Fall 2013 Rads

Bounce, my back started giving me fits before my rads were complete and it continues to annoy me even tho it is better.  How's yours?  I'm 2 weeks out tomorrow.

I had a question. Saw the RO today and she said that I am getting some trouble spots on my back near the radiation tattoos and told me how she wants me to care for them until next week. I am having swelling and redness of my right breast, which she says is to be expected.

My question is, I noticed that the back of my neck also appears to be red. Could this be from the radiation also? I have about three to four more weeks left of radiation.

Thanks for your help and support.

JeriGrace, congrats to you! I'll be joining you in the happy dance tomorrow. If this darn weather cooperates!

Hobbsla4, some people have complained of redness on their back or neck. If it bothers you, always feel free to mention it at the treatment center to see what they think.

sloyd and raineyday, I just hold my breath with voice prompts. It worked out fairly well since I'm pretty sure I would be claustrophobic having my nose clipped! And holding the breath wasn't a problem for me, though sometimes I did hold it for over 40 seconds. Too long!

Talked to Dr. Freedman, U of P's RO specialist doctor in Philadelphia today. We've been playing phone tag for the past week. I wish I spoke with him sooner, he told me I shouldn't bother with the last three boosts! Oh well. One left and then I am done, done, well done!

Forgot to post this for you Bounce! FU cancer!

Today was my last day, praise the Lord. Emotionally, this was one of the worst experiences of my life but because of all of you, I made it through! I can't thank you enough.

Now, on to the next phase. .. the pill.

Bluebird, I couldn't agree with you more... FU cancer!

Denilynne, I can see you shining from here. You did it in style. I hope you have quick healing and happy days with your loved ones.

Bluebird, I love all my peeps but cancer can go f&ck itself. Let's all give cancer the finger! Love your posts!

MsP

Glad for those of you done rads..I am more than 50% done 16/28.. The round trip of 4 hours is the most exhausting part. Skin is holding up well.

Yay! JeriGrace! You're at the finish line! So glad to see you done after all the chemo and rads. Congrats to you and denilynne for your last radiation treatment.

I had my last full breast treatment today and have 5 boosts left. I'm starting to get pretty itchy and my breast is now HUUUUGE! We've been calling it "Big Red" since my surgery, but all the progress of that swelling and redness going down over several months has now gone out the door and it's bigger and redder than it has ever been. None of my regular bras fit right anymore. My skin in the fold under my breast is one of the most tender, irritated areas and I think immobilizing it should help prevent rubbing so I've been wearing a sports bra the last couple of days, but it's so compressing since I'm probably now a DD on the left (and B on the right). I think I might have to just go with a camisole for a few days. Anyone else have this problem and find a solution? I'm hoping the boosts will be better since they won't be targeting the areas that are reddest and most bothersome now.

I've been told that the skin will get worse before it gets better now, but I'm not sure what to expect - how many more days will it take for the effects of the last treatment to show up before the damage starts reversing with healing? Can anyone give me an idea?

Thanks.

Hi, all! I took a little break, but I've read all of your posts and am glad for those finished, and believe it or not, glad for those still on the rads journey because it means we all have access to good health care and hopefully a good, long life.

I finished 11 of 33 today (28 with 5 boosts) on both breasts. I really don't notice any SEs; am a little pink and I can see the delineation of the rad fields on both sides (reverse bikini suntan); a little tiredness but no real fatigue. I sometimes wonder (worry) that the machine isn't really working, because I have no real SEs!

I like all on my tech team, but find that I have favorites in whom I have more confidence...and I miss them when they're not there. I think I may be one of those patients who will feel sentimental at the end of rads...I'll miss this group of people caring for me every day.

This seems to be going quickly. I feel like I should be doing certain things - eating certain foods to maximize the strength of rads, or certain foods to minimize the effects of rads...drinking more water...sleeping more...exercising more...but it all just keeps going along. Things are pretty normal. Occasionally I feel weepy and alone in this...

Lost my car keys yesterday and started to panic that I wouldn't get to the hospital today (I missed yesterday's rads due to snow) and then a friend offered to drive me AND take me to the dealership to have a new key made. I haven't asked for much during all of this, and it took me a few minutes to accept her offer, but you know what? It was a lovely day spent together and I didn't feel guilty at all. In fact I feel like I got closer to this friend through her kindness. And she thanked ME for accepting her offer. Wow.

amsm - is there any way you can ask to do free breathing? I am doing gated breathing, too, and other than a gating block which is velcroed to my chest during treatment, there are no other special tools or equipment I use. I don't even look at the screen with the bars on it. I don't wear the goggles. The techs go out of the room and then tell me when to breathe on the intercom...breathe, hold, exhale...and I just do my thing. It's not panicky at all for me. Seems to me they should be able to make you more comfortable, esp. if you are getting some panicky moments with the noseclip on. I would, too, if I were you.

Love to all.

