Summer 2013 Rads

ChickaD,



I received 26 rad appointments in the prone position which is preferable If you are a candidate for it and it sounds like you are. I had my first boost (1 of 7) and its been just fine. During the treatment my skin got pink and warm, but never oozed or I never got prickles of redness. I use Cavilon every Monday and Thursday and use it as a spray. It dries quickly and leaves a film on my breast and underarm. No lotions or ointments were needed. Once I'm done with treatment I can start back using Aveeno lotion. From reading everyone's posts we all respond differently so I'm hoping you will have an easy time with it.



Best of luck to everyone!

Sorry to hear about the cough, Heart.  Hope it's nothing worrisome and that it gets better quickly.

Had my first boost today.  Well, that was different!  First the new rads machine they put me on was amazing--only a couple of months old, very silent and sleek.

Second, the treatment was very fast.  The machine stayed in one position (straight down!) and no breath holding for me anymore.  Apparently they're using electrons for the boost, which don't penetrate the tissue as deeply so won't reach the heart, rather than photons, which do penetrate and which they use for the whole breast rads. I had a moment of "eek!" when I saw the machine aiming straight down at about a 1.5 inch diameter circle right over my heart and then just had to take a deep breath and trust that the RO and dosimetrist knows what he/she is doing.

27/34  

CurlySue, you know with or without rads, you can develop lymphodema a long time after lymph nodes are removed. It's just that radiation can increase the likelihood somewhat, as I understand it anyway.

8 of 30 for me today.



Had a bit of a stressor last night. A friend who is very knowledgable regarding personal care products recommended a particular aloe product as the only one she would use. I've been using Shea butter on each of the two scars and aloe gel on the remainder of the treatment field twice daily: once when I get home from rads and then again later at night after a shower. I've got the ro's blessing on the Shea butter, the original aloe gel, and the new one my friend recommended.



Anyhoo, I used the new gel for the first time last night. Within 30 minutes it was easy to see where it had been applied because the skin was very red, like a sunburn. Needless to say, I jumped right back in the shower and washed it off. I couldn't get back to sleep for being nervous that it might've damaged my skin. It didn't hurt or itch or anything.



Luckily, the skin was back to its usual state in about two hours. Maybe the original aloe gel isn't as good but I figure it's better to avoid using something that irritates my skin such that it turns red.

Not sure how to embed a link, but here's a PubMed article in which the authors report findings regarding duration of pertussis immunity. The short answer is yes, you can get pertussis more than once.

Hi everyone. I finally had my first treatment today. I thought I was supposed to start last week but I showed up and found I had the wrong date. Chemo brain again! So, I'm trying to get past the discomfort from lying there with my boobs on display while every one stands around and looks at them.

Sorry... Also, for those of you who have finished rads.... How would you compare your chemo experience with rads.... Easier? Worse? I realize different... But I've really been struggling through chemo I think I'm hoping for "rads will be easier..." but please be honest!

Thank you!

It is, I had it pretty easy during chemo.  I felt like crap a few days, then felt better.  

For me, rads has been worse, but not horrible.  I say worse, because I've been more nauseous during rads than chemo, and I never had discomfort during chemo.  

With that said, I'm a wuss when it comes to any discomfort, and I started rads 3 weeks after a BMX, which is much quicker than most. 

As far as energy, up until this week, I have felt like I had more energy than chemo.  I might have gone overboard going to an amusement park for 6 hours on Monday, or it could just be rads catching up with me. 

My skin is burning in spots, tender in some spots, but I'm hoping after meeting with both the RO and my endocrinologist today (I had thyroid cancer two years ago) and having meds changed/adjusted, that I will bounce back in a few days.  My synthroid dose has been adjusted down, and she thought that could be causing some of the things I've been feeling.  I changed out my nausea med, and will double down on my pain meds at sleep time.  I took a zofran about an hour or 1.5 hours ago and I feel a bit better than I did earlier.  

If I could kick the nausea, I think I could do this without too much complaints.

As far as skin goes, I don't think there is a rhyme or reason as to why someone has a worse time than others.  It's been said (and is my experience so far) that the worst areas are those that have been exposed to sun before.  My upper chest is the itchiest part.

