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

Hi SAR843!

I remember feeling the way you describe before starting my treatments (started in Sept.). I made the mistake of going online and reading about the entire radiation process and it scared the pants off me. After going through a double mastectomy and everything else I just wanted to know "how bad" radiation was going to be. Now that I'm down to 9 treatments left, I can say that the process isn't too terrible. I was afraid of getting the tattoos (I have 5, and it's just a needle prick with some india ink - not like a tattoo gun thankfully!). The side effects don't show up until about week 3, and while they're not wonderfully fun, they are manageable.

I hope your radiation process goes quickly and smoothly!
(Gentle) Hugs to you!

I just completed my 33rd and final treatment today! Very happy to be finished with rads! I've gotten through this all on a budget, only using the free Aquaphor samples once or twice a day. I burn easily in the sun but handled the rads really well. My skin is a little pink/tan and a little itchy on my back, but all in all, it looks great! No fatigue either. My advice to you just starting out is to treat your daily rads session like you're just checking an item off your daily to do list and try not to worry about it too much. Cheers!

Well, 1 down 7,035 to go. Okay 35, but it seems like forever. Seems silly to be so bothered by this particular hurdle after all I've been through.  Why did they bother to tattoo me if they were just gonna draw all over me anyway?  LOL, I look like a kindergartners art project.  Is anyone else bothered when they have to touch, draw or rub on the numb areas caused by the mastectomy?  Hate that feeling 

Wow...so many of us are coasting to the end with mixed feelings and I feel the same way but can't explain why.

Today my RO ordered me to stop treatments for a week because my skin is raw in so many places.  I have not handled this well at all, in spite of keeping up with aloe and Bag Balm.  The base of my neck is the worst, but now my armpit, under my breast and my nipple all have open areas.  I am using Silvadine on the open spots and have decided to take more days off of work this week so I can rest and heal.  I am frustrated because I was down to 8 tx but part of me is glad for the first break in months from doctors.  I will actually go a whole week without seeing a doctor, nurse or tech!!!

herstrong- Congratulations on making to the end!

Hello. I am new to this board.  I just began my treatment last week. I received my 4th treatment today.  My question is to see if anyone out felt pain this quickly.  My radiation doc thinks it is far too soon for the symptoms I describe which began after my very first treatment. My nipple is very sore and feels very raw and my entire breast is heavy and painful. Anyone else experience the same thing?

Congratulations xtina and herstrong!! We will find our new normal.

Although the transition will be emotional and tough, we will all come through this. I am ready to live life to the fullest but am scared of the future as well. I think it is the fear that maybe I need to work on as I try to move forward in life and put this year behind me....

Two more to go.....it felt like it would never get here.

Hugs xo

rcurtisra,

I'm #3/20 and am feeling slight pain under the arm, pain is worse if I lift my arm. Skin is slightly discolored though not really redness. I've not spoken to RO yet, as I thought it's too early for any side effects to show, plus pain is managable.

I am SOOO frustrated with my treatment center! They were extremely responsive during chemo, but now that I'm dealing with the radiation folks, it's hard to get them to communicate. When I met with the doctor, he said it would take about a week to get a plan developed after I come in for the simulation, although he told me that the techs would tell me that it would take 2 weeks. So I had the simulation and the techs told me 2 weeks to develop the plan and then they would call and we could get started.

Two weeks pass. I call and ask for a call back. Silence follows. The next day I call and ask for a call back. More silence. Today, for the 3rd working day in a row, I call. The woman I speak to says she'll see who's working on that; she says she'll mark it "high priority" [Okay, to have to mark something as "high priority" strongly suggests that their communication protocols are not so hot on a regular basis.]

Within an hour, I get a call back, not to schedule treatment, but to tell me that the dosimetrists had finished the plan, and gotten it through insurance, and I should get a call today,,, or maybe tomorrow.... to schedule the beginning of treatment. And maybe they wouldn't want to start treatment until Monday. When I objected to waiting until Monday to start, she said sometimes it's better (for whom?) to get 5 treatments in a row, but the person who called me back would discuss it with me.

AARGH!

Meanwhile, in my real life, my spouse and I need to schedule a vacation. I had really hoped to take a cruise right at the end of radiation, and rest and recuperate on the ship. That is looking pretty unlikely now, as it now looks like we can't plan on the the week of Dec 8, and maybe not Dec 15 either (and we can't afford the last 2 weeks in December as the holiday cruise fares are astronomical). My sweetie is required to take a week of vacation in every calendar year, and we had already cancelled a cruise earlier this fall because of chemo, so she still needs to take a week off. But it looks like we will be sitting at home, going to movies and similar local pastimes for that week.

In January I'll start my seasonal gig for H&R Block, but there are some weeks in there that are predictably quiet, so I guess we'll take a real vacation in January.

But I don't want to schedule anything until I really know what the treatment plan is. So I am still waiting.

@rcurtisra, I didn't feel any side effects until about week three. I did, however, have a lot of tightness in my muscle on my treatment side right at the beginning, but I think it was because of having the muscle stretched because of the arm contraption they used. I don't have that amount of soreness anymore (I'm on #20/28 treatments).

I am wondering how I'll feel when treatments are done...I've been so focused on this goal of finishing radiation that I wonder if I'll feel somehow unsure of myself when it's done. I'm also on Tamoxifen, so that part of treatment continues for years, but the fear of recurrence is one that I know I'm going to have to struggle with. How do you all deal with that fear? I don't want to live in fear, but I also know that I am forever changed by my cancer diganosis. Any tips/insight?

Virginia--I started treatments on a Thursday.  Sounds like they are feeding you a load of BS.
And it DID take 2 weeks from my simulation to my 1st treatment, but I had a schedule of appointments when I left the day they did the simulation.

Thanks Ladies! I cried on the way out of the last appointment yesterday.  To be honest, it was a mixed crying, it was like happiness that it was over and that "I did it" and then sort of a worry about what I do next.  It was just really odd.  Today, I am feeling more happiness though, it was just one of those "moving on" things I suppose.

Congratulations Herstrong! 

SAR - I would not worry about the tats too much.  They are just dots - I have four that look like little black freckles.  Some use the tats and still draw over them, mine just does the tats and no drawing after that.  It's just different depending on your center.  I had minimal skin issues and very little fatigue, there too everyone is different!  Either way, you can do it!

TinaJ that stinks!  I hope that the extra rest helps your body to heal.  Take care of yourself and feel better soon!

Good evening. Wanted to mention, especially for those of you with the long drive for radiation......when we do our federal taxes this year we can deduct the transportation expense. Last year it was 23 cents per mile plus tolls and parking. With all our appts it will help a little

Thanks, Patti!  Good to know.  

@Virginia - Glad you were finally able to get the ball rolling!  I have 36 treatments as well, so at least we'll both be finished before Christmas!  Sorry about your vacation plans  I stopped at the library and picked up a few books on CD for my long commute.  If anyone has any book suggestions, please let me know.  I am a huge reader, but this will be my first experience with books on CD.  Hopefully, it will make the time pass more quickly.

Virginia! Yay!!! So happy for you!



Did 21 today out of 33. Saw RO today, he was pleased with my skin. Little sunburn but I have been using aloe Vera. And part of my chest where rad is, has some roughness and itchy, so I put on 1% hydrocortisone (as per RO) on itchy part. They did fitting for booters. So will do that last few days before end of treatment.



I don't know how i will manage after rads ends but my journey doesn't end because I have herceptin every 3 weeks for year and of course begin arimindex for 5 yearsafter rads



Hope all is well! Xoxox

Xtina! All done?? I had to re-read to make sure! Congrats !!! Xoxox