May 2012 radiation

BLISTERS.....AAAARGH.  I had hoped that my skin would hold out better then this. Noticed them Sunday morning, just on the breast near my breastbone. They're pretty small and I think there's one on the underside of my boob, but thankfully not in the crease. Had #14 today - 19 to go......

Mckenna, I was talking to my techs today about weight loss. They said they would not have to reposition someone unless they had lost about 10% of their body weight, so i think your 4lb loss wasn't the reason for your extra repositioning xrays. Good for you losing weight tho, I think it's a good idea before we start the Tamoxifen...who knows what effect that will have?   

Dizzy - sorry about the blisters! Ouch! Did you ask your RO about the number of boosts? How many are you getting?

Glad they don't hurt - I imagined watery blisters like you get when you burn your skin stupidly touching something obviously very hot - like it happens to me all the time. ;-)

I like it how my technicians and the doctor are telling me that my skin is doing MUCH better than they expected, that I do much better than other patients using that bolus do - what did they expect I wonder? Was I supposed to peel right down to raw flesh? Now I get their mystery awkward smiles when I was asking what to expect at the begging of rads.

The units are gy (or gray) it is a unit of energy, 1 gy = 1 Joule of energy.  Interestingly enough 1 Joule of energy is equal to 0.239 calories   -- I am pretty sure they would never call radiation energy a calorie though.  

Sylvia - your picture is seriously beautful, that shade of pink/purple is definitely your color! 

Dizzy - sorry about your blisters.

Spokanellie - you and mckenna with your colorful breasts! 

Dizzy - blisters?  Yikes.  Hope your RO can give you something to get those taken care of right quick.

Joanne - I'm totally going for the baker boob (boob + corn starch) today! 

Zap #10 yesterday...29% of the way finished!  My skin's barely pink and the R.O. seems pleased with the state of affairs. 

On the yowza side of things, however, I have a persistent seroma from the boobieloptomy.  I'd already had it drained twice, but it was filled up again yesterday and was sloshing around in my chest like a water balloon.  To keep the anatomy consistent my R.O. wanted it drained again, so off I went to the surgeon's.  105 ml of pinkish fluid out of my chest and down the sink drain.  It really doesn't hurt--the skin where she stabs me is still numb from the surgery--and it's nice to have a flat, non-squishy chest again.

As much as I despise having JP drains sutured in and swinging around, when I have my reconstruction next year I'm going to hang onto the damn things as long as I can.  The juice is better in the grenade than in my chest.

mckenna -- baker boobs?  did I miss something?

Spokanellie, they are raised but look just like tiny red spots, but with a magnifying glass(!) I could tell they were blisters. Tiny bit itchy, so I'm going to get some hydrocortisone today. The rest of my skin is just a tiny bit pink.  

mckenna - I thought it was that but wasn't sure ... lol

Silvia what time will you be having your End of Radiation celebration drink?  Let us know and I for one will raise a glass in celebration with you.   Cheers!!!

It was fine - no problems.  Definitely more time to set up than actually do.  It took longer for the thing to move from one side of my boob to the other, than to do the zapping.

schatzi and sabeliz- I will finish my 33 tx's tomorrow. Yaaaay!

I went through this with a huge seroma in Breast that had lumpectomy. It was the size of a softball and now after almost completing tx it has shrunk to a peach size. My BS tried to drain it but said it was thick and jello like and would not drain. I have learned to live with it now. Make sure you are wearing supportive bras 24 hours a day. I know with tx it is uncomfortable. That helped mine a lot. I am going to let nature take its course. I could go back in and have BS open incision and take it out! NO WAY!!!! I am done healing!!! I need to focus on healing mentally now!!

I know you all are in the middle of rads right now and hoping you are healing well. I will attend my last appt tomorrow and my skin held up pretty well. It got pretty red and sore but skin only broke in baby blisters on breast and under breast. They cleared up after using cortisone on them. My skin has already healed well since I started boosts last week. I lived in tank tops with bras in them. I turned them inside out so bra seam did not touch incisions. That extra layer of padding helped. I also bought baby  face wash cloths (super soft) for $1 at walmart and put them under breast and in armpit sometimes. They helped a lot!!!

I worked all but 1 day  40 hours per week through treatment and have a super active and physical job. I did sleep 10-12 hours per night and alot on off days. Listen to your bodies. MY RO said sleep when your body wants to sleep!

Stay strong my friends, It gets easier!!

Kristi