November 2011 Rads

Joan - could your rash be shingles?  Might be worth checking for that. 

Wishing everyone a good Friday and a nice weekend to recuperate!

This is it! The last boost will be today and I will be so glad when it is over!!

I see a lot of you are getting close and I hear those mixed emotions in your posts.You are glad that the end is in sight but don't want to celebrate just yet and not sure if celebrate is really the word to use. Let me tell you a secret. I have seen a lot of patients on their last day at radiation (you hear comments that let you know because no one at the RO office - patients included - actually have conversations with you - kind of like riding in an elevator with other people if you know what I mean). Each one of them I told congratulations to. Why? I mean these are total strangers after all. Because I did not see one of them being given any encouragement from the person with them and they all looked soooo tired and not happy at all. It wasn't because I thought the last treatment was really any big deal and figured, when I had mine, it would be a day like any other. But today...today I stopped for donuts for the office where I work...today I sent an email to the entire office and told them that the donuts were in celebration of my last treatment...today, I am going out to dinner - exhausted as I am - because today IS a big deal!!!

Thank you for listening to my rants about my aches and pains. I will continue to listen to yours and offer advise where I have any. and here is a hug for each of you! {{{{{{{{HUG}}}}}}}}

Natters - I understand the need for that validation. My husband has been very supportive but sometimes I just want to say, "hey...a little compassion here!" They just don't really understand because they aren't experiencing it. It is okay to feel the way you do. We all do sometimes.

tvacrat - While I am celebrating today, I am doing it for you too. Because, that way, I can celebrate again WITH you next week!!!

Mandalala, I have had a little soreness that I attribute to a number of factors including sleeping all weird and contorted and even just holding my body differently and stiffly during the day, because of the pain. We're using muscles we never used before, carrying ourselves differently. I have stopped working out and I'm also on Tamox, so those are some other reasons for me.

kdayjay: CONGRATULATIONS!!! Thank you for the thoughtful post. I won't be at work my last day because I took it off to nurse my partner, but I'm going to maybe steal your idea for the following Monday. Bring some treats into work and send everyone an email explaining that they are to celebrate the fact that I will NOT be leaving work early that day and driving to the hospital.

Vicks1960 - That sounds like fun from a staff that really understood your challenge! I wish the RO staff where I go would have been like that, but they seem afraid that they are going to breach some HIPPA regulation all the time. I commented one day that a lot of people must be finishing up that day (because they were saying so in the waiting room) and they wouldn't even answer me. They just looked at each other in a odd way. I could tell they didn't know what to say.

kdajay - I hope you're done by the time this appears. And you've got the weekend to celebrate. I'm only giving you hugs on one side - the other hurts too much. hugs)))))))))))

kdajay, Congrats! Thanks too for sharing such a thoughtful post with those of us just finishing behind you.

And Congrats to all of us who are near the finish line here this next week. I've wondered how I will feel when I go next Tues. for my last treatment. It seems like a huge milestone in this journey and well worth celebrating. My birthday is on Monday so I am celebrating finishing rads with another birthday. I am so thankful to still be here to celebrate one! (I will be 55. My mom died at 52 so every year past that I feel is a blessing.)

Holy Cow, the fatigue has really hit me like a Mac truck these past few days! I asked my RO about it today and he said that is common, and that it is common to experience fatigue for 6-8 weeks AFTER my last treatment. He also told me to keep using Aloe gel on my skin for 3 months afterwards to help it heal and prevent it from getting 'tough' in the years ahead. He said we will meet next Tuesday to talk through post rads care. 

I saw my oncologist Wed. and he is switching me from Arimidex to Tamoxifen because of my osteoporosis. I'm hoping I will not have the intense SE's from the T that I had with the A. I will also get a Reclast infusion the end of Jan. to help with the osteoporosis. It's an annual infusion. 

I think there is a post rads thread for us to keep in touch after we finish rads.

Hoping everyone has a good, restful weekend, and especially for those of you who are experiencing intense skin problems. Pamper yourselves. You all deserve it!

dsnydawn - you asked if i had a port - no, i did not have chemo.  but it is a strange spot.  i am pretty convinced it is not skin damage.
LuvRving, the NP asked if i had chickenpox -- i realized she was thinking shingles.  i am using anti-fungal and itch is better, but raised blotchy spot still there.
i saw the NP from MO's office today and also saw cardiologist.  so, waiting for me a few days on the other side of the rads finish line is an appointment for a heart catheterization.  there go my plans for my time off before next semester begins.   it never ends. 

Mrs Mot, I am with you - 10 down here, about 20 to go....LOVE the week ends.

