Fall 2013 Rads

Today was 17th radiation treatment. I will have last one Jan. 7, 2014.

I am finding it is painful after radiation. Usually put bra into my coat pocket. Because of cancer in lymph nodes, I have 3 scars: from lumpectomy, SNB, and axillary node dissection. These areas the most sore. Have a rash area above my collarbone which the bra strap hits. have. Never owned so many bras! Buy 'me and get new ones when old ones begin causing discomfort.

Although I am halfway through radiation, that fact today is more depressing because just worn out from going through chemo and side effects and Lymphedema - it just gets worse especially in my right hand despite PT with Lymphedema expert, custom glove, sleeve... Manual Lymphedema massages. All around more of a down day. Only thing that has saved me so far is staying in the moment so I don't go down the what if road or just get overwhelmed. But today is hard as so many are when going through cancer treatment. Good luck to all.

Wow this thread has multiplied over the past month. So sorry so many people have had to join. I have read all the pages to see how everyone faired. It appears most of the early group has completed their treatments, including bluebird.

It has been a super busy last few weeks. I managed to get everything done with Mom's passing. I had her memorial service Dec 3rd. So glad to be back home. I had issues trying to find internet while gone. On Friday I picked up the death certificates and was surprised to see they chose cause of death as metastatic breast cancer with contributing health conditions of Alzheimer's dementia. She was never tested for mets. I don't know how they made that diagnosis. I guess they like a reason other than Alzheimer's. When she was diagnosed in Feb. they told me she would die of something other than breast cancer since it was so slow growing. Oh well, it is what it is.

I did really well after rads. The worse it ever got was a slight sunburn under the arm area and a slight tan for the rest of the treated area. I feel so fortunate.

I saw the PS last week and he said see you next year and we will start planning a DIEP reconstruction. At this point I am in no rush to start another long healing process. Maybe I will shoot for March.

We are planning to take our replacement cruise the first week of Feb. This will be the one year anniversary of the cruise from last year that we got stranded on the Gulf of Mexico. We were on that cruise with ten couples that graduated high school with us. 4 couples have been waiting for me to finish treatments so we could go again. We just found out one other lady on the trip with us last year was diagnosed with breast cancer in June and finished a LX and rads in Sept. Guess we will have something to catch up on. They knew I had been diagnosed and was starting chemo when we got back off the cruise. In fact we were still on the boat when I was to have my first MO appt.

For all the new ladies I hope you have an easy time.

Shalimar, I did not have gated or controlled breathing with left breast rads. My tumor bed was near the chest wall at the 5o'clock position. I asked why and they said during my setup my breathing pattern showed I had plenty of room to protect the heart and a very small margin of the upper lung would be in the treatment field. Ask your RO to show you the colored rad field chart it shows the laser areas and the location to your organs. It helped me feel safer After seeing a visual. Good luck. The new machines have very minimal scatter as opposed to older models.

Bounce so glad to see you have finished. So sorry you were so exhausted. I hope everyday gets better and better and you will be strong for the holidays.

MsP thanks for continuing to hang around and be such support to this radiant group.

I will continue to check in and follow each persons journey through the holidays. I wish each one few SE's and quick healing and conquering the emotions of the treatments.

Jeanine, so very, very happy to get this update. What a year, right? But it looks like you can close the chapter on some of the challenging parts and look forward to 2014, a new year. And again, so sorry that you lost your mother this year. I think you are so wise to delay more treatments if you can and have some fun. As I always say, we have to remember to thank our loved ones who have supported us through this crap....and be a support to others when we can.

You have always paid it forward and are loved for that. Best, MsP

I'm done! Last rad today! So glad to be done with active treatment. I have been on this roller coaster since May and this is it (except of course for tamoxifen).

So no more appointments until after Christmas. I see the RO Dec. 27 so I guess I'll be ringing in 2014 with tamoxifen.

I have no pain, but redness in the boost area and tanning in the rest. Fatigue just started for the first time yesterday; so after 5 pm I am just wiped.

Everyone, I will be here to see how you all are and to compare notes as things continue. Have a great weekend, and may your SEs be few and your joys plentiful!

Anybody here who is doing radiation after implant exchange? My PS recommends exchange surgery before starting radiation which would delay rads by at least four weeks. If you went this route please share your thoughts.

Congratulations Lisa!  It is so wonderful to (as my auto spell correct would say) "be done with this shirt!" 

On rad breaks: Heck, I had a three week break from rads. I wonder if it wasn't just a money maker for them to bring me back to get in the last three.

Done, Done, and Done!!!! When I thought it was never going to end when I looked at the long stretch before me. I do have to admit, now that radiation is over, I feel a little bit anxious. Like this "Being on my own now" feeling. I hope that it passes. Now on to the next hurdle. Anastrozole/Arimidex. But...I won't have to start until after the holidays. My MO wants to see me on January 29. The redness is already fading and the underarm is healing quickly. Hang in there, ladies! It will be OKAY. Have a great weekend break...

How do you add your oncotype score on your profile? I see some ladies have it and I can't figure where you put it at.

