Summer Rads 2014

I am so grateful for incredible insurance.   I had 100% coverage after a $300 deductible!   Thank goodness!

I told a lie. Out of pocket would have been over $12,000 if I had opted for HSA

Well, I did it! Yesterday was last rad!  Whoop whoop!  DH, kids, granddaughters(2) and my sis all went to a nice dinner. Got a lovely bouquet of pink flowers at work and lots of well wishes on my completion. Now onto final healing. DH is taking me on a cruise and stay in Bahamas in Feb 2015 too. Whew..............sigh of relief!!  MO appointment on 9/22 and then follow up with BS and RO in 2 months.  I hear then annual mammograms.  Skin is looking better and hope the next weeks will finish up with the healing. I've been somewhat tired and trying to get through work.  RO said to continue skin care for 1 year to get the best benefit for skin to completely heal and to nourish it to return to as near normal as possible. I'll use up my Miaderm, silvadene cream and aquafor for the next weeks, then vit E and aloe for a year.  Have a good evening!

Congratulations Mari!!!! Woot Woot!!!  Look out Bahamas here she comes. LOL

congrats mripp!!  Such a great feeling to be done!!

Checking in on my friends and hope everyone has a great weekend!  Yey for all those finishing up and hang in there if you are still in rads!  

Getting back to teaching has been the best medicine!  When things get hectic and I am racing to meetings, I think back to only a few months ago how I was mostly on the couch with my activity being searching for inspirational quotes on Pinterest!  Now I am too busy to think about negative things...only when it's quiet do I hear that nagging question...did this really happen to me?  Then I look in the mirror and see my answer...reality...

Enough of that! Gotta get ready for the babies who make me laugh every day!! Rosie

Mari, CONGRATULATIONS!! Bahamas will be fabulous!! Yes, thanks for the reminder. I have definitely slacked off on the skincare.

Rett, Sounds like there may be hope on the insurance front. Keeping my fingers crossed for you!!  As a chronic insomniac I had one of the most relaxing short naps ever after the colonoscopy. Don't know what they gave me but I honestly felt great afterwards. I must be the weirdest person, certainly the only one I know who actually enjoyed the colonoscopy.  What one will do for a decent nap!!

Rosie, So glad that you are enjoying being back with those little ones so much. As you say the best medicine!!

Don't know if its those pills or just a hangover from treatment or just me!! I just went on a terrible binge yesterday.  Tuesday I was good, walked about 4 1/2m on the treadmill and did some resistance too. Wednesday I had a slice or Rye toast with PB for breakfast and a big salad with lean chicken for lunch. Yesterday I started feeling really hungry on the way to work. I ended up making a bacon sandwich when I got there, then the fatigue hit me around 10 am. I just wanted to go nap in the car. Instead I ended up eating 3 Snickers bars and 2 bags of Cheesits. Got home around 7 pm and went straight to bed with a slice of bread and a Kit Kat. Yes I opened the refrigerator and DH had bought more of them. I did have a tech. problem on the computer that I couldn't resolve at work so that likely didn't help but I really hated all the eating, especially as weight has been creeping up. Well today is a new day....and I am at home so no vending machines, just the refrigerator, and then the gym tonight. Lol.

Oh Trina, They should have given you clear instructions. Mine explained AND gave a list of products.  I am so sorry you are experiencing this. The normal routine is Toms of Maine original unscented deodorant from most large pharmacies, and not within 4 hours before rads. You can put it on right after. I used to take a shower, put nothing on and then put on the Toms of Maine and moisturizer when rads was done. It is not the greatest and I did feel a bit stinky but I think it may be that regular deodorant has aluminum in it, also the scent may irritate. One lady mentioned Christal which she liked but not sure how easy that is to find quickly.

And NO, you are not foolish at all. They should have told you!

Hello all! It's been a while since I was on this board, trying to catch up!! I finished 17 of 33 today, so more than half way. And my last 8 are boosts. I'm in decent shape: zingers, red skin, tender scars from the two incisions, super sensitive nipple and Ittttttchy. Not horrible, at least. I had the machine break down this morning during my treatment, but they were able to re-boot the computer and get me done. Wooooo-hoooo!! The ladies who measure me and get me set up every day are so very sweet. I really hope they know how much of difference their kindness makes. I can't imagine having to deal with nasty nurses for that every day. And we're there at 7:20 every day and they are always nice to me.

As far as the deodorant, I have an early morning appointment, so I shower then go and apply the Tom's when I get home. For me it does very little, so I take unscented baby wipes if I'm out for a while and try to use them if I start to notice myself being stinky. I have also felt the need to take like three showers a day, but since I only have stubble for hair (and growing!!), it doesn't take long and then I feel better.  

