Fall 2013 Rads

MsP - thank you for your kind words. I see you are almost done! Good luck with your first boost. My mom will be doing the same very soon. Hope it goes very well. Best wishes.

Lav- my mom, who is 82, was really worried about the rads. Her skin reacts to everything. Well, she wound up doing really well I think. She is doing all her normal stuff and she is almost done with her treatment. The only real problem that just cropped up is a rash and the doctor thinks it might be shingles, of all the things to get. It is painful. But she would be the first to say the rads weren't as bad as she first thought. I bet your time will go quickly as did my mom's. We cross off each day of treatment on the calendar and it helps a bit to visualize the countdown. Hang in there and pamper yourself while you go through this. Your daughter is a good girl at 16 to go with you. Think positive thoughts - I will send you mine as well.

thanks Dobby. Wow hats off to your mom at that age and she sounds so strong. Give her a hug from me. Yes my daughters 16 but very matured. Instead of getting grossed out after surgery at the sight of my breast she would help me clean up since Im left handed and could barely use my left hand. Shes been a strong pillar for me at this time encouraging me and pointing out it could have been alot worst like a friend of mine thats in stage 3. When Im down she always senses it immediately and she wouldnt leave me alone and woyld give me company to cheer me up or distract me. Im trully blessed to be her mother. At 16 she sits and notes down what the oncologist would tell me and check on the internet and read on it and explain certain terms to me. Im sure your mother is as lucky to have a daughter like you looking out for her. Hugs to u too:))

Lav, you must be very proud to have raised such a daughter and to be a beloved mother. Congratulations.

Love, MsP

Karibari, I too have a new technician! And it's a guy. They asked me if I would mind a male technician to "observe" but he's been doing a lot of the work. It makes me a bit nervous because the other techs are telling him what to do all the time. But he's very caring and I can tell he'll make a great tech.

Good luck to you anne!

Stacierae, I am also just plain worn out by all the chem and surgeries. I totally don't feel ready to go into six weeks of treatment! But we will and we will kick butt!

Cakes, thanks for the tip for the nip! ;- )

Thank you Ms Pharoah & Bluebird - I appreciate the kind words. I agree, it would be nice if the new technicians would at least act like they know - but I guess that comes with experience. I'm just super aware of how efficiently the gals who were doing it last week handled everything and how different this gal is (it's all women techs for me so far). I was very honest with my doc today about how I'm feeling and he was very supportive. I know in my heart it's going to get better and I'll be one third done tomorrow.

Thank you Cakes for the tip about mepilex - I will ask about that tomorrow!

Blessings to all and hope we all sleep well tonight!!!

SophiaMarie I totally understand how you feel. Its like your carrying all d load on your shoulders and thats stress. You need to ask for help and at this point I feel that its ok to say no or to have everything down perfectly. This is about you and you should at this time only concentrate on yourself and getting yourself better. I can never say NO to anyone and thats why I am where I am. You have to leave someone maybe your partner or if you kids or some family help out. If you dont hve family around then just say no. I lm sure your guests would understand of the house werent in perfect condition or if they had to help out or stay elsewhere. Your not going thru something easy if d fatigue i felt last night was only day 2 I can imagine how u must be feeling. Please give priority to yourself. Positive thoughts positive mind gives a positive result. Your first and foremost priority right now should be YOU. A big hug from me to you.

Hi KirklandGal and welcome.

Everyone is different. I would say that the discomfort you are getting after 2 treatments could be coming from the postiion you are in for the treatment and not the radiation itself. As an example, I am doing rads in the prone position and I started feeling a "burning skin" feeling under my boob pretty early on. I realized that it was from the ledge of the radiation table pressing on that area while I was prone.

I am having 28 treatments and 6 boosts. I started getting an itchy rash at about treatment 14. By treatment 21, my skin was pink especially under the boob and in the cleavage. If you get radiation in the supine position, you will probably notice the pink starting in the armpit and under boob area and not so much in the cleavage. From 21-28, my skin got progressively pinker and more all over the boob where you could see the line of demarcation for the rad field. After treatment 27, I went on a weekend trip to see my family in Chicago and I did fine. I had my 2nd boost today and I am doing fine, just 4 more boosts to go. Little bit itchy and definitely don't want anyone massaging my boobs (LOL). I'm very tired and have been going to bed pretty early each evening, but making it through OK. My RO said my skin was doing "better than average", so take that into consideration. I have very large breasts AND I am very fair and thin-skinned so I thought I was going to get fried....that did not happen.

As far as care and feeding of the breast, I am using Aquaphor really thick after each treatment and covering it with gauze pads to protect my clothing. Also making sure there is no skin on skin by placing gauze in the creases/folds before I dress. I use Fruit of the Earth Aloe Gel at bedtime...so cool and soothing. There is no way to predict how your skin will hold up during this treatment but many people do great. You had chemo...this will be easy for you!

Be radiated and radiant every day and kick cancer's a$$!