Nans - the Star Wars analogy is priceless! I will think of that tomorrow during rads. My techs are cordial, but I could never kid around with them as you do with yours - My center is the only one here in the Adironacks, so it is packed. I definitely feel that I am part of an assembly line. I could kid with my chemo team - I miss them (not the chemo, though!!!) 

re: metaplastic - One of the pathologists who wrote my post surgery report stated that there was evidence to support a dx. of metaplastic. I will probably ask my onc about this when I see him in Jan., I went to several sites to learn more - like you, I became depressed. I have decided to give my investigation a break. The treatment will be the same weather I have metaplastic or not, so I am going to put it on a back burner for now. As I have written before, I will participate in an oral chemo research study following rads., so I will have a chance to ask several med profs about the dx. of metaplastic. My onc is nice, but appears to feel that I am better-off not knowing as much as do about my cancer. I have learned far more about it on this site and by doing my own research than I have from any professional.  

I'm thinking the USS Enterprise! 

I have friendly techs, too.  But I don't have the same ones  every night.  They all take turns with the late appointments, so I think I've seen at least five different ones so far.

I am happy to report that one week after my last 'regular' radiation sessions, the horrible open sores, skin tightness, peeling and burning of my armpit is completely gone. Only a tan and some marks where the open sores were remain. Also, after the weekend, only redness, flaking of the skin, some peeling and a few open sores remain on my entire breast. So, for those of you with burns and bad skin reactions, there is healing rather quickly after radiation stops!

I hope this week goes better for everyone!

Fredntan - my port came out about four weeks after I finished chemo.  This is another one of those things that differs with every oncologist.  I had a PET about two weeks after chemo and I knew that there was no sign of cancer.  I would have kept it longer if I hadn't shown a complete remission in my mammary nodes. 

I think most people start rads right around a month after chemo.  Mine took longer because I had a surgery to remove my TEs so I needed a couple extra weeks to recuperate and heal. 

I have no advice for your last question - had a BMX and I now have a concave chest so I won't have that problem.  What about wearing a soft camisole underneath a soft loose bra?

kdajay - thank you so much for coming back to give us hope! I really need it right now. Everytime I go to apply lotion and change my bandage, I see that I've lost more skin and now it looks like my raw area extends into the boost zone I was hoping that it would heal over the weekend but it looks like my breast continued to "cook" and my skin actually got worse. I was looking forward to starting boosts today but now I am a little afraid.....

Fran - I was lucky and just had the lump, so I still have 2 big floppers, and I can help answer your question about wearing a bra. I was able to wear a bra at first - I did wear my largest and softest ones, though. I was probably OK like that the first few weeks. Part of the reason I had to stop wearing one was that the radiated breast swelled up an entire cup size (or maybe more now, by the end), making even my largest bra too tight. I am not sure if that happens with TEs - can anyone else comment on that?

They say the best thing to do is not to wear a bra at all, but when you are a D cup or larger and you work outside the home, it's uncomfortable not to have support, so you're between a rock and a hard place. I finally bought some cotton camisoles that have a built-in shelf bra. They do not provide the same amount of support as a bra, but they are better than nothing, so that is what I wear to work. One of the best things about the camis is that a lot of them don't have a seam against your skin along the side of your chest like all your other bras and shirts have! I am even wearing one now, because a nurse gave me bandages that are thick like a maxi-pad that protect my skin from chafing on the upper and lower part of the shelf bra. Another thing I did before my skin got bad was go jogging by wearing a t-shirt under my bra, and then a baggy shirt over that.

You may not have to worry about the inframammay fold (aka the Underboob)  on your TE, either, but that is one area that most well-endowed women have a problem with rads. I've heard of people cutting up their oldest and softestcotton  t-shirt and slipping some of that material in there so that the breast skin doesn't rub against the chest. At least one lady on here suggested using a silk scarf in her bra or cami.

PS my sister's name is Francesca so it's fun for me to type a message to "Fran," although I hope I never have to send her advice for getting through rads. I totally get the wanting to plan everything in advance - I am the same way. I think it helps us feel in control. 

Natters - didn't see your post until I answered above. I found that the burn gel sheets they gave me at the RO office helped a lot...almost overnight in some cases. They are also kind of cushy so they give relief from rubbing and protected the ooze from sticking to my clothes ... Even the telfa pads stuck.. Since they stuck (not in a pull your skin off way) I could use them then put one of my husband's handkerchiefs between my bra and my skin and didnt need to use tape. It helped me get through and still wear my bra for work. I tried the tshirt under the bra thing but it drove me nuts trying to get my DDs in the bra with the shirt in the way. I also wore a tshirt (inside out so the seams weren't against my skin) under my sweater but on top of my bra to keep the sweater from rubbing against my underarm.