I was told by a tech today that I am getting another CT on Monday to set up for the boost, according to her I will be lying on my side for this to displace the tumor cavity. Does anyone know if this requires more tattoos, I forgot to ask?

Thank goodness for the weekend.  I  getting redder and redder.  My RO will monitor.  She advised me what to use for it.  My question for whoever can advise me is this:  I will have an appointment scheduled next month with MO.  What are these appointments typically like?  All I was told by the surgeon is that I would see the MO for  Tamoxifen.  What are some helpful questions for the MO?  Thanks!

Wishing everyone peace andrelaxation this weekend.

Two more boosts left, but I feel like I'm done because I had my meeting with the RO and nurse to get my discharge instructions yesterday because they do that on Fridays - my schedule is off because of the two holidays for Thanksgiving week. I'm feeling pretty chipper about being (nearly) done. Under my arm and breast are so red right now and I have a lot of itching - especially along my sternum. It's so hard not to scratch.

KR - no tattoos for the boost at my place. Since there are only 5, they marked it with marker and put tape over the marks to protect them from getting washed off. I think they normally use clear stickers, but I had one throughout the rads and mine kept falling off (the tape seems to hold a little better on my skin). I have 5 marks right now covered in tape and I can't wait until the last boost so I can get them off! Especially as they cover so much of the boost area, so there's only some small regions between the markings that I can put any Calendula cream or Aquaphor on.

Really hoping the redness will go down this weekend instead of getting worse like yesterday.

Congrats to all those who finished this past week or so: lisasp, bluebird (love the sloth pix), bounce and rainy day. Hopefully I didn't forget anyone. Happy dance for you all!

Rainyday, I also felt like you did around the time of finishing, it is a bit scary to feel like you are suddenly on your own, and not sure what to do next. But after I had my follow ups with my MO and BS last week, I feel a bit better. I know I will start tamoxifen next month, and will be monitored through follow ups every 3 to 6 months, etc. Also, even though the "active" part of treatment may be over, you still need time to rest and recover from this whole ordeal. (I am trying to heed my own words, because somehow I feel that now that rads is over, everyone will expect "Business as usual", but my DH and others have told me that is not the case. They are expecting that I still need to recover. I guess I am the only one putting pressure on myself.) You are not really on your own. Besides, you can still be active on the boards here, we can still support each other.

Summergal, so glad to hear from you again. I was beginning to wonder what happened to you!

Happy healing weekend to all!

PRB1956 - Where I did rads - under age 50 do 25 treatments with a simultaneous integrated boost - 50 grays for entire breast 60 grays for boost area.

Over age 50 - same thing but in 15 treatments.

RO said they are both as effective in keeping cancer away no matter which age group given to - but they are not yet sure of the 10 year cosmetic effect for under 50 year olds of the 15 day treatment so therefore they still do the longer one.

L2girl - nice to hear from you - yep. Take it easy. Don't feel you have to live up to anyone's expectations - just listen to your body and do what's right for you.

Despite some heavy rain in my area most of the weekend my husband and I drove to a park and went for a walk this afternoon.

There were about 4 other people in the entire park which is usually crowded on a Saturday.

My husband looked at the other people and said: I bet you they are all cancer survivors! At that moment I felt rather pleased with myself (and with my husband).

Mellie289 - resist the urge to scratch or even to rub hard - and be very careful of towels. That skin might look like its ready to come off but the skin underneath is really in need of still being covered.

Am using shea butter cream today and it seems to be helping keep crocodile skin at bay.

Bounce - I hadn't heard anything about the cosmetic effects of the shorter versus longer protocols. Interesting. I have gotten very cynical about medical billing in the USA since watching my chemo bills role in and it seemed to me that there would be little incentive for ROs to switch to a similarly effective shorter protocol if they can have patients come for more treatments to bill their insurance companies.

Thanks for the advice on the itching. I am fighting it and trying to just dab gently with the towel. I used some hydrocortisone cream on the worst area (sternum) and the itching is more tolerable. I don't have any peeling yet, but I think it will come on my nipple soon by the looks of it - a bit like crocodile skin, now that you mention it. I hope I'll be able to ignore the peeling. I'm a picker!

PRB - I'm speechless that he would refuse to treat you if you go past 3 months! Have you thought about getting a second opinion? I did that for my MO and went with the second since I preferred the treatment she suggested (6xTC instead of 6xAC plus 6xT) since it meant a shorter treatment and no risk of permanent heart damage. I hope you have the option to see another RO.

Sorry about your current complications from the lumpectomy. I'm worried about the rads too - I don't have any swelling but I've been going for LE risk assessment and my L-Dex readings went up last month. I'm going again on Monday to see if a month of self-massage and wearing a sleeve+gauntlet has helped, but the effect of the rads and flights I'm going to be taking during the holidays have me really worried about my early LE advancing. Everything we do seems to be a gamble for future complications that can be permanent.

As far as rads go, do you have any information about what areas will be treated? My RO is not doing the area that has my remaining lymph nodes (only two fields), so I expect that the damage shouldn't be as bad as for those who also get their axilla treated and can have the lymph nodes there damaged.