boost with rubber mat??

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overwhelmedmom
overwhelmedmom Member Posts: 13
edited June 2014 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

hey ladies,

i just started radiation treatments today and was surprised to learn that my rad onc is treating me with a 'boost' for all 25 treatments.  The tech told me that the clear rubber mat placed on my chest was to provide a boost to the whole chest wall so that the radiation hits all layers of my skin...anyone else had this?

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  • Sherryc
    Sherryc Member Posts: 5,938
    edited March 2012

    I had this for my boost but my boost were only the last 5 treatments.  I do have a friend that had a BMX and she had the rubber mat thingy for all of her treatments.

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  • Babs37
    Babs37 Member Posts: 455
    edited March 2012

    I had it too. It's called a bolus. I had 25 rads totale but had the bolus for 19 of them. After that my RO stopped the bolus because my skin couldn't handle anymore. My skin was peeling pretty bad. I don't want to scare you but I was pretty much "well done" with the bolus. Be very gentle with your treated skin while rads. I used Glaxal Base cream, and in the end my RO gave me a rx for EpiCeram Skin Barrier cream to relive the burning and itching caused by rads. It was expensive but worth every dollar. Good luck.

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  • Teakay
    Teakay Member Posts: 72
    edited March 2012

    I just had my second of 33 rads today and they are doing the rubber mat thingy every other day. I had a BMX!!

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  • kim40
    kim40 Member Posts: 904
    edited March 2012

    Hi there, I had boosts with all of my rads too.  My onc told me that they just want to be sure that they are going to zap everything that chemo left behind. 

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  • financegirl
    financegirl Member Posts: 114
    edited March 2012

    Had the bolus for each and every single radiation treatment - and I had 35 total treatments, 29 regular treatments and 6 boosts. 

    The doctor said the bolus pulls all imperfections to the surface of your skin so that when they zap you it further ensures helping to kill any stray cells that may be in your body,

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  • Faith316
    Faith316 Member Posts: 2,431
    edited March 2012

    Me, too.  Had bolus for all 30 rads tx.  The bolus keeps the radiation from penetrating as deep so your skin under it gets a bigger dose of the radiation.

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  • overwhelmedmom
    overwhelmedmom Member Posts: 13
    edited March 2012

    Thanks for all of the responses, I feel better knowing that others have had similar treatment. For those that had the bolus, was your skin really bad? If so, did you find any creams that helped? Thanks again for the feedback, it is much appreciated!!



    Hope everyone is doing well :)

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  • PhunkyM
    PhunkyM Member Posts: 49
    edited March 2012

    So glad you posted this! I had my first treatment yesterday and was told I would have the bolus every other treatment. I didn't even consider that it would do something to my skin! I'm going to ask about today.

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