July 2011 rads

Rads seem to bring out the worst of my personality.  I really am a kind and usually calm person.  Today the rad tech who is the nicest person at the center asked me how my skin was doing and I started complaining loudly about the one and only tube of cream I was ever offered by the RO nurse.  Anyway, my griping did get me a pack of radiagel sheets which are wonderful.  Just wish they would have offered them sooner instead letting me get to my emotional edge.  I guess rads demand that I be much more assertive than I usually am.

30 down/3 to go.  Happy SE free weekend everyone. 

Hi LindaJanette:  Good to hear from you.  Like I said, we are schedule buddies and we will both finish on Wednesday.  I plan to drink champagne on that day.  It will still be early when I get home that day, but it will be 5:00pm somewhere.

 I asked for silverdine, but my center refuses to give it to patients who are still having rad treatments.  Yes, you read what I said correctly.  Why they refuse to give it is a mystery to me.  Anyway, the radiagel is working great and my skin feels better than it has in a long time. 

Today was it - I am done!! The center gave me a certificate with a picture of a rainbow on it, signed by all the staff. (It's a small, new facility so they tend to treat people like royalty there, I think).  I am very happy to be done.  Hope everyone has a relaxing weekend!

  Mupirocin is, I am pretty sure, another name for Bactroban.  That is an antibiotic ointment that they use for staph infections like MRSA, and it does take a prescription. 

     I have one more regular treatment on Monday, and then five boosts.  My Rad Onc told me Wednesday that 3 to 5 days after the last regular treatment the side effects and skin deterioration will continue to get worse and will peak within or on the fifth day.  She said after that it will begin to rapidly improve and at that point nothing you do or don't do as far as creams, etc will make any difference.  A good protein diet for healing skin is important.  

     Lena, I agree with you completely.  I hate creams and lotions and anythng gooky.  I have used them dilligently.  The Aloe with nor fragrances or additives was least offensive to me, but the Onc said it is time to quit using that now, as it can make a worse at this point.  She is head of the department at a huge cancer center, so I am assuming she knows something.  Anyway I put most creams on with kleenex.  Lol.  Wonder what happened to us in our childhood that made is that way. 

janninj, I think we are on exactly the same schedule.  I am so glad to have the weekend to heal my poor, red armpit.  I started using the cortisone cream today.  I have been using emu oil and aloe, and now this.  

Lena, I started on 7/19/11, so I think one day behind you.

mimidl, one week left, with the weekend to have a break.  You can do this!!

DenimBlue, Yay!!  I am so glad for you.  Enjoy the feeling.

LindaJanette, glad to hear from you.  I've been wondering how you are doing.

Pollyagain, you are getting close too.  I will enjoy it as each one of you get to completion!!

I hope all of you brave ladies have a restfull, healing weekend.  

I too start radiation next week Tuesday.   They stopped my chemo treatments.  I had one more of the Taxol to go. I got tinkling and numbness in fingers and toes that started moving up my legs and arms.  Put on medication, now only have it on toes and fingers (with medication).  If I forget to take medication it goes up my legs and arms.  May be pernament the doctor said.  Now why did he not stop after I told him on the first dose of Taxol.   Has anyone had this side effect and did it get better?  My long term disability Company (only been on one month) just sent me paperwork for SS disability.  I frecked out.  I love my job and was hoping to go back.  Kindof scared to start my 6 weeks of radiation.  Help me...if anyone has experienced this please be straight with me...can I get better??//

TGIF! I can STAY HOME for two days! Today's treatment was 25/33. When she finished zapping me for today, the tech said they're done with the supraclavicular area and all the rest of my treatments will be to the chest wall only, and she'd be using the bolus alot. OK, yeah, I suppose I'm soon to approach the light at the end of this tunnel, after which time I get scanned and my onc and I decide when to start me on the Faslodex. Hey mimidi, I wish I was you and could say that after I got through the rads, I wouldn't have to have more treatment. I wish I could just be left alone with this crap already. But since my Pack Rat still wants me alive, and there's still one more treatment left I'm willing to have, maybe I can buy a little more time.

Hiya Polly. Kleenex, huh? Now why didn't I think of that? Well, I have a strange way of doing things. When I go to treatment I lay out my "tubes of sludge" and grab a handful of paper towels and leave that all there on the table with my shirt. After being zapped, in this order I smear cortisone cream, Jeans cream and Aquafor -- yup one on top of the next, ALL OVER from ribcage to lower neck. Then I wipe the gook off my hands with the paper towels so I can put my shirt on/throw the tubes back in my purse.  If I get itchy or burny later in the day once I'm home (luckily not often) I reapply.  Then of course after my nightly shower, gotta redo the whole thing since all the cream gets washed off. But here's the weird part...since I use a couple of wash cloths as both a "tub mat" so I don't slip when I shower (and also as a foot washer), well, I have to wring them, so I got in the habit of wringing them out and hanging them up with the towels AFTER I apply the night gook and put my PJs on. That gets my hands nice and clean. LOL

GiGiL, yeah, I'm one day ahead of you. Sorry about your red armpit. If it makes you feel less lonely, no more pink for me, today 75% of my entire torso is definitely "sunburn red," even though I'm fairly diligent about using all the creams. 

Denimblue -- GOOD GOING!! I bet "relieved" doesn't even begin to describe how you must feel about being done with your rads.

