Fall 2013 Rads

Wyo and L2 so happy for both!! I know the great felling of being done. Thanksgiving has a whole new meaning to me! So many great people that I have met this year. Now to move on with my life!! So,so,thankful for all the great lady's here! HAPPY THANKSGIVING to all.

congrats to those finished! It's such a great thing to be done with active treatment.

I finished 4 weeks ago today. I still have a couple open spots that weep and scab over. Not typical but I had very aggressive rads. I had no real problems with the skin breakdown---beyond the pain and annoyance! I took a good turn a few days ago; I'm not constantly in a protective posture so I have less pain. I've been seeing my chiropractor and adjustments are getting easier. I have had more fatigue these 4 weeks after rads than I had during rads. The other time I had rads I had no skin breakdown and felt the fatigue during rads only.

I started arimidex a week ago. I hope I do ok on it. I get a monthly shot of Zoladex to shut down my ovaries. (Tamoxifen did not work well enough for me!). I feel older than 42 these days, but getting better. I still have really stubby lashes but at least I have enough now to put a little mascara on!

Enjoy Thanksgiving today. I need to go make the mashed potatoes now!

Finished 28 rads and 5 boosts yesterday! Had to do 2 boosts in one day to get it done but thankful it's over! Still suffering from back pain but hoping it subsides as the fatigue does.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hi all. Congrats for everyone finishing! Tomorrow us 9/28...So glad one third of the way through! Skin is unchanged.

Katie, congratulations on becoming a radiant lady! Hope your healing continues and that you are able to rest your back.

Cakes, hello. I told my daughter yesterday that I felt so very good. She started crying. I didn't realize how long it had been since I felt good and how long since my loved ones heard that from me. Definitely something to be thankful for. So, ladies, if you feel good, shout it out. Your loved ones will really appreciate it. BTW...we skyped today and my daughter told me that my hair looks really good.

Kruise, soon I will be as pretty as you are!

Love to you all, MsP

I had my dry run today, x-rays and tattoos. I plan on taking a shuttle to treatment, but can't get on the schedule next week so I will have to drive all the way to Los Angeles (traffic ) for one week. After that I can shuttle it from a halfway point. I finished chemo in October so I am glad to know I will start in December.

Reading this everyday helps!!

Bounce - I agree, it can be overwhelming, the expectation to work during treatment. So many ppl told me I could work thru chemo at first, incld. my dr., but I felt so extremely exhausted, plus I had a host of SEs that made it impossible to do my work (a desk job) with any level of precision & effectiveness. I didn't feel it would have been fair to my employer to do subpar work & on an unpredictable schedule due to my crappy energy levels. So I went on state disability, & am just now going back to work as I start rads (tho it remains to be seen how easy that is due to the appts. being in the middle of the afternoon, ugh; will be making up lots of work, I expect).

And don't even talk to me about exercise! That's a 'nice to have' at this point

“Maybe Christmas doesn’t come from a store, maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more.” —Dr. SeussHello fellow radiation travelers- found this wonderful picture with those famous old words from "The Grinch" and thought they might fit today.

Bounce & Jen- loved your posts about working and managing during radiation. My thought was- who is it that expects us to "cowgirl up" and juggle daily cancer treatment with work,family, etc. ?? I take public transportation to work and just that hustle/bustle, walking to the station, standing on busy trains, walking to work or a hospital or getting on a plane for a meeting almost defeats me before I get out the door.

Well I puzzled and puzzled til my puzzler was sore- and started to think-----what if its really "us" that expect we should always do more....?? (sticking with the grinchey-clause theme)

I think we are sometimes harder on ourselves than our bosses, our loved ones or even society. Then it becomes really hard to maintain that facade to others and most importantly to ourselves- we just can't do it all and when we act like we can we shortchange ourselves and those around us. They don't appreciate what a life-changing time we are in during active treatment-and can't help us even in a small way unless we let them.