MsP

Happy Dance......I AM DONE with rads! Those of you going through rads be it the beginning, middle or rounding the corner to the end you are in my thoughts and prayers. You can do it! I will continue to monitor Falls Rads to support you any way I can. Please take care of yourselves and remember, you are no good to anyone else if you don't take care of yourself first.

Cheers!

Cakes

Hooray Cakes!!

I am also a member of the too tired for housework club. I've just not recovered from chemo and multiple surgeries and now rads. At night my bones and joints are hurting too. In the morning I'm like a little old lady tottering out of bed. But after i get moving I'm okay and nothing bothers me the rest of the day. It's really weird.

I will try to approach each day radiantly! Love that.

Cakes- Happy Dancing with you!! Hope the Femora goes well too. Just keep on saying and believing - I BEAT CANCER!!!! Hugs, Marilyn

Lav - You are doing great brave warrior! Hope you have someone driving with you to rads. What a long way you have to go. Just keep slathering on the moisturizersI Gentle hugs, M

Karibari & bluebird144 - I too have a young, cute male tech doing his training and he is great. The gal who is just before me for rads cracked us up. She told the male tech she had to park really far from the building and she wasn't looking forward to the long walk to get her car. He told her he would be happy to get her car and bring it to the front door for her. She said "wow if you do that for me I'll let you see my boobs" and she flashed him. All the rad techs were hysterical as were we when she told us. It's good to keep your sense of humor since we have lost so much. LOL.

SophieMarie - I'm at day 11 yea. Lav said it well. Take a deep breath - you are not supposed to be "superwoman" right now so don't put that stress on yourself. Do what you can, when you can and order pizza. I am sure your company will understand. Nobody cares if the house isn't spotless and I'm sure the kids will catch up on school work. We all have those days where everything goes wrong - remember tomorrow is a new day and all will be right again! Sending healing thoughts your way, M

congrats, cakes!

I reached my halfway mark today. 22/44 done! The last 10 will be boosts. And today was the first day no bolus. Or was that yesterday?

PT starts tomorrow. My PA told me to take extra pain meds (Aleve) because the. PT is really going to work on my cording. I will get work on my LE and range of motion.

I had a great visit with my kids and parents this weekend. They came down for a visit. I think it really boosted my spirits. I asked hubs if he enjoyed being home alone for 5-6 days. Not as much as he hoped because the house is in need of some TLC: fix a sink stopper, fix a towel rack, replace carpet, touch up paint, etc, etc, etc. lots has gone by the wayside due to priorities and my fatigue from treatments. It's temporary but can weigh us down. I've worked through letting some things go but I think hubs is going through that now since I've been away for a few weeks.

thanks everyone! Thankfully the overnight company are good friends. Three kids, but it's always lots of fun - makes my son happy too. When I got home from my appts today, my dh had already done a lot of straightening for me and had supper ready. He's been a great help! I just feel like I'm running so fast that I'm gonna fall on my face. I will do a simple meal though - my friends weren't going to even come for my sake, but I insisted. Even though its stressful to prepare, it's also a tonic to be with them.

Well, after I finished my first third of treatments today, I went to get a prosthetic. The surgery left me so lopsided that I could no longer wear any clingy tops in public. It was kind of emotional - I don't want to have to wear a piece of silicone - I just want my breast back! But it did feel good to look normal again - even if it was only through fabric. At least I will be able to wear my t-shirts again. I highly recommend asking your dr for a prescription if you feel self conscious!

Feeling some sore spots and slight redness, but nothing too bad.

(And dh also got the washer to work again and he fixed the toilet!

Ladies - lets brainstorm and come up with some ideas.

Lets think of something we can do, or wear, or something, that reminds those around us, during and after rads, that we are pooped out and need help without us having to go all whiny or even simply ask. And I don't mean pink.

I am going to have to walk the fine line between getting the help I need and not using too many guilt trips (which no one enjoys taking!) or complaints.

I think I am going to get a T-shirt printed saying:

Superwoman - NOT

or

FOR GOD'S

SAKE

TAKE PITY

ON ME

AND HELP

or maybe a picture of a green lady with 3 arms resting sweetly in a bed!

Any other ideas so we don't appear to be fishing for sympathy (which we should be getting heaps of by the way)?

Kika 2013 - how are you doing?

Hi I'm new here though I have been popping in and out. I'm finally done chemo and rads are coming on the 28th.

Question for those who did chemo first. Did you feel as though you had recovered somewhat from chemo SEs before the rads SEs began to happen? One thing that worries me a bit is that I'm pretty fatigued already from chemo. I hope there is time to get over a least some of that before rads-related fatigue sets in. Sigh.

Bounce: Great idea for a t-shirt! A poster would be good too saying something like: "Recovering Cancer Warrior Rules: 1) Give Me A Break, I've Just Run A Marathon, 2)If Its Dirty, You Clean It, 2) If Its Broken, You Fix It, 3) If You're Hungry, Order Out, 4) If You Don't Like It, Zip Your Lip."