Fall 2012 Rads girls......come on in!

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  • ladyfighter
    ladyfighter Member Posts: 184
    edited October 2012

    Yesterday I felt lousy came down with colds, today felt scratchy throat, little ear ache, low grade fever, just feeling really crappy!! What the heck?? Is it from rads SE? Or caught from someone else??? I wonder if I am allowed to go rads tomorrow for my #10???



    Hi Vicki! I get emotional once a while too, sometimes tired of being "brave". Hang on in there!



    Hope everyone is having good weekend !

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  • virginiab
    virginiab Member Posts: 205
    edited October 2012

    Dear ladyfighter--

    Well, you might have caught that cold from someone else hanging around the radiation area, but it just sounds like a plain old cold. I have never read of such symptoms being associated with the radiation treatments.

    My pediatrician used to say that kids pick up more than religion at Sunday school. I don't know where you picked this up, but I'll be curious about whether that will cause a delay in your treatments. Please let us know what they tell you.

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  • Junif
    Junif Member Posts: 100
    edited October 2012

    Cottontail--60 is the age for the balloon catheter radiation.  I would have been a few months shy of that and my BC said I was too young (probably the last time I'll hear that!!), but they might be able to squeak by.  After researching it, I wouldn't have done it, though the shorten radiation time had an IMMENSE appeal to me.  I absolutely HATE going through rads eveyday (hate it even more that I just found out it's costing me $74 per day).  Oh well only 22 more to go!!!!!!!!!!

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  • prsam
    prsam Member Posts: 4
    edited October 2012

    Hi all,  I am new here;

    I am meeting with my RO for the first time on Monday, tomorrow.    I didn't need to have chemo, my oncotype score was 15, so onto rads-I should be done by xmas, then start with ameridex, since I am postmenopausal.  I feel very fortunate, my sister has ovarian cancer, terminal, she has been having monthly chemo for many many years and will for the rest of her life. We are lucky to still have her with us, my mother died of gallbladder cancer; so there is a lot of cancer in the family history, now breast cancer, too!  I am also looking forward to this being all over and onto the rest of my life.

    I have researched every step of the way; and feel my treatment is typical for my stage and age. I am not too worried for some reason. I just take each day as it comes, it is what it is kind of thinking; I think this is my way to cope and still be able to take care of the family things and work full time. Good luck to everyone and God Bless all of you!  Smile

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  • Marcia1111
    Marcia1111 Member Posts: 368
    edited October 2012

    grateful33 -

    I'm wondering about your comment about being fearful of losing your TE.  I didn't know that was a possibility and am a little freaked out.  My RO toatally downplayed any SE and never thought to ask about that one. 

    -Marcia

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  • dventi
    dventi Member Posts: 171
    edited October 2012

    Hi Ladies,  6th and final chemo tx this week -- yeah!! What is the typical time frame that you were told to begin RADS when you finish your last chemo tx?  Know there is a planning session that needs to be done first..Just seems like our bodies go through so much with chemo... that it would be good to recuperate.

     Thank you!!

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  • Marcie47
    Marcie47 Member Posts: 248
    edited October 2012

    Cottontail, I too used the aquaphor but wasn't a fan, Bio oil works great and they sell it at Costco, if you happen to have one close by. Finished my rads in may and am getting ready for recon in November. Good luck to all you ladies in a speedy journey to your next step.

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  • virginiab
    virginiab Member Posts: 205
    edited October 2012

    dventi--

    I finished chemo 2 and a half weeks ago and tomorrow will have the simulation session for rads. The RO said it should be 1 to 2 weeks until I start rads. So, it seems like it could be as soon as a month after my chemo ended. Different places may use different guidelines, of course.

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  • Cottontail
    Cottontail Member Posts: 374
    edited February 2013

    Junif... Thanks for the clarification on age for mammosite. It's been quite awhile since I looked it up. I only remembered that I didn't quality due to age.



