Fall 2013 Rads

Bounce - No earplugs - I'd rather hear you all cheering and yelling...music to my ears!!! Thanks so much for your encouragement. XO

good evening I had my first tx today. It took about an hour. They had issues with the bolis etc so after today we are expecting it to go faster. I love my techs! However a physiologist came in and did not even acknowledge me. How demeaning. I don't wish this on anyone but there are some who need some people training. I couldn't see her I was on the table with my arms back. Finally one of the techs came over and explained who she was etc.

is it strange I feel like I've been in the sun after 1tx?

Hi! I just made my first appt. w/my rad onc for next Monday the 18th, so I'm not sure when I'll *really* start rads (esp. w/the short Thanksgiving week coming up). Is this the appropriate thread for me to start following? Looks like there's already a bunch of ppl finishing up. Wonder if it might be better to wait around for a winter rads group or s'thing?

Hi All & welcome batcatlady! come on in and join us

Wanted to post and say I am 52 and having 16 treatments. I have IDC .8cm negative nodes er/pr+her2-oncotype 13

That is what my treatment plan was from day one. They start going across from right to left then shift over for 2 segments on the left (operative side). The rad onc nurse told me they give these shorter courses of treatment quite frequently- she referred to it as the "canadian protocol"

On my schedule its 6-10MeV- looked that up and its a billing code haha.

batcatlady - you are definitely in the right place - if you're looking for biting humor, warm compassion, nodding empathy, and pure acceptance, you will find it all, and more, here. These are the best ladies. They've been through it, they're going through it and they're living through it. Welcome.

Starting rads today - nervous!

L2girl - thanks for your encouragement! I'm so glad to hear that your skin is holding up. I will be having both breasts radiated at the same time (well, I mean, during the same session - I think, like in "Ghostbusters," they can't "cross the beams!"). My RO's a funny guy (a little George Costanza, a little Jack Black) and he did mention facetiously that he'd get paid a lot more if we stretched out the treatments to do one breast at a time...but no, he actually is very positive about doing them both at the same time. The idea behind the gated breathing is to minimize any potential radiation damage to the heart and lungs. When I inflate my lungs my heart gets pushed back further into my chest (i.e., further out of the radiation field) and only the top layer of the inflated lung is hit with the beam, instead of more of the lung. I feel like this method gives me a chance to be an active participant in my care, but I am a little worried (this being cold and flu season) about getting a chest cold with a cough and not having the ability to fully inflate my lungs at some point during this treatment. The team has assured me that, if that happens, they can alter things and do me the regular way, but since this is the first time the hospital is doing this I'd really like it to be a success.

I saw a good quote today, "Tough times don't last. Tough people do." I don't want to think of myself as "tough" but, maybe, in this instance, I will embrace it. XO

Good morning !

Summergal, Im doing the breath hold technique as well. I wondered too about if I get sick !

Batcat You are in the right place

jb Congrats !!!

Im still surprised about having effects from treatment 1.. I hope this isn't forboding for the next 32 !

Lauralind5 - by my 4th treatment I felt like a rugby player had run into me. Luckily the weekend gave me a break and I seemed to recover. Now I have had 3 more and I am pinking up and getting sore again. I keep thinking I just have to get through 2 more and I will have my chance to rest and recuperate again.

Someone mentioned that younger gals often seem to react more quickly to radiation but it doesn't mean they have a harder run of it.

About some people lacking people skills - you are so right. I have gotten used to the fact that my techies are distant. I am getting more used to everything and I don't feel the need for them to be nicer anymore. I guess my big girl panties are working!

Deep Breathers - You all stop worrying about colds and flu. Don't start worrying about things that might not happen and that you can't control anyway. Put away the catastrophic thinking - Only I am allowed to do that! Its my specialty. Eat healthy, exercise a bit and try and get some extra nap time - even if you have to hire someone for a few hours a week to help with young kids or housework etc. Rest is the best medicine. It gives your body time to recuperate and to be strong to fight off colds and infections. I always hated getting a baby sitter for my kids when they were small but it turns out they actually enjoyed it so don't automatically feel guilty about doing less for everyone else during radiation.

I am lucky I didn't have to do deep breathing as I tend to get giddy when I take big deep breaths. I really wouldn't want to be that person who falls off the table! As it is one of these days soon I am going to miss the little step/bench when I am getting off the table and I am going to fall down! (Now what did I say about catastrophic thinking....?)

Hope tomorrow is easy for everyone.