Jan, well, I guess you like driving, huh? 130,000 miles on a 2004 car, if those are all your miles (mine are), that's about 18,000 miles per year. Way more than I hope to be doing. I had a coworker who had a Prius and since Shuttlecraft Nevasa, my car at that time (a couple of months prior to my getting Shuttlecraft T'Kiri) was broken down in the shop yet again, he gave me a ride home after work, so I've gotten to ride in a Prius. Amazing, that "total nothing" when stopped at a red light.

LeeLee, OUCH. Your posts about your skin side effects are just as scary as pejkug's were! Funny, during today's treatment I actually asked the technician if there was a chance I'd make it out of this without peeling, and she said yes.

Pejkug, since I'm not the social butterfly you apparently are (LOL!), I'm hoping my fatigue will lift a little faster after I finish my rads. About the bra thing -- I see exactly what you mean when you look at it and think "torture device"! Since I'm medically disqualified for recon (IBC with skin involvement), I'd briefly considered being fitted with prostheses, which would obviously require me to wear a bra. Anyway I was not able to imagine how I could wear anything like that on my chest until I was 3 months out of surgery and sufficiently healed -- all I could imagine was PAIN, hence as you put it, the "torture device"! LOL. But when I GET to the 3 months post-BMX point, here I am 25/33 deep into rads. And even though I'm not peeling off layers of skin when I get undressed and have no open wound looking stuff, it is still red, and is starting to feel suffficiently itchy-burny at times where there's no way I'd go anywhere near a bra! Today in fact I just noticed I have a couple of blisters just under my right arm where the band of a bra would pass. Noticed 'em while putting on the creams before getting dressed this morning. I know I'm not getting zapped today or tomorrow but since it felt itchy-burny when I woke up, I decided I'm to the point where I  have to use the creams as though I WAS being zapped. But, no peeling yet, Oh, I hope I hope, I hope it stays this way.

Denim-Congrat! on getting to the end. Let the healing begin.

pejkup3- glad to hear you are healing.

GiGI. we'll get through this together.  So far I'm just going from pink to dark pink with alot of dots (pores?)

Lena part of it is liking to go places and the rest of it because I live 32 miles from work and there is no public trans system in south jersey.  In the summer I can take back country roads and avoid all the shore traffic so it's not to bad.

Ladies, I am four weeks done with rads, just thought I would chime in to say that Neosporin ointment worked well for my blisters, kept me from any infection.  The prescriptions I refused because they had parabens in them. 

Have a great weekend!

Hi LindaJanette:  Sorry that your skin is causing problems.  I hope you will be able to finish this week and see your son.  You toast me on Wednesday and I will toast you on Friday.   Hang in there until then and please enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Liz I'm with you - I am ready to toast..

I Just opened a new thread for our group to continue--

Its under Hormone Therapy and its called July Rads Group - Our Saga Continues I hope everyone adds this to your favorites and as we finish we can slowly move over to our next phase I know I would love it if  we all stay together.. I will of course be on this thread for a few more weeks but I think we will feel like we are graduating adding this new one..Hope you all join it as well..

God willing this will be my last Monday.... And many of you girls as well Yeah Yeah Yeah, I feel some happiness creeping in that I have not felt in a while.

To those with some weeks to go (If this giant cry baby can make it - YOU CAN TOO

God bless us all 

DenimBlue- I'm with you on the weight gain - that's the last thing I need right now - LOL!

Lena - Hopefully, you will not have to experience this - let's keep our fingers crossed!

It's actually a bit worse since Friday, I'm still not putting anything on it, because I don't want to put anything in an "open cut"  Glad to hear that Pejkug3's skin is healing quickly, hope to follow that same path!

Also, since I stopped using the Alra therapy lotion and Aquaphor a few days ago, I was glad to read what Pollyagain's RO said about it not helping one way or the other at this point.  It's only been three days since my last treatment, so I'm believing that by Friday I see some nice improvement in my two "wounds"  My son is gone back to school now so I can go topless if that will help!  Didn't stop sleeping in a bra until a week or so ago, that may have not been too smart on my part...but it seemed like it felt better.

LindaJanette - Hope your skins feels better.  So glad you got a new Oncologist AND you like him!  I'll be seeing mine Sept. 8th (and I presume starting the Tamoxifen shortly thereafter); however I already know and like her - she's also a Hematologist and I saw her for a little over a year for my anemia.

Elizabeth1889 - glad to hear that in spite of your rad team your skin is feeling better and you're almost done!!

Janinnj - Glad you are getting to the end of your rads!

Susan61- I didn't have chemo, so I have no knowledge of what you're experiencing, however, I personally would be concerned with those types of symptoms.  Is your doctor not concerned about it -- but if it concerns you then I'd seek additional expert advice regarding it. Possibly, there's some information on this website or other related sites ACS, etc.

Thinking of you all as many of you get ready for another MONDAY. 

To recap, I had three large open areas after finishing rads on 8/12.  As of today, I have NO open areas.  My armpit was a deep open area.  It is closed now but it was deep enough to basically hide the scar where my SNB incision was.  It was pretty yucky.  The way it has healed has basically removed/hidden my scar.  Weird, but now the scar won't show in my swimsuit or a tank top.  (Not that I wear tank tops in public and I rarely get in a swimsuit!)  Under my breast I had an open area that was 6"x 2" - all healed with new skin now.  And my poor nipple that stuck to my shirt and was torn off?  Yeah - it still makes me :::shudder:::.  It's healed now.  What wasn't torn off is shedding black skin. 

I expect to try a bra by the end of the week. 

 There is an end girls!!  It's coming for all of you. 

<hugs> to my rads sisters...