    Marcie... The bio oil looks good, I might try it if my current products don't work out for me.

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  • Tammy2012
    Tammy2012 Member Posts: 22
    edited October 2012

    #3 tomorrow.    Smile   nauseated so i need to see if they can give me something.  Chemo has made me so sensitive to smell that I need to carry a mask and bag with me.  I really wish they would post signs that say no perfume @ the cancer center.  They told me nobody is supposed to wear any but I had a nurse come to give me chemo one day and she had perfume on.  I had to ask for another nurse. If it's not the nurses it's people who give patients a ride to the center.  very frustrating!  I jused to love perfume too.  I just hope these SE's don't stay with me indefinitely!  

    Hoping everyone had a great weekend and wishing you all a great week!  We can do this .... because we have to!  <3 

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  • grateful33
    grateful33 Member Posts: 58
    edited October 2012

    Hi all

    Marcia 1111- I have been told by the PS and RO that there is a 30% chance of losing the TE with rads and then needing a lat dorsi flap. Let's hope that we are all in the 70% that are ok. I am just using the Miaderm liberally four times daily and keeping my fingers crossed for us all.  So many of these side effects are out of our control.

    Hope everyone is holding up. It is an emotional roller coaster and it's hard to describe to anyone who has not gone through it.

    Hugs to all

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  • GingerAmy
    GingerAmy Member Posts: 20
    edited October 2012

    Hi everyone!

    I will be on #8 rad treatment today. Only my left breast is involved; no nodes. After friday's treatment my breast was swollen; then over the weekend it became even worse. Today it still is noticably larger than the right, and tender. Nipple feels like razor burn at timesYell. I can't see anything topical helping with swelling (although I am open to suggestions) other than ice. And how do I discreetly wear an ice pack on my chest at work; esp when my job involves running around at times (Ha ha picture that!)?

    Motrin helps minimally. I guess I'm just venting here. I read everyone's threads and realize I am lucky at my point in my journey. This just sucks, and it hurts. Alot.

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  • jpmomof3
    jpmomof3 Member Posts: 643
    edited October 2012

    Gingeramy, sorry you are having so much trouble, definitely let your RO know about that swelling. I hope it gets better fast.



    I am sitting in the breast clinic yet again. God I hate this place. I am getting an ultrasound and biopsy of a mass in my axilla on the affected side. I think it is just post surgical changes but won't know until I have more goddamn needles stuck it. Lingers crossed for seroma....

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  • Andrea623
    Andrea623 Member Posts: 959
    edited October 2012

    grateful33, why is there a 30% chance of losing the TE? I've been concerned about this.

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  • jpmomof3
    jpmomof3 Member Posts: 643
    edited October 2012

    Whew, just a seroma. They drained it, glad to get good news in a year full of bad news.

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  • Aruba
    Aruba Member Posts: 543
    edited October 2012

    Happy day JP!  Getting some bumps like one may get with sun posoining above the clevage area on chest where you would normally get sun with bathing suit, not the breast at all.  Techs today showed me where the beam area is and it just barely reaches there.  They itched over weekend but not too bad. Very light pink area on breast...thats it so far...#14 done.

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  • Sissydi
    Sissydi Member Posts: 516
    edited October 2012

    I'm so thankful jpmom.......

    Spent the weekend with no top on ( at home, lol) redness under breast, under arm, and on the collarbone area; itches constantly! Loading it up with hydrocortisone cream and aloe Vera gel. Ugh. Just want to get this all over with. Soooo "burned out", literally.....

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  • Sissydi
    Sissydi Member Posts: 516
    edited October 2012

    As far as the t.e.'s go, you can get what's called "capsular contraction" around your t.e., below is a quick and dirty definition:



    Capsular contracture is an abnormal response of the immune system to foreign materials in the human body. Medically, it occurs mostly in context of the complications from breast implants and artificial joint prosthetics.