Then I kept on thinking and wondered if work and being "busy" also in some way lets me put this awful scary thing aside because I am doing what I would "normally" do. If you are filling every minute its less time to think about cancer you are just too busy living.

I also thought of something else- look how young we are seeing women on these boards- women in their 20s and 30s with small children and that job does not have days off. Single women who support themselves, women who live in states without disability so no work=no pay. Its a societal shift to balance work with life which for us includes a daily cancer treatment. No answers but it sure made me think

Finally Tanya- OMG are you sure there is no way to get on that shuttle? Huntington Beach to LA is a grind even without radiation treatment on the other end. The first week is a bit stressful getting adjusted to the routine and what it "feels like" I know you SoCal girls drive loooong distances so I am probably an old worry wart-

re: working and exercising through treatment. I ended up retiring early. I had planned to work 6 more years, but I knew to be healthy, something had to give. I live with and care for my 93 year old mother who is like an infant in many ways. I have 2 big dogs that require a lot of cleaning up after. I have a big house and big yard and a husband with a chronic pain condition. I was superwoman, working full time, coming home, cooking, cleaning, etc. Taking care of everyone but me. something had to give, and it was work. which sucked, really, on many levels, but I really decided that if I wanted to LIVE, I needed to take care of MYSELF and make myself a priority. I've changed my diet, and that alone takes time and effort. I couldn't really exercise during chemo (other than walking in the yard with the dogs, cooking and cleaning, and light gardening) due to severe anemia, but I'm coming around and starting an exercise program.

Wishing everyone a great week. Tomorrow I will be on 7 out of 30 rads. Been feeling really fatigued the past few days. My family doesn't really understand why, so it is hard for me to explain to them. Thinking of you all.

hobbesla4 - try to figure out what is actually hardest for you in the rads process - it will help you understand why you are tired. Maybe its the tension and worry, or the traveling, or the waiting. It turns out the lack of control was hard for me and caused me distress. But once I figured it out (with some help) I stopped feeling as uncomfortable.

I also explained to my family that my body is working overtime to repair damage and it take lots of energy and I need to rest. I don't know how much energy it actually takes but its an explanation they could all understand and relate to.

I am turning into a well-done sloth.

I come home from work, nap, get up and throw some supper together, say hello to hubby and to whichever of the children are home at the time and then go to bed!

The skin in my radiation area is getting dry and crispy and a blister has appeared.

Seeing as I have 4 treatments left I am ignoring it.

But shocker! The skin on my nipple peeled off leaving me with a very pale nipple. It looks weird. I only didn't freak out completely when it happened on the weekend because I remember 2 ladies not long ago commenting that something similar had happened to them.

Please tell me that your nipples have returned to their former color, ladies!

(I am lucky I still have a nipple to worry about so I'll take it pale if I have to)

Treatment number one done! It took awhile because they x-rayed again and wanted to make sure everything was "perfect". The treatment itself was painless and fast. Hope tomorrow is more of the same.

Tanya, Glad to hear that your first rads went okay. I finished 7 of 30 today. The treatment process itself is not bad, but somehow I have been really tired lately. Pretty soon, both of us will be done with rads.

Hope everyone is having a good week so far.

Hello all! Today I had a CT scan for my boosts that start Thursday. So I have my last whole breast rads tomorrow and Wed. Then six more boosts. So close to the finish line. It will be weird not constantly being treated somewhere. I've been plowing through everything since my diagnosis in May; feels like I haven't had much time to think.

Just a question...does anyone think they may have reconstructive surgery at some point?

Finished up my super clav (collarbone) area today - thank God! That area is pretty fried. I can tell the skin is going to peel. 3 more regular treatments and then 5 boosts. The boosts have me nervous. My skin is holding up ok - but I don't know how it will do through stronger boost doses. Can anyone give some specific feedback on that? For some reason, the tech today told me she was concerned my skin on my armpit area was going to break down. It doesn't seem anymore pink/red than any other area. ???

Just want to get done without any major issues. I'm very grateful that it's all gone as well as it has.