October 2011 Rads

I was told that this could happen by my surgeon.  I had a lumpectomy, and the margins were not clear, so I had a second surgery, that ended up taking much more tissue than originally expected. I am not happy with the results, but he suggested that I wait until after rads before making a decison on reconstruction since the breast may shrink and may become firmer.

I have a question....does everyone have to be re-aligned once a week?  I had this done yesterday and it took 45 mins. They took x-rays, and they did have to make a slight adjustment. My hubby said the other patients in the waiting room were wondering if the machine had broken down. But, no, it was just me stuck in there with my arms and hands gone completely numb. I had to treat myself with a stop at Dairy Queen before we headed home....

Jandot, my radiation oncology department closes at 5! I start with my planning session next Monday and I am planning to ask for the last apppointment of the day, which I think is 4:30pm. I will have to leave work early every day for nearly 2 months, but I'd rather be fresh all day and just be able to go straight home from rads and take my bra off. Now I'm wondering what will happen if they get backed up throughout the day...  

Teresa5 -- I've done 20 of 23 and they've done x-rays twice I think -- one on day 8; one on day 15 or so I think, but the foggy brain isn't sure.  It's not even sure what day it is. 

Jandot -- so sorry you're waiting so long and good idea as someone mentioned to call ahead.  The unit I was on for my regular rads (I'm on boosts now - different unit) tended to do the more time-consuming ones -- people coming in on gurneys, and people like me who were in the prone position which seems to take longer.  As a result, wait times were all over the place, anywhere from 1 minute to 2 hours, but generally about 10-15 minutes.    

Edited to try to insert emoticon....

Finished #10 of 28 today.  So far, so good.  Clinic gave me a mixture of aquafor cream and lidocaine yesterday.  I was not too red, but only check in with clinic on Mondays, so  I thought it was a good idea to get the cream.  It is much thicker than the lotion I have been using.  Am going to use that and see how it goes.  I am definitely getting red, but am not at all sore.

They do an x-ray every Monday for me.  Yesterday it probably took 10 to 15 extra minutes because they didn't think it was lining up well.  Had to take my ball cap off and show my 1/4 inch hair and then also get off the table and back on again and undo the gown.  They said the gown bunching up was the culprit.  Hmmmmm...... I can't believe how sensitive the positioning is.  Today's went really quickly.  They looked surprised, but said perfect when they checked the "line up".  I think they have come to expect problems with me. 

Hope everyone is doing well.  Have a great day!

I'm at #16 out of 34, l a  looking forward to celebrating the half-way point tommorrow.  I work--4 ten hour days.  I am scheduled for 7:45 am daily but they try and move my appointments later on Mon, Tues and Wed because of my later work schedule.  So far, they have been able to on most days and they have been on time.  Slight wait when I have later appointments but no longer than 10-15 min.  I am pink, especially around the nipple area but not red yet.  It is not painful or warm, so still hoping for the best.  I have been having some fatigue/muscle soreness in the legs but MO is attributing it to early tamoxifen side effects, not radiation.  So far, hanging in there.  Good luck to everyone else on this path!

One more question: for those of you hormone positives, are you taking Tamox already? My Onc said to but my second opinion onc (at a large university hospital) said that there is no definitive study, but since Tamox makes chemo not as effective and chemo and rads work with the same mechanism, that it is better to wait until after rads. Has anyone else heard this?

I go to my MO tomorrow.  I think she is going to give me the prescription for tamoxifin,  But she is pregnant.so I may not see her again until quite awhile after I finish rads,  The NP told me the reason they usually wait until after rads is side effects,  Will see what onc says tomorrow,

They started me on tamoxifen August 4 and I have been taking it throughout rads (Sept/Oct). I asked both the MO and RO about doing it together. No problem they say. Who knows. It has made it difficult to know what is causing SE's, but I guess it really doesn't matter. With only 2 boosts to go, guess it's a moot point now.

div class='post_sig'>Dx 6/28, DCIS, discovered through nipple discharge, duct removed 7/8, lumpectomy 7/22, clean margins! Tamox 8/4, rads 9/1 (27 reg/8 boosts). Onward & Upward...

CT, simulation and tattoos tomorrow! On to the next step of putting this all behind me!

Pam, I am not sure when I start the zaps but I have my planning session on Monday, Oct 24. My tumor was 2 o'clock on the left so I am hoping they take their time with the planning to make sure they can avoid my heart and also the muscles around the area. I feel like my RO mostly cares about protecting my skin, which is also nice, but I am worried about longterm effects to my heart, lung and muscles.

I wish I could say that I feel stronger physically, mentally and emotionally for the delay but really I only feel stronger physically. I have been able to rebuild my endurance since my surgery, and I am happy that I get to squeeze in on more canoe race before starting rads. But the delay has taken a toll on my relationship with my partner and put a strain on us. I started seeing a therapist this week to try and deal with everything better - I haven't even started rads but I've been crying like every day already. 

Tarry, I have a clever, affectionate tabby who does a lot of chattering to me. She's not dignified at all, but then again she's not quite one year old, so maybe she will mature inot a more dignified cat over time. Right now, she still chases her own tail and entertains us by playing with our dog. She is extremely polydactyl with 2 extra toes on each front paw and one extra toe on each back paw, for a total of 6 extra toes. That's a lot of toes on an animal that weighs less than 8 pounds. I am looking forward to a lot of cat therapy when I come home from rads in the coming months, because she likes to nap in my lap when I watch TV or fool around on my iPad in the evening.

Natters, I don't think it is just you feeling poorly in the mental/emotional department.  I've had a horrible time mentally, with doing rads.  Feeling much more down on a regular basis, and I've been in treatment for cancer since February!  For me, it is the fact that cancer stares me in the face every day.  When I had chemo just once every 3 weeks, I only had it in my face that one day, every three weeks.  I was tired/sick/whatever the rest of the time, but somehow it seemed farther away.  Even when I had chemo every week, it was just ONE day a week, and I felt like I could be normal the rest of the days.  Now, I have to go there EVERY day, and BE a cancer patient every day.  For me, that's really hard emotionally. 

Yesterday I got to go on a field trip with my kids.  In some ways it was so therapeutic to be out doing "normal" things that have nothing to do with cancer.  Hope this isn't offensive to anyone here, but there were no pink ribbons in sight, and it just seemed so NORMAL!  It was hard to come back home and get ready to go to rads