Winter RADS 2012 Club...Please come join the fun!

Lol @ monsoon! Glad to hear this will heal up quickly. I am covered in silvadine and feeling quite well.

Allurbadday, have you tried hydrocortisone for the itch? Four boosts left, most awesome!!!

Yeah, I am sure they will continue on once I heal a bit. I am just so thankful it isnt today. Woot woot! If they would have insisted, I may have had to resort to squirting someone with aloe.

Gorgeous 80 degrees in my forecast today. Gonna get some ice cream and stick it down my shirt. Anyone want to join me?

Surprisingly I dont feel so tired. I did the first week but maybe I just got used to it. I do go to bed earlier but dont feel different otherwise. Hooray for those near the end, welcome to those just starting, and cheers from those of us on the sidelines.

Hi ladies, shachar, glad you are taking a break. Hopefully you wont open up much. Stay by the friendly fan! I ended up taking my lortabs at ROs advice when I got near the end. I was just too grouchy otherwise.



Sonson, I cut up some old undershirts from my husband ans stuck them to the areas that were really irritated, like under the bra line and where those damn compression bandages were rubbing, especially on any open areas.



Allurbaddays, I have been three weeks out and all healed except a few dry areas along the scar line from the boosts. And believe me I was raw and open, lol. Energy level is good, with some lags- I go about 5-6 hours then need a half hour to recoup. Basically, back to normal activities, just not adding in extra exercise, etc yet.

Hahaha, wow, I just realized they fried off a couple of my tats! The remaining ones are very faint and look light grey instead of like black freckles. This should be interesting. Don't know if I should laugh or cry?

Thanks cowpower, I am definitely keeping cool! I may need my lortabs in the future. So far Saturday was the worst and it seems to be easing off.

Elimar, I have implants so not sure what they will do. So far everything feels the same and the same size but I will report.

Instead of a bra, maybe a tank top? I havent been wearing a bra but that is easy for me with flat recon nipples. Small blessings, heehee. Some friends wear bandaids over their nipples if they want to go braless through the summer time, but that may depend on how the skin is doing. Ouch!

Had my last regular treatment today  #26. But my RO doesn't want to start the 7 boosts until next Monday.  My breast is red, swollen, peeling, sore and a little torn. So my RO recommended we stop and let it rest a few days. She said that it's quite common in women with larger breasts to have to take a rest because they always have skin on skin.  

Since it's so sore and I use Miaderm, Aquaphor, Domboro and a silicone dressing plus air it out, I decided to take a break. I would like to get this over with but I don't want to wake up from the itching and pain.

Also, one of the techs recommend that I wear a man's sleeveless undershirt and put my bra over that. I have an extender on my bra because I am so swollen.  I tried it today when I went out of the house, and it did help.  At home I go braless. The RO also recommended I use Juven, a tissue builder.  Has anyone heard of it?

Loving, thank you. I have used melatonin in the past and it worked great. I just had to be in bed within 15 minutes of taking it or I would push through the tired...night owl I was. No next day groggy, very safe and natural, plus it is supposed to help prevent cancer. Good stuff.

Fgm, welcome to the sidelines! We can each cheer the others on with one pom pom because I'm not gonna get too crazy with my left arm right now, lol.

Allurbadday, no problem and hope it works. I am surprised your autocorrect hasnt given me some new name like Shackle.

Washed my peeled areas with some cool saline tonight and that felt so nice. My breast actually feels cool to the touch under the ceiling fan and my red is fading to a brownish pink. The raw areas feel dry and not so much sting, just an itch. No new peeling, all systems stable. Ahhhhhh, nice. Goodnight ladies!