Trina, they should have told you that, you seem to have gotten the raw deal with some of your providers. I hope this means you get some big good thing happening after all this crappy stuff is over!!!

Happy weekend all!!!

Thank you for the support, Ladies.  I know I can always count on you helping me through all this

I wish I had been better informed.  I hadn't had any skin issues whatsoever until the last three or four treatments.  Part of the problem was the fact I have no feeling under my arm from my lumpectomy and lymph node removal...I wasn't feeling pain so I figured all was well.  But now my surgical area (including arm pit) is red like a bad sunburn, and the entire right side is pink and a little itchy (the areas I can feel).  

I will need to adopt your routine jhodro, as I have early appointments too.  I was given some Tom's to use after my surgery, and even though not so effective, it will do for the short term.  My hot flashes are still making an appearance a dozen times a day, so I'm hoping I will be able to use real deodorant sooner rather than later!

And even with these issues, I do feel thankful that, I too, have two sweet techs who set me up each day.  I think I'll miss seeing them when I'm finally done.  Only 8 left!

I am doing a happy dance!  Friday was my last radiation!

Thank you all so much for helping me through this.  It was scary at first but once I got into the routine is was easy.  No real skin problems except some redness.

I continue with Herceptin every three weeks until the end of March.  As far as I am concerned I am cured at this point.  On with my life.

One thing I learned is everyone is going through some sort of crap even if it doesn't show so be kind to another people.

Dee

DeeC, congrats on being "DONE"!!! Feels good!

Reetmich, sounds like good news on ins extension. Must be a relief for now.

Izzysmom, I know all about the food choices. Sometimes to me choc is a comfort food and satisfying! And I wanted to have a BLT today, went to get some leftover bacon to heat up, low and behold, DH had eaten it already. No BLT for me! I went up and down 10 lbs over the last 3 months. I'm trying to focus on healthy eating, but give permission to have an occasional non- healthy choice. That's reasonable I think!

Rosie, glad the kiddos and teaching routine is going well!

Swissmiss, I guess we all continue to absorb more info every day, so no worries about not knowing everything. Just keep up the moisturizing (I have found the Silvadene + Aquafor (both) helped extremely well after my peeling brown turned to  red weepy skin.) I probably drove my RO and team crazy with soooooo many questions, but they never ever made me feel that anything I asked was unimportant. They always answered everything. Felt good  to have such caring medical team.

My skin is looking better already since final rad on 9 /10. Felt good to not have to spend 4 hours day going to/from treatment (driving to, changing, tx, doc appmt, changing, driving home). Nice to do other things:*) We went to a great nieces wedding Friday, I teared up seeing her walk down the aisle. Emotions still running really high since this bc journey all began. Looking forward to getting back to near normal life!

my new Sassy Head designs are in!!  I am wearing the new pink ribbon today.  Now that I have hair, I can find plenty of other places to wear it!

How long do you think until I get some of my energy back from radiation?  I miss my old self!

Picture of me and The Machine as I called it. Wearing my wig.

Dee

Thanks my sisters!  Yes, Sassy Head is taking off!   I have ribbons for all the different cancers, lots of pretty designs and a pirate skulls and faux hawks for little boys. I even have a biker-tribal one for men!  Look how stinking cute this tiara is for little girls!

Dee, CONGRATS on finishing, and also to anybody I may have missed over the weekend!!

 We went to Maine for a long weekend and the weather was beautiful. We stayed at a cheaper hotel for a night and then a really fancy place on the ocean (and they allowed dogs) for 2 nights. I of course was grumpy (call it the meds) as I wish we had booked all 3 nights in the fancy place -my excuse is post rads treat. They allowed people with well behave dogs, like Lyzzy, in the lounge area which meant we could eat dinner with her.   They even provided doggy meals although she just picked the chicken out of hers!! It was called the Inn by the Sea and DH spotted a deal on Amazon. We will go again some time if we can get another deal as regular rates are very high and DH is an expert at finding good deals. We went to a very nice place in Virginia a while back and found that we were paying for a whole week what some were paying for a night!

JBok, The Sassy Heads are such a great idea and any little girl would feel like a princess in that tiara! I am glad they are taking off. Any chance you will get  the opportunity to get some exposure for them when you do the wedding TV show. Would they interview you?

Rett, I am glad it sounds like the insurance is going to work out. Cobra is so expensive.

Stephanie, Are you are on hormonals? or recently started or been doing more exercise? That can all can cause aches and pains. I think some say to ask a doctor if you have a symptom that does not go  away after a couple of weeks. I know I had some minor rib pain for quite a while that eventually  disappeared by itself!  Hopefully all is well but you may as well get it checked out for peace of mind. It may be something that PT could help with.