Summer 2013 Rads

heart, glad you don't have any new breakdowns and your skin isn't as red today.  Hooray for those small things!

I'm off with a friend to get a mani/pedi in red for the 4th of july!  Have a great day everyone!

Encyclias thank you! As usual the wonderful girls on this board have more practical info than the medical techs or doctors at my place. I could not have a standard bolus because my tumor was so large- 9 Cms (yuck) so it makes sense that they could use that gold skin bolus for the entire breast mound. It is indeed beautiful, I feel like I am going to a disco haha. I used to have chainmail earrings like that in high school.



Heart, so happy to hear that you might be rounding the bend and starting to heal a little. I really appreciate you sharing your journey- lin as well. Although your results really scare me, I know what to expect if/when the skin gets bad. And knowing that after all this it can start to heal is really useful!



I study regnerative medicine in our lab, so I do know that the skin stem cells will migrate into the wounded area and start doing their best to repair damage. I was just wondering if, after being hit day in and day out, there are any left to migrate there! Sounds like there are.



Thanks to all for sharing your journeys.



And good luck to all of us just starting out, we are in this together!

That is good news Annie! I hope your final treatments are okay too. Good for you, yay.



My mastectomy scar stings for about two hours after the rads. I was wondering if it was an emu oil allergy, since I put that on right away, but there is no redness or anything else. (is emu oil really from emus???)



Thanks for posting that - guess it is part of our "new normal" huh?

Heart glad you are seeing improvement already! From what I understand SE's on Tamoxifen take awhile to start... I am two months in now and so far so good.  

The chain mail does sound pretty.. I'll have to look it up.

Orchard auction sounds like fun! Hope it went well.

So interesting about the emu oil- thanks!

Annie I bet you are way healthier than I am, being vegetarian. GOOD for you!

I think this one small animal-based expenditure is well justified. Emus are super huge, one of them can likely give us a lot of those tiny bottles of oil. I thank them.



A wonderful woman Pmd me and said she was using miaderm lotion only and her skin did well, and the ladies in her waiting room who were using aquafor or other petroleum products had fried skin. It makes sense that petroleum products would intensify the rads (i am thinking of lotion vs oil when suntanning...).

I know we wash it off before rads but maybe some stays under the surface? i am very interested in this. I have aquafor, for later on, but am inclined to not ever use it now. Just the emu oil after rads and miaderm or calendula lotion at other times.

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Thank you all for your suggestions.

I started Rads on Wednesday and after the 2nd treatment I noticed redness and even a little itching. I was thinking it was just my imagination. At least the itchiness. But today my breast is really red, my nipple is really dark and sensiive, and my breast is hot to the touch. I saw the nurse on Friday as I was leaving and she took a look and said that she didn't think it was an infection and not to worry about it.... Not worry? My boob is red and hot after 3 treatments and I have 27 more to go... (last 5 are boosts)..Has anyone else experienced this so early on? I didn't expect this until about the 10th treatment. 

It's been 108 degrees F here in Cali and I sooooo want to swim, and use deoderant...  Ok, done bitching. I know it could be so much worse and I am thankful I didn't have to have Chemo. 

Big hugs to you all and I hope you are all having a very relaxing and healing weekend. I'm continuing my treatment, from this moment on, believing that no matter what happens, we ALL can get through this. This is so very doable. The Booby -Q's the red hot boobies, the discomfort and even the really bad reactions... THis is ALL temporary... And in the long run, this is a good thing for us.

Again, big big hugs!

Karyn

BTW, my doc and nurse recommended Calendula gel and Aloe Vera gel. My husband is a natural products chemist and a chemistry prof and said thought that was a great call!

Hi Nancy, I know your a little ahead of me in treatment-I had to stick a LX in there after chemo!, but want to ask you how your eyelashes, brows and hair are doing? I lost 95% of lashes and brows by mid April while doing taxotere and have been waiting for some signs of regrowth- instead yesterday I lost the last few lashes I had coming up to 8 weeks pfc. My hair has started to regrow around the sides but I'm still pretty bald on top-whats with that?

Karyn thanks about tip about calendula gel. I start rads on fri and was really not given much info, so I appreciate everyone's suggestions. I did ask my RO about emu oil and he said no because of it being an oil (like putting butter on a burn=ouch) but so many women find it helpful -does your husband have an opinion on that? I think I'm going to buy a small bottle to try anyway-and calendula which I have used for other skin issues with good sucess.

Hoping everyone's boobies are enjoying the rad rest this weekend!

Slv.. my hair grew back the same way.. the sides and back were coming in and very little on the top.    I too feared it was not going to come in.   That was not the case, it just appears to be slower for some reason.  I finished end of Feb and have about 1 1/2 inches back and sides and about 3/4 inch on top!  As far as eyelashes, eyebrows.. I did fine until my last week and then they all fell out. I had them back by mid April.. so about 6 weeks.  

SLV, I lost a bit of eyebrows and a few lashes before my chemo ended.  In the weeks after chemo, I most of my eyebrows and all of my lashes.  Last week I noticed they are short, but my lashes are coming in thick (at least they look thick because they are short).  Eyebrows are coming in too.  It was like they weren't there one day and were there the next.  I finished chemo May 8

Just wanted to send you all a quick update since I know what Linda and I are going through had a lot of people worried about their skin. I am now 10 days out from the whole breast rads, and 3 days out from the boosts. Today I actually feel fabulous. I did not wake up in pain with skin adhesions. No pain at all, and no adhesions. The raw spots seem to be healing. Still sore as I move around, but not really raw spots. The one under my arm is actually scabbed over, and the crease is just not as painful as it was. Yipee! There is definitely hope for everyone who has started breaking down, it just seems to take about a week or so to start getting better. Everywhere that was red has started peeling, but that doesn't hurt at all. I have stopped using the aquafor since that seems to make the skin adhesions and only use the aloevesta now, so maybe that helped.



Nothing horrible from the tamoxifen, although it does seem to make me a little dizzy and light headed. I sort of feel like I have medicine head from cold medicines, and all of a sudden I have so much energy I am kind of wired today.



Wishing everyone peace and healing over the weekend!

So glad to hear that you're doing much better Heart!

Thanks Karynhelen, I will check that out. I saved the hair on my head with coldcaps so that I could hide my cancer due to my work, but still have very few lashes and brows coming in. Drawing them on daily and in this heat they roll down my face when I am walking around campus LOL. VERY attractive.



Heart, bless you for coming back to weigh in that as bad as your skin problems were, they are starting to heal. I am so happy for you and that does really help us who are fearful. I have nightmares that my skin fries and my implant falls out! Those are a lot of fun. I also watch too many horror moveis, I admit....



THANK you for the update and congrats on waking up in less pain. YAY!!!



Hugs to all

Hi Karyn, thanks for the update. That's a henna tattoo I got at the relay for life marathon I attended. Unfortunately, it has faded away, but it was cool to decorate the somewhat bald noggin!

slv58, I love your noggin! You rocked the tat with grace... And I'll be posting info on Emu Oil....

Thanks Go... it looks like the product you get is almost like a lotion? Is it greasy like oil?

Karyn