So they use electrons for the boost?  Crap, so does that mean I get a boost everyday?  My last zap is to the center of my chest, using a bolus, with a  template they made, attached to a contraption that's put on the machine and they told me today it was an electron thingamajig, not like the other zaps.  No wonder I'm starting to bubble.

Looks like this:   http://www.ohio.com/polopoly_fs/1.368131.1359242430!/image/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_500/cancer27cut-01.jpg

CassDugan~~I had a single mastectomy, and yes, I've had some swelling on that side (left). No real discomfort, but a noticeable swelling.



Itiswhatitis~~Boosts is the radiating of the original cancer site. It's a smaller area so I'm hoping its quicker.



I had #11 today. The pain in my back from the hard table is still the hardest part for me.



Paula

Gowiththeflow- Remind me please- does your nausea only happen after rads or is it random throughout day?  Did you have rads to your stomach area?  I'm sure I mentioned my mom has been struggling with vomiting. The gastro doesn't know why though she hasn't had any tests done yet (couldn't do gastric emptying test since mom couldn't eat the necessary meal).  She can hardly eat anything without feeling full, then when she walks she throws up- usually mucous now.  Prilosec seems to cut down on the acid she was throwing up.

Melody46- Does your cough produce mucous that you have to spit out?  Is that why you are going to a gastro? Did the RO think it was caused by radiation?  My mom sometimes spits up thick mucous- like post-nasal drip mucous I think.  It happens in morning and today clearly happened right after her shower (like the shower steam broke it up and she had to get it out).

Thanks.

My nausea is constant right now.  I gag and occassionally vomit while brushing my teeth, and same with taking my pills at night.  The rest of the day I feel like I could vomit but haven't.  Not really hungry but trying to eat small meals.

ItIsWhatItIs - I'm pretty fair skinned with auburn hair and have done OK with rads (relatively speaking) so like AnnieLane said, it isn't like sunburn where you'd expect those with fairer skin to react the worst.

GWTF - I don't know if they're considering the electrons they're giving you a boost or not (I'd ask them--it just might be what they need to do to get that particular angle and be safe) but the picture you posted looks pretty much like the little thing they have on the end of the rads machine for me now for my boosts.  

LW0919 - I gradually went from a regular bra to a cami or stretchy bra (around treatments #14-15) to now going braless--about treatment #22 or so was when I started to get too itchy to have anything rub against the bosoms.  But the itchiness seems to have subsided somewhat, now that I stopped using the aquaphor, and I'm going back to the stretchy bra tomorrow.  

27/34 

Regbeach, I didn't have breakdown, but that does sound like the start of it.

Regbeach- Yup that sounds like break down. Skinned knee is pretty accurate for what I had.

Encyclias- Thanks! My primary care actually thought I had whooping cough about 2 years ago. This is no where near that bad. It is a dry cough that comes and goes but sometimes get bad enough to cause an asthma attack. Two years ago my doctor actually chose not to test for whooping cough when I was so sick. She said the test is fairly inaccurate and gets a lot of false positives, and even if it is a false positive it still creates a CDC paperwork nightmare. So instead we chose to use the antibiotics you would for whooping cough just not do the test.

Melody- Did the CT show anything on your lung? Scarring?

LW0919- I think you actually get used to being on display. I am a very shy person but since the whole breast cancer thing I am getting used to being topless in a room full of people. In answer to your bra question, I wore a sports bra from surgery through radiation. I am a size D (well at least on one side) and I just couldn't go braless. I was just not comfortable going out in public like that.

CassDugan- I did have more swelling during radiation. I had read in another thread that some other women had permanent swelling. The rads swelling sort of filled out their lumpectomy areas. I was actually pretty happy about this since it sort of evened me out and didn't cause any discomfort. Sadly the swelling just went away one day, and I am lopsided again.

ItIsWhatItIs- My RO and I had a discussion about skin types and SEs. He said there is absolutely no correlation between being fair skinned and SEs. I am very fair skinned and never tan. I always burn, so I was really worried about it. I guess he was right since during radiation one of the women I saw everyday was black and her skin was actually in worse shape than mine. The pain pills I took during rads was for the topical pain of skin breakdown. It feels kind of like a skinned knee, but unlike a skinned knee that pain doesn't stop in a couple of hours.

Thank you to everyone who sent healing wishes for my cough.