The rads i am having are not to the breast but to my hips and spine to treat bone mets.  Anyone with a similar situation here?  I read with great sympathy all you ladies posts who are having rads to the breast complete with burning peeling etc. So sorry to all of you that are in pain, yet another club i never wanted to join, except to meet all these wonderful people

(((hugs)))

Thanks for the hot-flash remedy ShaChar.  I'm going to give it a try.  I looked it up and found so many testimonials about it helping people with hot-flashes and tons of other benefits from apple cider vinegar! Amazing stuff if it's all true.  I'll let you know if it works!:)

ok, I think the Celebrex is taking the edge off the headache but MAN ALIVE! did a bad headache creep up on me this AM. a little light sensitivity and nausea with it. side effect? from Tamo or Rads? or both? ugh…

shachar … yeah? why doesn't it come up with something for your screenname?

cowpower, I used to get "a bout of what my mom called the " I shoulda saids"" after school board meetings too. I resigned for the duration of treatment.

Hi ridergirl, how many treatments and such of radiation do you get for the bone mets? Does yr MO or nurse recommend anything to the skin on the surface? I would assume you get a lot of the other side effects like fatigue of course. How's that going?

Cowpower, I did find much gratification in losing a tat. Kinda like the day I was sick of the bolus pad scorching me so I took a deep breath while they placed it and exhaled when they walked out. My horses taught me that one.

Rider, I hate to say welcome to this club but hope you find support here. I thought I had it bad until I met a man receiving rads to his bottom, and I felt so bad for him. I imagine you have many more side effects than we do and pray this gets rid of every single met!!

Diannarose, woohoo!!!! All done!!

Swgee, no problem! There was an organic form that was supposed to work especially well. Let us know for sure!

I think silvadine has healed my pit because it doesnt sting today. The underboob insists on losing more skin, and now small spots between the breasts and a couple above the breast....minor. i am considering superglue to hold myself together. I hear this is like a sunburn but I cannot relate. Being olive, I have never burned or peeled so I guess now it is my turn for bragging. Big mouth!

This morning I shed a few tears looking at my chest, the burns, no nipples, thinking of the chest I had this time last year. Then I realized how pathetic I was being because I am still alive to cry about it and lectured myself about big girl panties.

Carry on, girls, forward we go! :-)

Shachar-It's nice being away from rads for a few days. Isn't it. The underside of my boob really hurts. I'm walking around with a washcloth under it. It seems to help. So does the Advil. (Morphine might be better ) We'll both have to cheer with our right arm. I can feel the skin stretch in my left pit if I raise my arm too high.  There is nothing wrong with letting it all out!!! Let's just cheer louder for everyone else.

Copower-I'm a retired teacher and had to go some some board meetings as part of my job...More power to you! There was one member in my district who just liked to argue and go around and around and stall anything to do with giving money for the kids. I would leave the meetings with a headache.

Dianarose-Congratulations!! Can't wait to join your club.

Ridergirl, I hope my posts havent scared you off. They are trying to burn my skin due to a skin recurrence so my issues are ahead of schedule. They just didnt share this with me until it was in progress. Five treatments were a breeze and by 8 my recurrence had shrunk 50%. They said I was radiosensitive. The same could happen for you and maybe this could completely wipe those mets out? I am cheering for you!

I am throwing a pity party for everybody. It is called "I'm sick of". I will go first, hee hee, cuz I can. I'm sick of baggy shirts and greasy lotions! :-)

I'm sick of the housecleaning fairy not showing up night after night.

Hi ladies. I just finished 4/33. I was in the sun too much this past weekend with a v neck tank top..  oops. I wont do that again. I just want to wish everyone well and thanks for the great info. I am glad that I have somewhere to go to learn. Hugs.

One of my RO's called yesterday to tell me I'll be in the TomoTherapy machine instead of the Linac, which is fine with me.  The appts. will be 20 min. but hey what's ten more minutes after a 45 min. drive there and then home again.  I'll start Tuesday at 5:00, wed. at 1:30, thurs. at 7:15am, (I'll be up at the crack of dawn that day!) and Fri. at 1:00.  I'm hoping the times for the second week will be a little more consistent than the first!! Thankfully I'm really flexible with my job.  I can't imagine not, especially if the times are going to be all over the place.  Yes, I can see how this is going to get old very quickly!!!!  Hang in there girlfriends!  ((Hugs)) to all!