Fall Rads 2014

Missyjean sorry to hear about your skin but glad you are feeling better!! I love the NICU too. We have NNP's and Attendings also.  Our mothership hospital in Manhattan has residents and fellows. So it's nice to not have a rotating staff. Fellows are much better than residents though. At least they are doing it because they like the NICU. 9 more treatments to go for me!

GilesMT, glad you're doing well on your rads.  Interesting that you are getting such a mix of them.  My whole breast ones were always the same - from 3 different positions.  I'm on my 6 boosts (3 down, 3 to go) and they seem to be done from 5 positions (although they told me 4 positions, I really CAN count!).  A little redness is all.  Can't wait for Thursday!  Good luck to you.  (I think DH would be happy to have a blind nurse sticking him, some of those drawing blood weren't doing such a good job).

Well I went in for my first treatment yesterday, only to have it cancelled due to the machine breaking.  *sigh*  Now I have been pushed into Thanksgiving week.  Oh well.  They promised the machine would be fixed last night.  Another day of being nervous and not being able to concentrate.  (I always get this way with the "unknown" and will be fine once I actually do a treatment.)

Jeanelle, sorry your first day was a non-event.  I found absolutely nothing scary about my treatment.  I wasn't apprehensive beforehand, either.  You'll do fine.

HomeMom, Glad they are going to get you started ASAP.  Wonder if 5 hours is a really long time to work on a plan.  I don't recall anyone ever mentioning how long it took to develop my plan.

Peggy, My mind knows that this will be nothing and that the hard part is over but I still get anxious of the unknown.  I'll be perfectly fine once I do it once and know what to expect.  Thanks for the support!

Jeanelle- I had a similar thing happen today.  Went in for my first dose today and my plan wasn't done!!  So back I go tomorrow morning for the first one.  It's another day of the unknown here today too, and I hardly slept last night just because my brain won't turn off!  

Just got back from rads #2, and the gals were right, 10" and I was out of there. Took 3 practice deep breathe & hold breaths, and then 4 holding breaths for the treatment, and I was out of there. So much better.

My shoulder is still kind of sore, I have an appointment with my ortho surgeon later this month for my last post op visit and he can look at it then. Marie, if your arm continues to be numb should probably have a doctor check it out.

Jeanelle: oh, that would have killed me to get there and have it cancelled. You get yourself all psyched up for it, how disappointing.

One of the gals at Yoga today said people need to take the word Fear (F=False, E=evidence A=appearing R=Real) and change it to (F=feeling E=excited A=and R=ready). Let's turn this whole experience into "feeling excited and ready to put this all behind us."

Puffin, I like that definition of FEAR.  It works for me!  Glad you're not quite as sore and that you breezed through your rad today.

You are almost there Peggy!! 

It's great to read and catch up with you all! Congrats to everyone finishing and good luck to all just starting.

I am one full week since rads (yahoo!!). I have been very frustrated this week though since the fatigue is still seriously kicking my butt. Today I dragged myself to walk with the dog - this is something that I used to do daily even through most of chemo for about 3 miles, but I could only go a very short distance...Luckily I had my BS follow-up appointment today. He was really helpful and explained/reminded me how many things we've all been through, surgery(ies), chemo, then rads...so it takes much longer than we all expect to feel back to normal. Honestly, even though I was tired, I figured I'd bounce back in a week or two. He said expect to have more energy by my next 3 month check up and be back 100% at 6 months. Not that I want to wait that long, but it does make sense, as I was starting to wonder if something was wrong with me. 

So if anyone else is feeling this way, you're not alone! I also have a consult scheduled for my next phase, symmetry, PS. It probably won't be until after I finish Herceptin in spring, but at least I can feel like I'm getting it all scheduled and then I'll finally be able to move on.

Take care, everyone!!

So Rads #21 under my belt and my plan maybe changing.  I asked the RO about the boost today and he is thinking about giving me 28 whole breast with no boost.  So I maybe over sooner than I thought which I am not complaining about.  

I feel like I was fine until yesterdays treatment and then everything went down hill.  My underarm hurts, my scar hurts, and my super clavicle itches like crazy. All in all I am getting them done but I will not miss going to rads every AM.  

I had my first treatment yesterday.  Other than my arms having to be in weird positions so the machine doesn't whack my elbows, I was fine.  Hopefully they will be quicker going forward.  It took about 30 minutes today.  

The countdown now begins!

so I have 12 rads under my belt my breast is doing fine but yesterday morning when I woke up I felt like I hit a brick wall. I was told probably not rads ??? Just barely got out of bed this morning. I never sleep late now Im not wanting to get up. They say it should be a couple more weeks before I start having symptoms. It's like they are saying its in my head. I just don't have much modevatio.Has anyone else had fatigue after 12 treatments?  On my way now to # 13.  

jeanelle-glad your trip was as uneventful as mine

Session #1 check.  About 30 minutes also.  Definitely shorter next time so they say.   More nerves jumping today on my incisions, but that's probably just from positioning. I can't imagine it's from the radiation yet.  Glaxal base cream on.  Now to start drinking water

Cceandme, It does fly by - you'll soon be done!  My last one is tomorrow - #33.  My underarm is rather numb and sensitive.  Just using Aquaphor and that works well.  They did test me for breath holding but apparently it didn't make a difference, so I didn't have to do it.  Plenty of fatigue but lots of other things are contributing to that.  Very little redness.

Got my genetic test results back today, negative for the 2 BRCA's, which is good. Had 2 tests that came back Uncertain Clinical Significance, meaning there is currently insufficient data to determine if these variants cause increased cancer risk. If those tests are recategorized over time as more data is available, I'll be notified. 

I also learned from my RO today why I'm only getting 15 treatments. It's called the Canada model. Each daily dose is larger. Some of the criteria that have to be met to qualify for the 15 day rads: small tumor with clean margins and nodes, postmenopausal, estrogen +, smaller breasts, and other tumor characteristics that he didn't cover in detail.