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

Loneskier, enjoy your last treatment, knowing you dont have to come back! Now you can start going to Happy Hour after work, lol. It is quite an accomplishment to finish, CONGRATULATIONS!



Lifeonitsside, Any news? Hope you are ok.



Sachar, never thought I would say this to anyone, but glad for your nurple. I woild be willing to trade one hot flash for one chill, if you want. For some reason the last two evenings have been very sweaty. Cant be the hair making me hot.....

Lifeonitsside any news? Hope you are ok.

Schoolmom I was also told no neeed to use anything for the skin, I am only scheduled for 5 sessions as it`s for bones and not breast, so not sure if thats why, but I sort of feel like I want to be pro-active too.

Cowpower I haven't started rads yet but did have first Taxol infusion last Fri, had 2 AC and 3 FAC before that, and I have enough hot flashes for 10 of us :-) So I`ll trade too if anyone`s interested.

LifeOnSide, O_o  I truly hope you are ok. It SUCKS that you were in ER last night.

Congrats Loneskier! Swoosh over that finish line!

Good luck today, schoolmom! you'll be great.

Loneskier-Congratulations to you!!! I'll do the happy dance for you, too.

Schoolmom-good luck today.  

Lifeonitsside-Did you find out what is causing the palpitations and shortness of breath?  Hope you're okay.

Hi QueenKong,



Saskatoon is a city in Saskatchewan, Canada. Thank you so much for your words of support. I should be starting my rads the week of Feb.18, 2013 a dyes, it would be great to support one another on this journey. My hair is slowly starting to come back in but I only finished my chemo 12 days ago. I had six treatments and the last three were Taxotere. They were not pleasant and my first treatment with Tax I had burns on my hands and feet so they cut back my dose by 25% and iced my hands and feet for the next two. I have a lot of chest pain and don't know if this is normal but I am also short of breath so I think this will all pass with time.



How are you feeling?

Thanks everyone for your well wishes.  I held up very well during the whole process.  I am already starting to heal.  I can't wait for the tiredness to go away.  I do have to go back in a month for a followup. 

lifeonitsside, aw poopers that you had to stay. Are you out today? Glad the meeds helped!

Congratulations, Shachar! Isn't it amazing how we can all read of one another's successes and get big ole shit eating grins on our faces though we have never met?

Anyone from NYC?  Is anyone being treated for RT at Sloan?  I have read they have alternate protocols and options to the traditional 5-6 week regimens.  Hope to hear from you. 

2/3. Of the way done now.. Today was #20 of 30.. Only two more weeks.. So excited. Side effects are still bugging me.. But I can now see the light at the end of tunnel... Count the days.

Go a silly question... What is the difference between normal radiation and last 5 treatment were they give you boost... Is just a strong dose? Just trying to figure out what to expect.

Shachar, My le started about 3 weeks in- about halfway if you dont count boosts, so I will cross my fingers that you are home free for now. If you feel your arm getting heavy or see it looking swollen, I would ask for an LE specialist referral to get it under control quickly. Hopefully you wont need to because while the problem is the arm, its a royal pain in the ass!

No, I don't need to be broken out. They released me this morning and then I actually went to work. They didn't really find anything wrong. The cardiologist did feel it was radiation-related but since nothing showed on the myriad of tests, there was nothing to treat. The one thing he did say is that my potassium and electrolytes are a bit low and I might want to think about that. Doing some research, it sounds like exactly the problem. I have not had an appetite since chemo ended, ironically, and just haven't been eating well, though I have been trying. So I need to find more potassium-rich foods and maybe do some supplements. Will probably be drinking more electrolyte-rich water and drinks and see if that will help. It was kind of scary. But my friends, as always, have been incredible in their encouragement and support of me, which makes all of this so much easier.



And thank you all for your thoughts and concerns. I wish I commented more on this board but every time I think I will, someone else has said exactly what I was going to say! So I am here and support and love you all.

Lifeonitsside- You went to work when you got out? You are a good woman- when I got out over the Summer, I came home and had big glass of wine. I feel like a total slacker now, lol. Hope the symptoms stay away.



Queenkong, we will have to come up with a creative remedy for those greys coming in. I used to pull them out, but now that I've been through chemo, that seems beyond foolish, doesnt it. When I had no eyelashes, I used a good amount of eyeliner behind my glasses, so it really didnt show the missing stuff too much. So there I was in December, putting on my eyeliner, when I started to get pissed off because something kept smudging my lines. On closer inspection, it tuened out that thousands of tiny little eyelashes had all sprouted and were getting caught in the pencil line. They looked like a little eyelash army. I smiled for days! On another note, I live about 90 min north of you- was that wind wicked last night, or what? I was worried about my poor old (190years) house, but all is well this am.

Thank you cowpower and sonson. I will definitely keep an eye on it!  Sonson, I am in the panhandle and we heard a funnel go over last night about 6:45 right before the rain hit hard.  Glad it didn't touch down and that neither of us blew away.

Lifeonitside, so glad you are out and feeling better!  I drink those kellogg protein shakes when I can't stand the thought of breakfast.  It contains 100% of the daily potassium (my last levels were in the low normal range) and it makes me feel better.  The strawberry is superb and tastes like a strawberry shake.

Here is my boost experience for those about to start: I went to a different machine than the one I have been on.  I only had to raise one arm over my head this time (most awesome) and was still on my back so I didn't get to do the Jenn diving swan.  There was some sort of a "funnel" attached to the machine so that it kind of extended the "teeth"/screen area to where it was within two inches of my skin.  The doctor then came in and marked an approximate 2" by 6" oval on my breast around my incision.  A light on the machine showed them where the treatment would be and they used lead blocks to block out the light to make it fit that oval shape.   They said that by tomorrow they will have a mold made up to use every time, but this first time they taped those lead blocks into place on the end of the cone.  They said something about it taking awhile for the metal to cool?  I guess I imagined they would put some thin lead sheet on me, but it was on the machine.  Then they walked out and I got about a 30 second zap, still with my lovely bolus pad of course.  I asked the tech if the energy level was the same as for the normal treatments and he said no, the boosts are with electrons (instead of whatever they were before) and that they were very quickly dispersed and only penetrated about 1/2 cm into the skin.  That was relieving because that sucker was aimed right at my heart and I was getting a bit paranoid.  This machine was also quite a bit louder than the other one.  And that was that.  1/8 done! 

The skin of the underboob is already turning back to my normal skin color in patches.  Yippee!!  No major burning or peeling the second time around, just dry skin flaking.