July 2011 rads

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  • Pollyagain
    Pollyagain Member Posts: 30
    edited August 2011

    I too have developed an SE.  No skin changes yet.  Tomorrow is #14 our of 33.  I am having difficulty swallowing.  It isn't  like a sore throat. Doesn't hurt until I try to swallow food.  The only thing that goes down painlessly is liquid or ice cream.  My last Wed appt with the RO, she asked me if I had trouble swallowing, I was shocked.  I had forgotten, but just that morning I had trouble eating toast.  Blamed it on the toast.  Now it hurts so much to swallow just about anything, even noodles, that it isn't worth trying. 

         RO was booked up today, but I'm supposed to see the resident MD from her office tomorrow.  Don't expect much other than a prescription for gargle or something, but I still have four weeks of this left!  Oh, did I mention that I hate radiation.  Hate almost everything about it except two of the techs.  I thought chemo was much easier than this. Maybe I'm just old and crabby. 

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  • Maybe484
    Maybe484 Member Posts: 170
    edited August 2011

    I've had nurses and techs alike tell me that rads are a "piece of cake."  Everyone is different, and I have no point of comparison since I didn't have to have chemo, but for me rads were far from easy--psychologically during the process and physically afterward.

     Cool, rather than warm, wishes to all of you going through rads or finishing!

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  • GmaFoley
    GmaFoley Member Posts: 7,091
    edited August 2011

    Maybe: i agree - It is no piece of cake... and it is different for everyone.. all we can do is support eachother and help when we can with suggestions... Hope you are doing ok...

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  • GiGiL
    GiGiL Member Posts: 928
    edited August 2011

    I am definitely in about being kind to ourselves.  It feels to me like most of my family and my support system think because I am doing rads now the worst is over.  Since I am working hard to keep my attitude up, they think it is nothing - just a walk in the park and they are all back to asking, and needing my help on this and that.  Oh, and on the weekends when I don't have to take the treatments, could I go here and there to get this and that done or make something easier for them?  I am not the type to ask for anything from them, and I don't want to be known as someone who steeps in self pity, so I have quietly decided to limit my contact with many of them for awhile.  I am just burned out with selfish people at the moment.  UGH!

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  • pejkug3
    pejkug3 Member Posts: 902
    edited August 2011

    Oh, GiGiL - I am *so* hearing you!!

    It seems that once I was through with chemo, everyone assumed it was life as normal again.  My husband, who was wonderfully supportive through chemo, has absolutely NO patience for someone who is "just tired".  He's always been that way.  Somehow being tired is selfish and weak in his mind.

    You can imagine how this is going over with me while in rads.  We have four young-ish kids (14, 12, 7 & 7) who are active and messy.  ;)  The oldest is starting HS this year and has cheerleading practice 3xs a week right now and the youngest are ALL boy.  All three of them.  Between the fighting, driving and general life - PLUS rads - I'm beat.  My DH is great at keeping up on laundry and stuff like that, but he doesn't really seem to want to hear about how fatigued I am from rads and all the junk of this year.

    I'm a bigger wimp that some of the ladies on thsi thread because I cannot imagine working on top of everything else.  Maybe that's why DH gets so short with me.  But sometimes I wish the "only" thing I had to do was go to work and come home.  Yeah, I'm whining.  (But I'm entitled to a little bit...  )

    I have a friend who is moving this week - and she changed her moving day to Friday night.  That's the night of Relay for Life here.  I was tentatively thinking about going to Relay for Life.  (What is it anyhow?  I feel a little strange wearing a survivor tshirt and taking the survivor lap...what else do they do?)  But I feel guilty not helping my friend move.

    The same friend needs help painting at the new house on Wednesday...that's 26/33 for me and I just cannot imagine painting with my underarm blisters and no bra.  Ugh.  But she's SO good to me - watches my kids whenever I need her, arranged for a ton of meals to be brought in during chemo - how can I say no?  But I'm so beat and just drained.

    I don't know how to be normal.  I don't know how to move from active treatment to a post-cancer world.  But I have a feeling that I don't have long to figure it out...