Hi, sloyd - your set-up will include the following:

1) Forming the mold that you will use each time you go in for rads (this is a blue, "beanbag chair" kind of thing - you lay back on an inclined plane and they'll have you put your arm up on top of the beanbag. The techs will position your arm so that it will not be touched by the rads machine as it moves around you (it doesn't move while it's emitting radiation, but it will move into different positions/angles in order to effectively deliver the rads), then when they have your arm in the right position, they do something that firms up the material in the beanbag and, voila, that will be the mold they use so that your arm is in the same position every time.

2) The CT Scan - This should not take too long...but you will be asked to hold your breath at some point (I'm pretty sure everyone having the CT sim has to hold their breath even if they're not doing gated breathing). The breath-hold could be several seconds (maybe 20 - 30; mine was for 45 seconds), but it's totally doable. Let your techs know if you have any anxiety about claustrophobia. The CT sim machine is in a ring shape with openings on both sides, so you won't be in there as you might in an MRI.

3) The tattoos - The last thing they will do is place permanent little black dot tattoos in the areas where they will line you up for every rads session. I noticed that, on the side where I had 2 nodes removed, I hardly felt the tattoos going in at all, but on the side where I had only one node removed, I felt it a little bit. A tiny bee sting and then it was gone.

Hmmm...about the timing - I would want to make sure you are totally healed. You may do very well, skinwise, in rads...but some people have moderate to severe skin issues as a result...you would want to have healed skin before it could possibly become compromised by radiation. I think most people feel comfortable starting around 6 weeks, so if it's possible to give yourself that extra week, I would.

Here's a link to a site that discusses suggestions for food dos and don'ts during radiation.

http://foodforbreastcancer.com/articles/what-should-breast-cancer-patients-eat-during-radiation-treatment%3f

Hope this helps! Don't worry - you will be just fine!

Summergal, would you mind if I copied and pasted your post in answer to sloyd on our winter rads thread? I think all of the gals there who are just beginning would find it really helpful!

Dear Bluebird, just love your posted finish announcement. It is so fitting your radiation experience...such a horrendous struggle, but you did make it to the shiny, radiant side of the street. And we are all so very happy that your healing can begin now. All the best for the holidays and keep giving the middle finger to cancer!

Love, MsP

I am done! Not without a little trouble though. Rad appt is at 7:20 am, have to leave home at 6:20 because traffic is nasty and get a call at 7:00 - machine is down. What??!!! My last day!! They weren't sure how long it would take to get it back up so they say just go back home and they will call me. Um, I've been driving 40 minutes, I'm not going home to maybe just turn around and come back out. Good thing my sister lives just off the expressway - went and hung out there and had a coffee then went to the mall when she went to work. Got the call about 10 that the machine was back up. I was there in 15 minutes! Now I have my little certificate of completion and I am sooo glad I don't have to get up so dang early anymore!

Congrats to all those finishing up this week!

I started taking a shuttle to the hospital this week. It's nice not to drive all the way to Los Angeles, but I get home so late! There are 11-14 others on the shuttle as well. It's nice to have others to talk to about treatment at times. Four are finishing treatment this week and their positivity helps.

I have not seen my RO since I started (finished 8 treatments so far). I'm not sure if this is normal. I'm holding up OK, just a little redness and itching.

Hello to everyone!

This is my first time posting on this site, I was on the August chemo gals, finished that Oct 22. Now on to the next step... I have read most of the posts, it took awhile, ha. I started rad on Nov 18, so I am almost halfway done. I'm a bit sore inside and pink, but not too much to complain about. I was told to just use the Calendula cream and that seems to be working fine so far. They only supplied the first tube and said where it could be purchased, but I found it much cheaper on Amazon, almost half the price.

From reading the other posts I have seen the discussions regarding breathing. I was told to just breath normally, that breathing motion was calculated. Of course this concerns me and I have asked at least twice about it. My tumor site is left breast 9 o'clock position center. I would think that would be right by the heart. My center just got a brand spankin new machine (Elekta Infinity Linear Accelerator) so maybe it is top of the line, but I haven't heard anything close to this yet. Has anyone been told to just breathe normally?

Starting when I did, I'm also running into three Holidays they will be closed for. I showed up for my treatment on Black Friday and the center was dark. Guess they close early on certain days, but if they notified people, they missed me. I will be more vigilant around Christmas and New Years to make sure I don't miss out again.

I noticed a post earlier mentioning the fact we didn't get treatments on the weekends. I asked my RO about how the effectiveness of treatment was decided since no treatment was given over the weekends and this was just because people don't work then. I guess this could be researched, but it does seem odd if we are to get 33 treatments, what is changed by so many days off here and there. I know I'm probably not phrasing this correctly, I hope you kinda get my drift. My RO just said there has to be some breaks in order to help with skin preservation and there are times when they do treat people every day if their tumors require it. I was hoping for something more scientific, but that's what I got.

I appreciate all the information I have already learned from reading the earlier posts, thanks so much!