Winter 2013-2014 Rads

hi fellow winter rads.  Sorry I have not kept up with any posts.  I have been hospitalized since Thursday and will be in here at a minimum until Monday.  My mo said even once I am better I will have to wait another 2 weeks for my blood counts to get up before finishing my last 6 rads.  The infectious disease doctor still isn't sure what's causing my fevers over 103.  At first I thought it was the flu.  Got swabbed for flu, came back negative, but was prescribed tamiflu since I am high risk.  Within 4 hours I broke out in hives and doctors said I am apparently allergic to tamiflu. That was er visit 1 on Wednesday night.  Thursday my fevers were 102-104 at home and uncontrollable which led to er visit 2 and being hospitalized. They suspected bacterial in nature because of high temps and started me on 4 different Iv antibiotics (luckily I still have my port) but are now relooking at it being viral and are doing a recheck of flu with a more accurate test.  A lot of info and I don't want this to get too long.

Moral of story is that we are just as susceptible during rads as chemo but in different ways.  For me it is a loss of platelets.  I wish my mo had warned me to stay away from infectious areas like work, malls etc.  I didn't know what having low platelets meant in terms of risk. I'll keep you posted when they figure this mess out.

- Joan

JM, thinking of you and sending you (((hugs))).  

JM:  I missed your post.  So sorry you are having complications from the rads.  You are now in the right place to receive good care and it sounds as if they are covering all possibilities with four different meds.  Thoughts are with you.

thanks everyone for your support.  I made it through the night without a fever!  Which is a huge step.  I actually got some sleep but  not bothering to go back to sleep at 4 because they come with my meds at 5. 

Team Kim, there is no magic shot like neulasta etc. to bring your platelets back up that I am aware of.  This will be my discussion with my mo when she gets back from her trip.  In the meantime I will discuss with the nurses and doctors here.  I will also be seeing my pt ASAP since I now have lymphadema in my left arm from all the fluids the pumped into me.  I literally can not raise my left arm to pick up a glass of water.  They just weighed me and I have added 20 lbs of water weight since coming into the hospital.  Begged for lowest dose of prednisone and will ask if I can get off of it today .

Another lesson learned... Don't wait until there is a problem to get fitted for a sleeve.

Thanks to everyone who has been so kind. Smoking is a very tough addiction, quitting is easy - I've done it at least a dozen times. Lol. It's staying quit that is the hard part. My non-smoking counselor says that every quit is a successful quit. In her opinion the important part is to identify what triggered you to make you start again. Stress? A party with other smoking people? Building a fence? (that was my most recent trigger - everyone smoked, it was hot, we stopped for frequent breaks and everyone lit up - eventually so did I) She also said 24 hours is a successful quit. So maybe I can start with little quits. 

Jm, sorry for all you are going through right now. Hope it gets better for you very soon.

Joan, Get better soon.  I am sorry you are not feeling well and going through this.  I will pray you are back to good health very soon. 

Red:  Thinking of you, take every moment - moment by moment. 

TeamKim - when my platelets & RBC went so low during chemo, the MO said the treatment was blood transfusion.  Taking iron pills, eating steak & spinach, etc. would be good but not boost the numbers much.  They regularly schedule a transfusion when the hemoglobin is below 8.  I got to 7 twice but both times were during the holidays when the transfusion center was closed & by the time they were open again I had decided to wait for the next blood test.

Good to know I should still be watching blood count through rads.  I didn't put it together that this fun treatment can zap your blood as well as the targeted areas.

JM - sorry about the LE.  Hope you can get to a qualified LE therapist soon.

Juniper - you did 15+5? How'd it go? Are you fair? Did you burn? So many questions!

Ellen - 15+6 - I haven't heard of that before. Wow to healing so well they can't find the incision on the CT. Kudos to your BS!

Peaches - thanks for the encouragement, it is on my plan to quit, just not quite yet. I want to get this behind me first without the added stress of quitting smoking. I know you get it.

Mimi - that's crazy, the whole thing with the biopsy? What are the chances? My buddy had a dense mass that they biopsied, turned out to be a cyst but it was so large they decided to take it anyway. Opened her up and it was gone. They had punctured it with the biopsy and her body reabsorbed it.