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  • LucyLane
    LucyLane Member Posts: 29
    edited August 2011

    Anyone use PraevoSkin cream (melatonin)?  Study seems to suggest that it can greatly reduce the SE's of radiation. 

     http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/radiation/new_research/20101004.jsp

    http://www.biogenesis-antiaging.com/p95/Melatonin-(PraevoSkin)/product_info.html

    Hugs,

    Lucy

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  • BetsyR
    BetsyR Member Posts: 10
    edited August 2011

    pejkug3,

    I can't imagine how hard it is to deal with all you've gone through at this stage in your life.  I'm very fortunate in that I did not need chemo, and my kids are all college age or older.  I do remember the days when you're just a mom and wife and friend and there is no time to take care of yourself.  Thing is, YOU HAVE TO right now.  You can't be the perfect mom, wife and friend without first taking care of yourself. You've done such a great job being everything to everyone that they don't realize you have your limits and they won't realize this if you don't make it clear.  Don't feel guilting saying no, or I'd love to but I just can't right now.  

    I work full time and you are so right thinking that is much easier to handle than what you're dealing with right now. So do not think you're are being a wimp.

    Wishing you the best and hope your skin clears up.  Take care or yourself!

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  • leftfootforward
    leftfootforward Member Posts: 1,726
    edited August 2011

    feeling really really run down. Today will be treatment 11 of 33.  I hope that this isn't radiation fatigure already.  I was just put on a new heart medicine to protect me from the Herceptin treatment I am still receiving.  Its one of these two things or running after 4 kids under 9 that is making me not want to get out of bed.  Hoping that I will find my energy somewhere.  Off for #11.  

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  • Elizabeth1889
    Elizabeth1889 Member Posts: 1,036
    edited August 2011

    The cat scan today to prepare for the boosts was not so bad.  At least there were no more tatoos involved.  I was dreading that.  As of today, I am officially more than half way done--17 down/16 to go.

    yorelh:  Hang in there.  We are all here for you.  Your baby is beautiful. 

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  • BetsyR
    BetsyR Member Posts: 10
    edited August 2011

    I am amazed at the strength of all of you with small children.  God bless.

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  • LindaJanette
    LindaJanette Member Posts: 71
    edited August 2011

    Congrats Momo-but I can understand what you mean   

    ducky what is a LE? 

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  • duckyb1
    duckyb1 Member Posts: 13,369
    edited August 2011

    Linda................LE is Lymphedema.............it happens to about 20-30% of women with breast surgery........having nodes removed can cause it...........so can radiation................yet many women with a lot of node removal never get it........nor do many women who have radiation........It is a problem with the Lymph System , and fluid builds in your arm (and other areas's sometimes) as a result of the failure of the fluid to move along the way it should.

    You can google Lymphedema, and it will give you the whole story ...............you can also find it on another "thread" here on BCO..................I googled it to get more pertinent information.......................It is basically a swelling in the arm (which is where mine is), and I wrap it everyday , and eventually will wear a compression garment..............It varies from mild, to moderate to bad.......................Mine is mild....I caught it early..........LE is just a shorter way of saying it...................as I say "cancer, the gift that keeps on giving".

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  • LindaJanette
    LindaJanette Member Posts: 71
    edited August 2011

    thank you-

    I am still having alot of pain in my upper under arm it feel really odd and I have mentioned it to

    my RO on several occasions and she said it was just the nerves healing but somehow it does not feel like that, she said if it keeps up may need some PT- it's just not healing as fast as I think it should.. so thank you 

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  • duckyb1
    duckyb1 Member Posts: 13,369
    edited August 2011

    Linda..............don't play around with it..........tell your RO you want to be checked for LE........my surgeon told me mine was just a result of the surgery.................and he could have been right.............about 2 weeks into Rads..........(which was 6 weeks after surgery), I noticed my arm didn't feel right......................I told the RO, and she measured both my arms.........one was larger then the other, so she said "lets have this checked for LE"...............went to a specialist (her recommendationed one)................was measured again by the woman, and she said "yes you have LE"......................She taught me how to wrap my arm..............which requires a light cotton sleeve........a foam wrap..........a compression wrap which is narrow.........then another wrap that is a bit wider, then another wrap which is wider still...................I have just been measured for a compression garment and a night garment, which will eleminate the bandage wraps once they come in (they were custom made0

    Don't play with it...............if its nothing, let a specialist tell you that...............The Dr.s don't make a big deal out of it, I did, and that is why I got the attention I got.........................also insurance usually covers your wraps, and your garments..............

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  • Mimidi
    Mimidi Member Posts: 231
    edited August 2011

    I went yesterday for what I thought would be treatment 19.  Three weeks to go. NOT!!!  When the doctor saw my "rash"  he told me I needed a week off and gave me a prescription for Silver Sulfadiazine. Has anyone else ever used this cream. 