    The occurrence of capsular contraction follows the formation of capsules of tightly-woven collagen fibers, created by the immune response to the presence of foreign objects surgically installed to the human body, e.g. breast implants, artificial pacemakers, orthopedic prostheses; biological protection by isolation and toleration. Capsular contracture occurs when the collagen-fiber capsule tightens and squeezes the breast implant; as such, it is a medical complication that can be very painful and discomforting, and might distort the aesthetics of the breast implant and the breast. Although the cause of capsular contracture is unknown, factors common to its incidence include bacterial contamination, rupture of the breast-implant shell, leakage of the silicone-gel filling, and hematoma.

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  • Andrea623
    Andrea623 Member Posts: 959
    edited October 2012

    Thanks, Sissydi. So, if that happens, can the TE be saved? Or is a flap procedure the only thing that can be done? Sometimes I feel like I'm so uninformed by my doctors. 

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  • Sissydi
    Sissydi Member Posts: 516
    edited October 2012

    My p.s. told me it can't be saved, and would have to do a flap procedure. I asked him if there was anything I could do to prevent it, and he said no.

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  • jpmomof3
    jpmomof3 Member Posts: 643
    edited October 2012

    I am getting that same rash. My beam goes high since they are radiating my supra clavicular nodes. The skin is reacting like sun poisoning or poison ivy just in the more sun exposed areas. My scars are a little redder now too. Ging in for number 20 right now.

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  • Sissydi
    Sissydi Member Posts: 516
    edited October 2012

    How many total for you jpmom? I have 28

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  • Sissydi
    Sissydi Member Posts: 516
    edited October 2012

    I also do #20 today

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  • ladyfighter
    ladyfighter Member Posts: 184
    edited October 2012

    #10 done this morning.



    Virginiab, they said they still can do it as long as I don't have fever. But I still feel like crap! Filled up a trash bag with tissues! Non stop blowing noses :( I think one of my two rad techs has colds I told her thanks alot! She laughed -__-



    Happy dance Jpmom! Hate that feeling! Now it's behind! You go forward :)



    Hi sissydi!



    Hope I feel better tomorrow! Hope everyone is having good day!

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  • Andrea623
    Andrea623 Member Posts: 959
    edited October 2012

    Sissydi, well, that's discouraging! What about a DIEP? My PS doesn't like to do flaps. Probably cause he doesn't do them! Wish I had researched information and surgeons more carefully before I started, but I was too overwhelmed and felt rushed to make a decision.

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  • ladyfighter
    ladyfighter Member Posts: 184
    edited October 2012

    Sissydi should I worry about TE? I had three nodes removed all negative. I did questioned my RO about it when I first met him, he said no worries cause it for many more nodes removed?

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  • Andrea623
    Andrea623 Member Posts: 959
    edited October 2012

    ladyfighter, my nodes were all negative too. Because my margins were not clean, there was high grade DCIS in them, I have to do rads. Hope that helps!

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  • Sissydi
    Sissydi Member Posts: 516
    edited October 2012

    Are you doing rads lady fighter? I don't understand your question

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  • PaEaglesFan
    PaEaglesFan Member Posts: 277
    edited October 2012

    Glad to hear it was nothing more serious than that JPmom. Who needs that kind of extra stress right now.

    Started my rads about 4 weeks after chemo ended. I think the extra time was to give my body a chnce to bounce back before going at it again.

    Kinda stunk that i had to go for treatment this morning since it was a work holiday and the rad center is 5 min from work but 45 min from home. We did stop for a nice breakfast on the way home and enjoyed it very much. I even manged to come across a Christmas gift today so I have officially started my shopping!

    Spending the rest of the day relaxing and cross stitching.

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  • ladyfighter
    ladyfighter Member Posts: 184
    edited October 2012

    Andrea and sissydi, I think I'm confused ! Lol yes doing rads today #10 of 33. My mo wants rads cause of my high oncotype even though I have clear margins



    Thought te means nodes removed and can become problem during rads? Or am I being biggest duh?

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