Naturals product that was a soothing cool jelly moisturizer. During the boost treatments, my nipple did crack a bit and Neosporin took care of that problem very well.

I'm so very glad to be done w/radiation and hope to assume some sort of normalcy now. Best of luck to everyone who is struggling with treatment.  

I'm here .

Fighting a UTI, does anyone know if the RO will give anti-bio-tics?  I've held out now for about 5 days trying to do it myself but nooooooooooooo it is persistent.  I see him at about 4:00 today after #6 rad.  I read that rads can give you infection.

OK, I am jumping on board, I have my first appointment with RO coming up Wednesday.  Went to the Jan rads boards too to see some experienced comments, nice to see some of those ladies have moved over here.  I love the sharing!

lestwin..that was rush rush rush,did they take the cancer out at during the biopsy? see i do not know how that works cause i had a masectomy,and had to wait for that to heal before rads which i was told i would not need ,till they got in there and so how close the cancer was to my chest wall. but i just hate going everyday cause i know by friday ouch!!!! and weekends are suppose to be the rest time but all i do is have pain from the culmative week i say 3 -4 days rad then 3 -4days no rads recup ect...

beacher4209:  Yes, they removed the cancer and 21 nodes as it was so close to the chest wall and very near my armpit.  (that is not being radiated though (nodes clear).  I went for a core biopsy but was not performed due to location of abnormality so had to have wire insertion (piece of cake except for squashing my boob so much).  Before I went for surgery, I had to once again go to surgeon for him to go over the same crap and I believe they knew I couldn't have biopsy.  I had a blowout with the nurse because I questioned why my insurance company had to pay twice for the same info!  She hates me!  She yelled at me again for the 2nd appt. when I questioned having to have a blood test as I was already set up for my 3 monthly ET check.  I hate insurance companies, got cancelled my 1st day of rads (now reinstated, their fault) and the week before my house insurance was cancelled again because of where I live (barrier island).

I'm in too.  I start Monday, Valentine's Day!  Hah, now I won't forget my start date.  I have a scrip for RadiaPlex, has anyone used it?  My newly filled up boobs are bursting at the seams.  I hope this settles down before the tightening I hear about with rads starts...

And I am on #23 of 25 and have been using Glaxal Based cream (prescribed often in Canada).  The skin under my armpit is tight and tender, the area under my breast is as well.  The entire left side of my chest is red and sore and swollen too.  I am exhausted and I was battling a raging case of pneumonia along with inflamed pleura (lining of the lungs) which was likely caused by the rads!

Other than that, so glad this is almost over and I can rest, relax, take a deep breath.  It has been a long year (alomst a year since diagnosis).  No wonder my poor body is so pooped! 

You can and will get thru' this and I know how amazing you all are. 

take good care and just breathe. . .

Teklya