Multi-catheter (interstitial) brachytherapy

Had the catheters put in today.... wound  up with a total of 20.  Insertion was done by Kuske and the most painful thing about it was having to lie on my side the whole time!!  Took aabout 2 hours from start to finish.  Went back an hour later for a final cat scan, measurements and instructions on cleaning the sites until Monday when I go back to start my radiation.

So far no pain but am not sure if the numbing has worn off.  If it winds up like my lumpectomy, all I needed was 1 tylenol the first nite.

Actually, the diaimeter of the tubing is much smaller than an IV and there's a tinly plastic button at each end that sits close to the skin.  Even though there are a lot of them, after having seen the piece of equipment that sticks out when using the savi, it's less of a nuisance to deal with.  The only hassle I had today was cleaning around all those little suckers when I got home from work!  :-)

Had minimal pain yesterday... took an ibuprofen in the early evening and that took care of it.  Did wake up in the middle of the night to go pee and when I sat up  to get out of bed... did have pain.  Think it might have been becuase I was lying still for so long while sleeping... again, took an ibuprofen, went back to sleep and woke up pain free. 

Went in to work and took an aleve before leaving but really didn't have any pain throughout the day. Did get some itching and a little burning around some of the catheter sites but that was it.

Had some more burning while cleaning them and got some bubbling from the peroxide... but guess that meant it was killing off any germs.

Two more days to go and then I start the radiation treatments.  

BTW... I did mention your thanks to Kuske when I met up with him yesterday and he got a big kick out it.  :-)

Had my first 2 treatments today... no pain at all and found the whole process very interesting!!

It took about an hour from the time I entered the room, got the catheters hooked up to the tubes, had the treatment and went to an exam room to get the catheters sites cleaned and get dressed back up.

The actual treatment with the seed going through all the tubes was about 15 minutes.

Will mention your doctor's name tokuske tomorrow. :-)

So far so good... but the nurse did tell me that by W or Th, there's a good chance I'll start feeling a little sore aournd all the catheter sites.... but ibuprofen should do the trick.

Can't wait until Friday to get them out!!

Am going to meet with a medical ongologist Thursday and boy do I have a lot of research to chat with him about!!  I;ve heard that he works with soe naturopaths which is good becuase I'm looking into alternative treatments based on reducing estrogen dominance.

Hi.... just got back fron Thailand yesterday and started taking Arimidex this morning.  Will let you know if I have side effects but have heard it make take a while before they kick in.  I go back to my med onc towards the end of December and, if I'm ok with taking it, will continue.  If I do have side effects that I don't like or can't handle, will either make the decision to stop taking an AI or try a different one. So far, the only trials using DIM I have found are using it in conjunction with tamoxifen.

BTW... he does know your doctor and says that he is very good.  :-)