August 2011 rads

Hi, Finished 4 of 25. Still having pain from axilla to lower breast. I think my nerve is irrtiated. Well see what the RO says tomorrow. Alieve is taking care of it. Lots of energy today. Hope it keeps up.

Jane it will be soon.

Sarabob - lost 27 lbs from surgery (no chemo like you though) just by watching what I eat and cutting out most carbs and sugar. Still loosing weight during rads with my MD's approval. I seem to be burning more calories with treatment. From what I have read in other boards, fatigue can/will be a problem at times. I am trying to walk everyday. Hope this helps.

I am also working and balancing rads. I keep on thinking it is only 5 weeks. Many other employees at work take 12 weeks off for maternity leave. At least I am working. My work has been very accomandating. The rads dept is driving me crazy with trying to move my schedule around. For example today they wanted me 45 mins early and paged me at 0800. I said I could not do it. They asked how about 15 mins early. That I could do after asking my boss. I get there and they are running 45 mins late. Needless to say, from this point forward I will tell them no. Also yesterday I had a new tech. They tried to rad the WRONG breast. I said it was the wrong side, they apolozied. I had a nice long talk with the manager of that unit while I was waiting today and complained. Universal timeouts always include the side of treatment. Just remember to watch out and stand up for your rights.

Hi August Rads Ladies-I'm just stopping in from the June Rads board with words of encouragement. I think the boards are heavily weighted towards those who are having the most difficulty which is understandable, of course. I just want to say that I had Rad #26 today (28 + 5 boosts). My RO believes in using Aloe only unless there is skin breakdown. I've been using Aloe 3x/day and I've had no skin changes except for my nipple becoming darker on the treated side-no pain, no burning, no discomfort-nothing. I am having increased fatigue as the weeks continue but I'm also working full-time and still feeling the effects of chemo. I know everyone is different but it's important to know that Rads can be rather uneventful for some people...  

bb226--Burning calories with rads?  yay!  I started losing weight before the cancer was diagnosed but that came to a halt with the chemo.  Didn't change anything, just couldn't lose any more.  Maybe there is hope with rads!

Jane

One week down and five to go. Started yoga class today too, love it.

Hi everyone, Doing great. The pain I was having stopped within 24 hours. My RO is going to watch it. She wants to make sure it isn't a post op infection. She said I have a greater than 12% chance of an infection in the next 2 years because of my incision dishencing (breaking open and draining 2 days after surgery). My surgery was 5/27. Planning on kayaking this weekend and putting the BC on the back burner. My RO gave her blessing.

Merilee you always have great ideas. Yoga sounds great. How are you doing with rads if I may ask.

Jane and sarahbob- Good luck with the dieting. For me now it is more a lifestyle change. I want to be more healthy. Weight is something I can control. The BC isn't.

MamaMia - Good luck with the trial.

Dragonfly - THANKS. May-be some of us will be as lucky as you.

Who starts treatment next week?

Everyone have a great weekend. Remember 2 days of not going to the hospital for treatment. Amen.

BB- Yea I have finished 5 rads and have 25 to go. So far no side effects. Happy dance!

Mamamia41 Regarding the Herceptin: I received it weekly at a lower dose x18 weeks with chemo. The first time I received Herceptin I had the strange side effect of cold-like symptoms i.e. woke up in the middle of the night with a sore throat and sneezing and was convinced I'd caught something. It resolved in a day and I never had it again. After chemo, they increased the dose and I receive a triple dose every three weeks which will continue until Feb/2012. Many of us who compare notes about Herceptin notice that it causes some joint pain but it's minimal. I have to say it's been the least problematic of all of my treatment. I can't imagine that you would have a problem with only two doses. It's a truly remarkable drug if you are Her2+ (check out the movie "Living Proof" with Harry Connick, Jr. about how the drug came to be...)

I'm wishing all of you the best in Rads!

 MamaMia41 - I'm glad you like your Coobies! I love the colors, and the fact that they look like camis under shirts.

I am also getting Herceptin during rads - I'll have to ask if the dose is lower, or the same.  Outside of rads I get T-DM1 as part of a clinical trial, but I wasn't assigned to the group getting T-DM1 during rads, so I get Herceptin instead.

Cyborg - I will also start Tamox right after rads. 

I go in tomorrow morning for an echo, and my rad "dry run," then start rads Tuesday. After surviving chemo, I'm not really nervous about radiation, but am a bit anxious to see how my arm holds up to the axillary radiation.  Even mosquito bites and small cuts give me a touch of lymphedema, and I don't want it to get worse. 

Welcome Rochelle, though I'm sorry you have to be here. I'm sure all of us ladies will be happy to have you talk to us even though our experiences of radiation may be different!

I'm saying a prayer for you that it will all go well. Do you know how many treatments you have to have?

Dragonfly-Thanks for the info.  I just read about the movie you mentioned and I would love to watch it, it's not running on Lifetime anytime soon, but maybe I can find it at On Demand.

Rochelle-Welcome, I am also sorry you have to join our group, but you will find a lot of support here.

Well, I was really hoping to be starting rads today (sounds funny) but now the possibilty of this clinical trial has me waiting again! On the positive side, it allows me to heal a bit more before starting; I had a lot of reconstruction done in my last re-excision and have been really sore up until a week or so ago.  I did find out that I will be getting 25+ 6 boosts.

Thanks to you ladies who go before me for sharing your stories. 

Merilee I look for your pictures every day! Healing beam #3 for me today!

Had a wonderful normal Saturday-kayaking. Didn't think or talk of BC. I overdid it physically and had fatigue Saturday night, Sunday and most of  today. (It was well worth it for such a wonderful day!)  Napped Saturday and Sunday and it helped. Today tried to sit as much as possible at work. Got my normal energy back this afternoon. Had #6 of 25. Noticed that my breast is turning a very light pink.

For anyone starting soon...Your stress level will dramatically decrease once your treatment starts. I have noticed that I am going back to things I enjoyed before my BC diagnosis. I have time again.

Good luck everyone.