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  • duckyb1
    duckyb1 Member Posts: 13,369
    edited August 2011

    Mimi................I didn't but I remember someone on here saying they did, and they said it worked really good....................can't remember who, or what thread it was on, but remember the name, because my daughter-in-law is a nurse, and she uses it all the time for burns for anything.............and when I began to get pink she said "I'll give you Silvadine", not sure if that is the same thing, but it sure sound like it.............you might hve the Pharma name.....................not sure if I spelled it right but it is pronounced Sil-va-deen............check it out.

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  • Mimidi
    Mimidi Member Posts: 231
    edited August 2011

    Ducky do you apply wearing a glove?  Those were the directions on the print out from the pharmacy.  That isn't a problem as I have those.  The type I have is generic.

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  • GmaFoley
    GmaFoley Member Posts: 7,091
    edited August 2011

    Mimdi - Silvidene works wonders for friends of mine..personally, I'm allergic to sulfa and had issues with it..

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  • Lena
    Lena Member Posts: 1,036
    edited August 2011

    12/33. OK, now the skin is starting. I know the treatments are painless so I know this is just coincidence, but, while in the midst of today's zapping, part of the area between where my breasts used to be felt like it was slightly burning!  When it was done and I mentioned it, the techs said my skin looked "pink" there. And yes I HAVE continued the Jean's cream slathering immediately after treatment, and now that I'm home from the hospital and have a semblance of control, again a few hours after treatment.

    The recommended cough medicine turned out to be Nyquil. So when I was at the pharmacy to buy some, I noted the active cough suppressant ingredient and discovered the pharmacy had its own (less expensive) brand with the same amount of that same ingredient, packaged in a kind of Dayquil and Nyquil combination (two boxes, one of each, together). Since the Dayquil had the same cough suppressant, I decided I didn't want to cough during the day either and bought this double package. Muuuuch better.

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  • janinnj
    janinnj Member Posts: 89
    edited August 2011

    Momoftwo11- Congrats for finishing!!!!

    To all the ones with children you amaze me.  I don't know how I would have made it through this when my kids were young.  I am so glad  all I have to do each day is go to work,  My DH might not do to much around the house but he will do anything I ask and never ask anything of me.

     Had 11/33 today and am starting to fell a little tired.  Had to get my teeth cleaned on the way home tonight and found mtself wanting to doze in the chair

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  • pejkug3
    pejkug3 Member Posts: 902
    edited August 2011

    25/33 - complete!

    The line of blistering I have under my armpit is where the treatment for the axilla/supraclav and the whole breast treatment overlap.  The RO said that'd probably part of the problem.  Plus, it falls *right* on my incision line.  It's no better and no worse than it was over the weekend.  The RO said to use Neosporin.  *shrug*

    The treatment to my axilla is complete.  Three more to the whole breast and then boosts....

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  • PSU222
    PSU222 Member Posts: 127
    edited August 2011

    pejkug3...  You are almost done!!!  I am 19/33 and very tired.  At the end of my work day I come home and sleep.  I could not imagine having to keep up with 4 kids as well.  My heart goes out to you as well as everyone else on this journey.  

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  • mamaoftwo
    mamaoftwo Member Posts: 267
    edited August 2011

    Today was 10/28 treatments, and left breast is starting to turn pink.  I'm going to keep swimming as long as I can, because so far it doesn't seem to worsen the skin.  Hopefully it won't get much worse, though that's probably unrealistic.  They  use the 'bolus' on me.   I just learned that word.  It's a rubbery cover that they put on to keep the radiation toward the skin.

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  • GiGiL
    GiGiL Member Posts: 928
    edited August 2011

    pejkug3 and you other moms, you have my admiration. My time is basically my own. The pressure for me does not come from my kids or grandkids, but from my parents and siblings. I decided today to write them all an email asking them to please give me space and not have any expectations for awhile. We have spoiled my parents and the time has come to stop. I feel good about getting honest and sticking up for what I need right now. 11/33 for me today as well. I am fighting like a girl and kicking cancer's butt!

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  • duckyb1
    duckyb1 Member Posts: 13,369
    edited August 2011

    Mimidi.....................never saw my daughter-in-law wear gloves while applying it, but do whatever the directions say..............................hope it works for you.................hugs

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  • Mimidi
    Mimidi Member Posts: 231
    edited August 2011

    Thanks Duckyb. 