Hugs

My first session (x-rays and positioning only today - radiation starts on Thursday) went pretty well. My techs all seem really, really nice and warm. I feel very lucky! I made it a point to shake everyone's hand, look them in the eye and repeat their names. The only people who seemed a little distant were the front desk girls - I mean, come on!! They give the first impression to someone coming in for the first time! I may have to talk to George Costanza about that. Anyhoo, they only imaged and positioned my left breast today (they were going to do both, but I was in position for an hour and 15 minutes for just the one side, so they decided to give me a break and let me come in tomorrow for my right one). But I do feel like John Madden's telestrator with all the x's and o's in magic marker all over my chest!! Hope they don't try the old flea flicker! They want me to keep these clear stickers on for the duration...I wonder how I'm supposed to use the Aquaphor without disturbing them?

I sat next to a young woman in the waiting room - we started talking and she said she'd just finished 10 days of rads. I thought, "Wow, lucky." Then she said she has Stage IV melanoma. And was just at the beginning of her treatments. And I thought, "Wow, I'm lucky." We are all in various degrees of living, aren't we?

Hugs, all.

hi lovelies -

Congrats JBDayton - you made it too! Woo hoo! A rad grad.

Summergal - all the best for starting your actual treatment on Thursday. And yes gratitude at times about 'how lucky we are' is always good. There are always people better off and worse off than us.

Dennilynne - hopefully your boob won't set the smoke detector off anytime soon! Lol. But yes you do relax a bit more as you get used to it. I never quite worked out where all the cameras were in the room that they used to watch you on. That was always a funny feeling - knowing they were watching etc.

Bluebird - I just heard Jack Johnson's 'radiate' again on the radio - 🎶 do do do I'm gonna watch you Radiate, Radiate 🎶 (lol)

Nice to hear from you as always MsP and Bounce.

I am feeling very achy everywhere now - esp back and neck - hoping it is just side effects from radiation & chemo catching up on me and that nothing else is going on. Always somethings to worry about - just when you get through one hurdle there is another to think about. I am still researching tamoxifen stuff but I guess I will end up just starting it and doing what the MO is telling me to do. I am looking forward to seeing my natropath/herbalist lady next week to see what she recommends to help me get over effects of radiation. I know iodine drops is a biggie - as it is like the antedote to radiation.

(((Group hug everyone))) - some days we definitely need it more than others.xx

rainyday: Hugs! We will be good to go together. Twelve down, 21 to go!

Oh and Bluebird, Bounce: Sorry that your techs are impersonal! I have the same experience in the waiting room with the other patients (very quiet) but I have been getting to know the techs and they're cool. I complement them every day on what they're wearing and they tell me funny things from time to time.

Like when the two female techs were complaining about the prostate cancer patients. They said they are always walking around with the backs of their gowns undone so everything is seen; they sit across from the nurses' station with their legs apart and pay no attention when the nurses ask them to sit, uh, more demurely, and when the techs tell them to cover up after the patients' set up they grin and say 'Why should I, you've seen it all before." The techs then said, "They don't understand we don't need to see it again!" And " I thinks their mothers all told them them they were special!"

Whoa.

Anyway, welcome batcatlady, glad to see you here. Very nice group of women, supportive, funny, knowledgable. And they all pocket size!

I'm doing well on day 12. Little fatigue, very tiny bit of redness and tiny sprouts of white hair growing. All in all, not too shabby. Oh and batcatlady, I got to Faeriecon and it was mucho cool!

tomorrow is my last day!! I guess there is a wind chime kind of bell they let you ring when you finish, so about 11:15 CST, listen for it! The techs asked if I was going to do anything to celebrate - my husband and son are coming with and we are going to go out to eat. She told me that they could come back through the men's changing area so they can see where I've been having treatments and then wait for me outside the room. That seems odd... That "inner sanctuary" has been a world I've done solo for 6 weeks... It would be combining my strange rad life with my "normal" life... I hope I can hold my emotions in check!

Lesleyvilla - apparently there is some evidence now supporting the use of tamoxifen on PR+ patients as well - even if it is only weakly positive. I am trying to find out more on why also - as I want to know whether the benefits be greater than the se's of taking tamox. A difficult decision but I guess I can always start and see how I go. They tell me it will offer benefit to me - as much as doing chemo did - so a bit hard to say no to that. I do wonder if I'm a guinea pig! Lol. However in saying that my Mum was never on Tamox years ago and she got reoccurrences - so maybe I try and see what happens. Are you on it? What se did you have?

Yeah, Lisap and Jo6203..another one down. The tech asked me today if I was marking it off on the calendar. I replied "Yes, yes, I do" :-)). Today was my weekly visit with the RO. I am having a fungal infection under the breast that started after a few treatments. That has been fun!! He was in such a hurry today, basically jumped out of his chair to leave. Very clinical kind of guy. I guess he was off to more complex things then my problem. Grrrr....

Another #12, Come on down, rhcp66!! You will probably be done before me. I have 37 treatments, the last 7 are boosts. Sorry that you are pink and itchy.I am not too bad yet. I am using Aloe and Aquafor also. That's all we can do. Let's hope that it doesn't get worse.