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

My RO told me yesterday that people that took vitamins, especially vitamin E supplements did worse across the board for cancer, incidence recurrence and recovery. She said a multivitamin is ok but doesn't even taken them herself anymore. Vitamin d is the only supplement she recommends and that is based on blood levels of vitamin d. She doesn't recommend calcium except from food sources.

Today is my last treatment! Yay! I am sunburned, itchy and a little stiff on that side but otherwise good. My skin didn't really bother me until a few days ago. I have used aloe and Miaderm. My 25th treatment is today. No problem with the TE. I had to get the left side deflated so it wouldn't be in the beam's way and I get it filled again next week. I have worn a compression sleeve to try to prevent Lymphedema and will wear it for two more weeks. Doc said highest risk of Lymphedema is at 4 months out for rads. Grrrrr. I would suggest that you all do exercises to keep your affected arm limber. Don't baby it. Get that lymph fluid moving. Have a great day! I know I will.

Jeannie57, yay for your last treatment! Go out and celebrate! Can you please keep updating about how your TEs are doing post rads? I haven't started my treatments yet, my mapping session is on the 24th, and I'll be doing 25 treatments. I've been concerned about TEs and rads, so I'm interested in how you're doing. It sounds like you came through rads pretty well! Congrats!

I saw my RO today, for my "weekly" check. She just looked at my breast, said my skin looked "perfect," and had the nurse take my vitals. (I'm wondering how much my insurance company will be charged for those five minutes, lol.) She seemed to want me to ask her questions, but I couldn't really think of any. Maybe next week!



Today was tx#6.

That's wonderful, cottontail!

Jeanie... congrats on finishing

I started today

And of course I arrived with a complication....did some yard work this past weekend and my left arm is covered with a rash....after two nurses and one doctor looking at it the guess is posion ivy....but of course we are all wondering how you can get posion ivy in Maine in October.  lol

The concern is it is on the side being radiated and they do not want it to spread to my breast area....as no one knows what happens to posion ivy and radiation.

So finish the first treatment and lather on the aleo on the breast and the calimine on the posion ivy....add to it all the markings.....and of course LARGE MIRRORS in the changing area.....I just had to laugh

((( HUGS )))   To All      Patti

Thanks everyone, now I only I FELT perfect, haha.



Junif, when I was going through chemo, I would meet with my MO for a few minutes before each treatment. She would review the SE's I'd had since the last treatment, and sometimes (not always) do a quick breast exam. These visits were fifteen minutes, max, and billed at a couple hundred dollars. Luckily, they were coded as medical (not an office visit), so they didn't cost me out-of-pocket. I have yet to see what each rads is being billed as. I watch my insurance claims online, and it usually takes two to three weeks for anything to show up, and then sometimes two weeks to go from "pending" to "completed." When it's "pending" all I can see is the provider name. By the time I find out how much this is costing, I will be nearly done!

Andrea - for deodorant and lotions and such, def talk to your RO.  They all are different depending on what has worked for them, etc, but many seem to be pretty specific about what you can or can not do.  I can only use natural deodorant with no aluminum, the mometasone they prescribed me, and 100% aloe with no additives.  Ivory soap to cleanse. I can put on deoderant in the am (my zaps are at 4pm) but they don't want me putting it on close to treatment time.  They don't care if I shave as it's not in the field.

The RO's nurse also said that it was wise not to lotion up prior to rads unless it has many hours to absorb - she said that from what they experience, any buildup of anything at all on the skin can actually make the rads more intense.  So I avoid that!

Re: the Vitamin C and E - my Dr.'s all said that they should be avoided during rads because they are antioxidants and basically counteract the whole point of rads.  I normally take 500 mg vit C am and pm - that's pretty much the max that will absorb, and I take Vitamin D. I've suspended the C during treatment.  

Ugh I don't even know what the cost of my rad therapy is - they only bill once at the end of treatment.  I've paid my deductible and out of pocket max cost already though, so whatever it is it will just pile up on top of the amount the ins co has to fork over.  I cannot believe how much this all costs. 

I don't know what I would do without insurance.  This whole thing has really made me do a lot of thinking about those less fortunate than I and what I can do about it.

xtina, thank you so much for that information! The aloe vera gel I have has vitamin E in it, so I'm going to pick up a different one. My planning session is on the 24th, so I guess my treatments will begin soon after that.



Is it difficult to lie there with your arms above your head? I have pretty good ROM, but if I had to keep my arms over my head for a long period of time, well, that would become rather painful.

Aruba, thank you for explaining it. I had to laugh when you said you were ready for a calendar shoot! The Women of Rads calendar will be a certain sell out!

I'm also over my out of pocket maximum, so as long as each trip in for rads isn't billed as an "office visit," I won't owe anything. If it's billed as an office visit, it will be $30 times 33 treatments.

I specifically asked my RO about that, and she said she didn't think it would be. I'm more worried about the second ct scan and dozens of x-rays they had to do because the plan was off the first time.



My rads place doesn't use the forms, but the table has an arm rest that they position according to the plan. It supports my arm in two different places.

Pat, I got lucky.  I called around 11 and the machine was fixed and they had a cancellation that afternoon.  Another benefit of working near the treatment center.  (10 min drive w/out traffic)  What would have REALLY been nice is if they hadn't moved the department from their previous location.  I work in a bldg that use to be a hospital and the Radiation dept use to be in the bottom level one of the other bldgs.  I would have been able to go to the basement, walk down the hallway, out the door, across the alley and POOF I would have been right there!

Tazzy how many weeks is your treatment? I sure hope things go well, sorry to hear you are pinking up already, and having a nasty headache. Take it easy over the weekend.