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  • leftfootforward
    leftfootforward Member Posts: 1,726
    edited August 2011

    It seems a lot of us started on the same day. I had treatment 11 of 33 today.  This summer is costing me big time. My husband seems to be working or has other obligations so I am paying a babysitter to come over in the morning for treatments and in the evenings to help with bedtime.  I just dont' have the energy to play with my 9 and 6 year old boys while also playing with my 3 year old girl and my baby who turns one in two weeks.  Just too hard to entertain this age range and deal with my medical stuff.  I am glad I found a good babysitter but boy is it hurting the pocket book and my ego just a bit.  I really wish I had the energy, I just don't.  I was hoping my energy level would stay up for a bit but it appears to be declining.  Maybe I am just having a bad few days.  

    As far as LE is concerned, massage and stretching can really help. I try to get a weekly PT/massage appointment in as well.  The simple massages and stretches I do daily make a difference in how my arm feels.  Ask for a referral to a LE specialist. It is totally worth it. I am waiting for my custom glove as I will be flying in a few weeks and again in a month.  I will wear it to avoid swelling due to pressure changes.  I am thankful to have a good LE specialist on my team.

    Hump day tomorrow. Hope everyone has a good one. 

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  • Lena
    Lena Member Posts: 1,036
    edited August 2011

    Mamaoftwo, I also get a bolus -- twice on the right side, twice on the left (they put it on me, zap, reposition the bolus and zap again; right side first then left). So now I got a question for you: is your bolus cold when they first put it on your body? I ask because my rads techs are always apologizing "sorry this is going to be cold" when they first apply my bolus. It's COOL, yeah, but it doesn't feel uncomfortably cold, so I don't mind it. In fact, sometimes it even feels good.

    yorelh -- oooh YEAH like I needed the reminder that today is Hump Day! Gotta give my Pack Rat a call! LOL. Hell, it's the only time I seem to have ANY energy anymore. ;-)

    I'm having 13/33 today at 11:45 so I have about another hour before I have to get going to the cancer center.....if anything eventful happens, I'll be back. It occurs to me that I could use some of this time going for a short walk but I woke up today feeling exhausted to the point where eating a nice light no-cook breakfast (yogurt and bowl of raisin bran) was "work." I had planned to eat a nectarine too, but when I finished the yogurt and cereal I was tired and not in the mood to eat any more. And I love nectarines! Anyway maybe now I can begin to point the finger at rads for making me this tired, rather than the kidney issues: almost all my swelling from that is gone! My fat jeans (which I had originally thought I'd given to the thrift shop along with the other 95% of my "old" clothes but thank goodness I didn't -- so now I'll keep them and call them my "illness" jeans) are now once again too big and the skinny ones fit me again. They're a little tight still but the "illness" ones are considerably looser on me -- fall down on me --  than the skinny ones are tight (it's easy to put them on and zip up, but the button is a little rough going); I guess I need a few more days yet to FINISH getting rid of all that extra fluid I had! But whatever it is, even though I got a decent night's sleep (no wakeup coughing fits since I took the Nyquil before bed last night), have eaten breakfast and had morning coffee, I feel as though I were hit by a truck and I am SO TIRED and not in the mood to do ANYTHING. But I have to get my rads, and after rads, I have an appointment with my counselor. (Probably a lost cause, but I'll see what I can do... LOL)

    I know it's hard but try to stay awake!  

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  • LindaJanette
    LindaJanette Member Posts: 71
    edited August 2011

    Ducky thank you I know something isnt right with my right arm it's 6 weeks from node surgery and I think it should be alot better that it is I cant open it or raise it higher than my head, open car doors, so I have just been trying to use the other one..Now i will check it out for sure.

    My RO gave me a prescribtion for something stronger than cortizone yesterday I just dropped it and did not look at what it was.. I'll let you know

    Today they do the scans to get ready for boosts day18/33

    Good luck ladies

    I agree Double Bless all of you with young kids...... 

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  • Elizabeth1889
    Elizabeth1889 Member Posts: 1,036
    edited August 2011

    yorelh:  Please be kind to yourself.  I am sorry that the summer is expensive for you, but it is certainly OK to get help.  Anyone would be tired taking care of four children.  I agree with everyone else about the special blessings that young mothers with BC deserve.

    I discovered a good tip today.  My skin is holding up well, thank goodness, but my nipple is burned and sore.  I bought some disposable nursing pads to insert in my bra and they work quite well. 

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