Winter rads 2014-2015

Welcome! Attitude is everything, and you are on it! Positive and moving on, I hope to move on soon also. I see the RO on 1/9, the sooner in, the sooner out! Lots of great info here, and very helpful. Good Luck!

Hi Gongshow16, Celebrate your victory! I am very happy for you, this is not a easy path to follow, and you did it. Awesome!! I hope to follow you soon and bring everyone here with me. My advice, enjoy Life!

Gongshow - I'm right there with you. Today is my last day! I'm very much looking forward to it, but getting back to normal life will feel weird. And I am dreading the tamoxifen, too. It's just another "who knows what to expect" kind of thing. Hope everything goes well as you return to the classroom. Hopefully the busyness of each day will keep your mind off things and you will get to just feel normal and healthy

Good going Gongshow. My center has a 6 week survivors group. Do you have anything like that which is a transition program? Checked on Livestrong which is a Y program to recover fitness and sanity.

I figure if I don't have a mammogram for so many months, I will at least be able to plan something fun in that time period.

Hi Everyone,

I had my Radiation treatment planning session today. Four tattoos and lots of green sharpie marks all over my boob. I start my treatment sessions on Thursday the 8th. 19 days of treatments. 15 days of whole breast radiation and then 4 days of targeted radiation to the area where they removed the mass. After the planning session the nurse game me a thermometer chart to rank my level of stress for the social worker. I laughed when she handed it to me, I guess that is better than crying.

Carynbrit, good one. I wish I would of thought to ask for a red sharpie for the thermometer chart! I think I am still like a deer in the headlights with all of this stuff.

Fiinally finished! What a huge relief - I can't wait until all of you get to the finish line with me. Celebrated with the family and a special dinner. Doc said to be aware that symptoms can continue to get worse for the first week, but then will get better from there. So I'm not completely done with the sticky clothes yet. But soon......

Encouragment from the finish line (imagine me yelling back to you 'keep going! you can do it! you got this!').

Birdgirl11 and Perfectlyimperfect39;

Congrats to you sisters!  Truly happy you're done with the worst of this.  Your messages were wonderful!  Made me cry but it's ok, these are tears of hope.  I can totally imagine you both at the finish line cheering us on!

I love that they played special music and made the last treatment memorable.

Giant hugs to you both!  Go get your life back.  I'll join the club in 8 weeks!

(((💓)))

Hi old and new warriors, I am 3 wks out of rads and I healed very quickly. The one piece of advice I can give is limit your showering( it dries your skin out and makes it worse) and use lots of your creams. Nothing is too much. I had a bad burn in my armpit the last two wks of rads and every time I showered it would open and start all over, so I finally decided not to shower more than 3xs a week. I just took sponge baths the other days and my skin immediately started healing. It looks awesome now! I had my MO appt to talk tomaxafin and we decided to start efexor first for two weeks as I am getting zero sleep due to hot flashes. If they seem to lessen by two wks then I will start tomaxafin. I have the beginnings of Barrett syndrome from acid re f lux and this has gotten worse since rads so I'm on a higher dose of meds for that too. Tomorrow I will do a chest ct w/ contrast to check on the nodule they saw on my right lung in late October during my SIM. I will be switching insurance and getting married and permanently moving to washington by the end of the month . I didn't want to worry (during my inevitable lapse in medical coverage) about that nodule so he ordered the ct to hopefully put my mind at ease for the next few months. My follow up with RO is right after ct and then hopefully no more doctors, labs, or anything having to do with this damn disease till June and my next mamo. I desperately need to feel normal again and to just be happy. I have the most wonderful man and the best daughters! My baby comes home from her semester abroad(4 months), and I have missed her terribly. I can't wait to see her Friday! I want the fear to go away for awhile and hopefully the ct comes out good and I can rest easy. This is such a damn hard journey we are all on but we're on it together and we can all get through it! The support I find here has saved me in so many ways! Thank you all my sister's new, old, and ones yet to meet! F*ck Cancer!

Congrats to everyone who is done with radiation!! How exciting to meet this milestone.

Perfectlyimperfect39

Congrats on finishing. They are awesome songs to here on your last day. I would take it as a special sign. Good luck healing.

(Absolutely no disrespect intended to those who think certificates of completion are a great idea. Really!)

Hi Beachbaby65;

Ditto on the f@#k cancer!  

Congrats on all the wonderful things in your life.  Enjoy the visit with your daughter.

 BTW, we're neighbors; I'm in Oregon.

Thank you all for the heads-up and the advice regarding the immediate aftermath of rads.  Those of us following you appreciate the information. 

Good evening Ladies, When I finished my chemo I was presented with a Graduation Certificate and I got to ring the bell. I rang it as hard as I could. I wanted everyone in the building to know that I did it! And my chemo nurses gave me a stuffed Everready bunny, because we keep going, and going, and going! Not for everyone, but I worked oh so hard to reach that day, and I was going for it. Then I ran, as far and as fast as I could.......and stopped at the liquor store on the way home! I deserved that too!

Have a great night!

I have been reading posts and appreciate the information. I was diagnosed in early December and had surgery December 17. I meet with BS Jan 8 for follow up and assume we will start radiation soon. I am scheduled to retire end of January and will need to change insurance. Should I wait to start radiation until I am on the new insurance? Is it better to heal more after the lumpy before beginning rads? Thanks for the support.