October 2011 Rads

Thanks for all the kind words, everyone. I was so scared the car was stolen on Friday, but luckily it was just towed because it was parked near a hydrant. I was still feeling pretty sorry for myself. This week I am determined to be a little more cheerful about things. Even with the missed appointment and no rads on Thur and Fri (American Thanksgiving), I will still hit the halfway mark on Wednesday. That makes me happy -I am very slowly but surely getting to the end of my tx.

Before work today, I forced myself out of my PJs and into some running clothes for some exercise. Eating tons of junk food and only working out once did NOT seem to cheer me up last week, so I am going to try to treat my body better again, and hopefully my mood will improve, too. I wore a thin t-shirt underneath a running bra and a larger, looser tech tee on top of that, and my skin did OK. I'm trying to wear camis instead of bras more often now in public, but I do NOT like the way I look in a lot of my clothes with this setup. Luckily, there are only 3 days of going into work this week...

5kidsmom, my colleague's teenage daughter gets Remicade just up the street from me at our new Children's Hospital and she says that it is a big improvement over the previous facility. I am sorry that there isn't anything like that near you, where your daughter might feel more at ease with other kids and stuff kids want, like places to charge their ipods and laptops. I heard my RO gives rads at the same hospital, which is close enough for me to walk to, but they will only see pediatric patients there. At least you know all the staff where your daughter goes, and you are familiar with the parking setup and all that. Best of luck to her learning to manage this illness! She is so young to be learning that lesson.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SUSAN! Another year older and wiser, and another year ahead that will hopefully only bring happy surprises. I hope your friends and family treat you up right for the big occasion.

Next year just has to be better for all of us, right?

dawmson- I slept 10 hours on Friday too and then lots the next couple of days as well! I posted on Facebook that this radiation is kicking my butt- I never had to post that during chemo. I think it is more because it has been 8 months of treatments, so it is harder to handle the fatigue this time around.... but 5 boosts left for me too!!!!!

 5kidsmom- my sister (who's 19) has been on Remicade for like 10 years. It has worked SO well for her- she starts to feel bad a few days before her infusion, but afterward, she is like a new person! It is not fun; we'll be praying for her!

Today will be number 12, 16 to go. Looking forward to the 4 day break for Thanksgiving, but wishing I wasn't skipping the 2 days at the same time. We had appointments last Sunday to make up for the break. Skin is still good. I can't see any difference, by RO mentioned some changes yesterday. I feel good, but I am getting more sleepy. Some days the treatments freak me out, but mostly I try to concentrate on the trees on the ceiling, the music, or at least the computer in the corner where I can count out the 7 arrows on the screen as the machine moves around me. 

Oopherectomy in late December/January. RO mentioned yesterday that this country doesn't do enough oopherectomy's to prevent bc recurrence, so I feel like that decision was validated.

Beaglesgirl - I can hardly imagine doing the oophorectomy while having rads - I'll be thinking of you next week - at least you're having it on a Friday so you can recover a bit over the weekend before resuming rads!  Sorry to hear your skin is reacting badly to rads now.

"Singing Beagle Ranch" - sounds interesting!

Last night my husband made me a really great dinner - then, as he was cleaning up, he broke a wine glass and cut his finger. It was off to the ER for stitches. Luckily it wasn't busy and he was in and out in an hour. He drove himself there with a cloth wrapped around his finger. 

Sheesh, as if we don't have enough going on! Fingers crossed (stitched-up one excepted) for no more incidents between now and next Monday (last day of rads)! 

Congrats Martha! Enjoy your celebrations!



Beagles girl, I will also be thinking of you next week. Good luck.



I am 11 days out from rads now and wore my regular bra for the first time. Up until today, I had been wearing a chamis with a shelf or going braless for weeks. It is good to be "supported" again.

Congrats Marthah!

congrats Martha!!

Quick question. I had my last TC x 4 on Sept 15 and still have no hair to speak of except a bit of that white cotton candy stuff. Anybody else have really slow hair growth?

Natters,

Not to worry. The orange skin look is the edema, which is common in rads.  I just had this conversation with my rads onc this morning, as I am experiencing the same thing.  Today was #20 of 33.

Natters I got something like that myself, but I found that it was at the end of the week, and it faded over the weekend--maybe not the same thing.  Do bring it up next week, even when it isn't doctor day!  Not sure about your place, but mine always had a nurse hanging around and if I had a question, I just asked--we are paying them right?  I actually found a lump this week and asked the doc that day--too scary not too!  Since you are there every day, how difficult could it be for the nurse to look at you and reassure you, or pull the doc in?  Hope you can rest this weekend.

 My last tx was today and it was hilarious   One of the therapists has made it a point to make me laugh every time I go in. . . . maybe because it was him that made me cry over the tatoos?  Anyway, when they left the room today he said "remember don't jump off the table no matter what happens".  I thought that was weird, but he is funny that way.  Well when my tx was over, he turned down the overhead lights, and started flashing the little recessed lighting and turned on some kind of alarm too.  Here I am, topless, lights flashing and I'm hearing whoop, whoop, whoop in the background!  I realized pretty quick that he was fooling around.  Then he gets on the intercom and starts announcing that I just finished my last treatment, he repeated it, and then asked "you want me to turn the beam on again for fun?"  LOL  Maybe you had to be there, but it was funny to me. 

Got my diploma, hugs and kisses from everyone and a 2 week follow up appt!  Yee Haw!  So THANKFUL to be DONE!  Happy Thanksgiving  everyone--there is an end to all this!

Natters-  I also have the "orange peel" look with what I call black heads (black dots) and age spots. My RO said it was perfectly normal edema and bound to get worse as the radiation wears on (it has). Not too pretty to look at but otherwise ok.

 2 boosts left for me. Man are they a cinch! 15 seconds and done. Now if I can just figure out how to keep the dang marker on my skin... my lotions are erasing it! They even sent me home with a sharpie to draw the circle back in. I am not comfortable with this- what if I draw it differently than the doc did? Think I will just let them look at the pic and redraw it on Monday...

 Happy Thanksgiving to everyone :-)

abate: re the marker thing. . . . . I hated that!  The creams DO remove it!  For me, the creams would lighten it with each application, so I would think it would be easy to draw back in--at least it would have been for me.  It was such a drag to have to keep the marks on.  They did the simulation for my boosts before a 3 day weekend.  NOT fair!!  They wanted the marks to stay on, so I ended up not showering, and I put the cream all around the marks.  Sending a pen home would have been a much better solution. 

I did catch myself putting the creams all around my last sharpie mark this afternoon.  LOL!