Joan - Hope you're feeling better. Super that your fever is down. Totally sorry about the LE - hopefully your PT can help you with it. I was unaware of a potential platelet problem with rads, thanks for filling me in. Better tell my RO cuz I'm borderline all the time. Although he probably knows.

TB90 - thanks for the support and the info about the radiation to the lungs. I appreciate it.

Minus Two - I added that link to my favourites. Thanks.

Kim - Thanks for being in our pockets Kim. Twirl - all clean.

Rosecal - I respect your decision, but couldn't make the same. I am at 28%, with the Tamoxifen down to 14%, so I have to say yes to it. But I totally get why you decided no.

JP - hope this next little while goes by quickly because I sure wouldn't want to be doing a 45 minute drive in this weather.

Hope everyone has a lovely evening.

Red and others -- an explanation from my RO of why the 15 regular plus 6 boosts. I've also seen several questions about why one doctor includes boosts and others don't (aside from different cancers).

My RO explained that the Canadian study only examined the regular doses of radiation. For that limited purpose, the study was very well done and quite persuasive that the somewhat higher dose for a shorter period was just as effective as the 5 week protocol.

However, the Canadian study simply did not include the boosts.

Other research looked at boosts, but only looked at boosts after the then-usual 5 weeks of regular doses. That research was also well done, and VERY persuasive as it showed the boosts having a dramatic impact on recurrence (I think he said something like 40-50% reduction)

So that leaves the question: Do the boosts in fact help when combined with the 3 week protocol? Apparently there is a study underway to test that, but until those results are available, the whole field just doesn't know.

The RO said he wanted to err on the side of caution and give the boosts. I had to agree that as much as I want this ordeal to end, it was worth another 6 days. I mean, how much is that against the rest of my life?

Hope this helps. -- Ellen

Last night was the first night that it was hard to sleep because of rads. I finished 25 whole breast and 2 boosts. Under my arm is deep red with some small blisters. I sleep with my arm up under my pillow on my side. This stretched the underarm and it was painful. It also hurt when I rolled to the other side.  Finally around 2 am I took a pain pill left over from surgery and fell asleep.  I hope that it's better tonight. Only have 3 boosts left. Suppose to snow in the morning so hubby will stay home to snow blow and get me there. Can't wait until Wednesday.

Hello....

Not sure if I should sign up with the winter RAD group or the spring RAD group.  I start on 2/24/14.  I will sign up for both.... 

TeamKim,

You seem to be reacting to rads almost the same way I am. I have #23 today (last whole breast) and start boosts tomorrow (7). Up until last Friday I had discomfort but no pain. But after Friday's treatment I have pain in certain spots. Almost like I'm bruised inside. I'm now taking 600 mg of ibuprofen before bed which helps a lot as does the Domeboro soak The wine Saturday night helped, too  

My brown underarm is starting to peel in a couple of places, exactly like my nurse predicted and my tumor scar area is about 3 shades pinker than the rest of my breast. Wonder what is going to happen once the boosts start!

I've heard so much about fatigue but so far I'm only a little more tired in the evening. Also, during chemo I only had a couple of days after each round where I was fatigued. I must have great stamina because I've surprised everyone (including myself) that I've continued to work full time during all this. 

We're supposed to get another 3-5 inches of snow this afternoon just around the time I have to travel to Rads. YUCK! I'm so tired of winter! I just want to go someplace warm!

Have a safe drive Checkers, even if you have to leave 45 mins early. ((((hugs)))) I'll be thinking about you. Let us know when you are home safe and sound.

Hi Everyone,

I just had my 7th (of 33) radiation treatment today.  No fatigue, yet, but that's not unusual, I guess.  I do have a little nipple soreness, but I have my weekly meeting with the nurse and doctor tomorrow (as well as the weigh in), so I can ask about that then.  Hopefully, I can get to the appointment as snow is supposed to hit our area in late morning.  My appointment is at 9:45 and it's an easy ride if the weather isn't bad.