January 2011 Rads

michcon - Do you have three zaps for your boost?  I have three, one from the left at an angle, one overhead to the right, and then one from the far right down that enters just under the armpit area.  My tumor scar is upper quadrant near the armpit on right side.

Thanks Victoria!  Thanks Sherry!  Feels GREAT!

Re bloodwork -- I haven't had any before or during rads, nor did I have any before my surgery; but I had had a routine CBC panel in June of this year, which may have been enough.  Also, it may be that bloodwork is not so important for DCIS and/or people not having chemo. 

As far as doctor and staff communications, I have to say that my team has been fantastic.  I have Kaiser, which is a "closed" HMO with its own staff and facilities.  I think they've made a great effort to train their people to ask at least once during every appointment "Do you have any questions? Is there anything else I can do for you?".  They have a health library where I could check out books and videos, and online education before the biopsy and surgery. As I think I mentioned earlier in the thread, they had a Radiation 101 session before treatment started; I got a tour of the facilities, explanations of how the machine worked, what the different techs did, etc. and got introduced to everyone who would be on my team.  Kaiser has an online component that allows me to make or change my own appointments and email any of my doctors, and I've always had replies by the next day.  There've been a couple of small things -- my surgeon didn't offer me a copy of my pathology report, I had to ask for it; the medical oncology nurse-practitioner who gave me the pitch for tamoxifen didn't have statistics about how much risk it would reduce, and it took her a couple of weeks to get back to me -- but overall I've been really pleased.  And my out-of-pocket costs for all of my treatment are going to total about $200. 

Thank you Sue!  You're almost there!

Omaz--I have three zaps for my boost also--for some reason, I had imagined it being only one zap but they told me that it zapped from different angles. I'm going to ask if it is hitting my armpit. In talking to the techs today, they said that it is just at your incision area. The area underneath my armpit is a little sore---MUCH better than Friday. I am using some 100% aloe on it and it feels better.

1 boost down, 4 to go.  This is my last week!  Yeah!

Good thing the boost started this week because my breast has rapidly deteriorated over the weekend. I don't get it because I had very few problems and the doc was just commenting l last week how great my skin had held up.  But it started peeling on friday then got really gross over the weekend.  My skin under the breast is blistered and raw and oozing.  Doc gave me silvadene today. Have to keep in on the raw area all day.  It does not really hurt, but it looks horrible.  

I am so over this.  I hope it heals quickly. 

Beacher, I am sorry you are feeling alone. We are all here standing with you and sharing lots of your experience.Rads sound simple but somehow it is just hard to do.

I have a lumpectomy and have a scar where the tumor and some surrounding tissue were removed. I am not symetrical but I am beyond even noticing at this point in my life. 

Hugs

Ginger

  2nd opinion on what part?

yea they would not have put the expander in if they thought i was going to need rads, but they did not ya know early noninvasive cancer...but there wasalot of it once thet got in there and was 1mila meter from my chest wall sssoooo that meant rads and i quess shecould have not put it but i planned on the expander but if i was awake i would have said skip it. some women do have this siuation not alot though i quess 

beacher - You are not alone. I was not suppose to have rads either but my margins were close. Rads was hard on me too with an expander.  I finished about a month ago and even though it is still very tight, it is better.  My skin developed blisters too and the RO gave me Silvadene which helped.  I do not know much about what you can do about the tightness now unless you have your PS take a small amount of  fluid out.  They did this for me in the end (during my boosts) because I could not stand it and wanted to quit.  It helped to get me thru the rads but it got tight again.  The plan is to put the fluid back in but I just dont think I can do it now because I am still very uncomfortable. So sorry you have to go through this.

Beacher--sorry to hear about your probs through rads. I had lumpectomy so cannot help you with regards to expanders etc. I hope you can get some resolution.

Boost #2 for me today--3 more to go. I feel energized to know that it is almost done!

For those starting Tamox, I started Tamox about 1 month after chemo so I have been on it for approx. 2 months. I haven't had any problems -- had some hot flashes but other than that, I seem to be OK. Hopefully you have similar experience.

I started my fourth week today and this weekend the skin of my areola started to peel. Under my boob its extremely red and painful and lets not even mention my underarm! It's dark red and brown. I am still in the calendula v/s biafine study but I am thinking of quitting because I cant use anything else (such as the aloe and miaderm I had bought). I also have itching and was told to try tylenol pm because it has some benadryl in it, but for the day time all the nurse said was "dont scratch it"...??? I'm worried about the condition of my skin since I still have about 11 rads to go, but all the nurse keeps saying is that everything looks very "normal" for the stage of treatment I'm at.