Winter rads 2014-2015

This is our list of Winter Warriors as of February 19, 2015 - We are still growing!  The Winter Warrior sign up will be over soon.  Our Spring will be a new beginning.

October / November Start

MeneK – Oct 24 .................... MagicalBean - Oct 28......... Mmtagirl - Nov 3

MarieBernice6234 - Nov 4  ... Hope50 - Nov 5 ..................  dennyvol - Nov 5

CAS4 - Nov 6 ........................ Beachbaby65 - Nov 4 .......... CoyoteNV - Nov 10 

Lush61 - Nov 13 .................... Rosa54 - Nov 13 .................  Beachlady28 – Nov 17

Nomatterwhat - Nov 17 ......... LMVerma  Nov 18 ................ katieC12 – Nov 18

Lorrilynne - Nov 18 .............. Gongshow18 - Nov 20 .........Yikes1 - Nov 20

Birdgirl11 - Nov 23 .............  Perfectlyimperfect39 - Nov 23 Singsing1020 -

December Start

Pita119 - Dec 1 .................. SandyLovesLucy - Dec 1......... AnasNana - Dec 1

 HockeyCat - Dec 3 ......... . CanuckMom Dec 4 ................  MeanMomto3 - Dec 4

JustJean - Dec 5 ...............  runningcello - Dec 9 ............... carynbrit - Dec 10

 ForHisGlory - Dec 10 ........ Davida58 - Dec 10 ....................SCMom - Dec 11

eileenpg - Dec 16 .............. Linzer – Dec 16 ....................... WndrWoman - Dec 16

 sweetbanker - Dec 16 ........  labelle - Dec 17 .......................  Slavrich - Dec 27

InGodshands - Dec 18 ....... Catie57 - Dec 18 ........................ lilactulip - Dec 18 

 PoppyK - Dec 29 .............. kpmacmill - Dec 29 ....................  Jlynn13 - Dec 29

 gretchy - Dec 29  ...............Bellegirl - Dec 30 

January Start

reader425 - Jan 2 ................ILCMom - Jan 2................................ Purrrrana99 - Jan 5

Cath57 - Jan 5  ......................... Professor50 - Jan 5 ...................fossf - Jan 7

Lulubelle1 - Jan 8 ............. lescover - Jan 8 .......................  Nancy6540 - Jan 12 .

Saltygirl - Jan 12  .......................aj103014 - Jan 12 .................... Fionascottie - Jan 13

Magdalene51 - Jan 15 .............. quiggy - Jan 19 ................................. Annie88 - Jan 19

chtease - Jan 19 ....................... Bippy625 - Jan 20 ......................Dacre - Jan 20

feelingoverwhelmed - Jan 20 ....KYBLUEEYES - Jan 20 ....................Beachbum1023 - Jan 22

Cavalier - Jan 22 ................ mqt64 - jan 26 ................................ Sjacobs146 - Jan 26

Windgirl - Jan 28 .......................  Hotdogmommy - Jan 29

February Start

JeniferE - Feb 1 .......................  LARock - Feb 2 ............................  Chrissie29 - Feb 2

gemmafromlondon - Feb 2 .keri71 - Feb 6?.............................  ladyb1234 - Feb 9

CassieCat - Feb 12 .................. Texas94 - Feb 16 ........................... Leslie58 - Feb 16

farmerma - Feb 23 .................... Dotwithkitties Feb 23 .................... SunnySydeUp - Feb 23

Allmodestyisgone - Feb 24

February Start Dates Not Known

intothewoods - Feb ?..................... MaggieCat - Feb ? ..................... ThinkingPositive - Feb ?

March Start

WheelyGirl - March 2 .................... Kayfry - Mar 4

Special Sister Warriors and Warriors who stopped for a visit, but for various reasons didn't stick around. No start date determined.  We wish them well.

zjrosenthal  - Rads delayed by surgery, until ? Honorary Winter Warrior

Minnielee; surrrana99; Coloradocancermom; Shuf; bjeaneg, knittingPT, Shayne36, KGotThis, ckr1956, funthing42

= Reported Complete

 = Should be Complete by now.

#25 tomorrow and #1 of 8 boosts on Monday. I've been lurking here since I didn't feel I had anything to add. (You can add me to the list with a January 19 start date, CoyoteNV.)

My skin is really good at this point. This is my regimen: Mornings when I'm not working: Boiron Calendula Ointment (petroleum jelly base like Aquaphor) Mornings when I am working: NatureWorks Calendula Cream (less greasy, more socially acceptable) After treatment in the dressing room: More Calendula Cream At bedtime: Liberal use of Aquaphor (All of this is available on Amazon)

As far as the ROs being unresponsive, lacking empathy, etc, here's a little tip. Reimbursement rates are tied to patient satisfaction, so if you get the survey call, be candid. It won't help you, but if reimbursement goes down, it may help the next patients. Defs got the "piece of meat" treatment yesterday when my RO did the final check for my boosts - came in, wrote on me, said "looks good" to the techs and left. Um - there's this word we say when we see other human beings. It's "Hello."

Welcome chtease. Glad you are doing well. Looks like a 4th type of Calendula - ointment.

Good Morning from not yet sunny Nevada. My kitty decided that breakfast was required at 4:30 am, in the morning, as in before dawn, I decided to catch up on editing the Warrior List.  I added some smileys and  "thumbs up" to some December Warriors from whom we did not get final news about rads completion.  I suspect in the excitement of finishing, they just didn't let us know the great news.  I went back to each warriors posts to see if they mentioned finishing on any other topic. If they did, I added a smiley.  If not, and it had been at least 35 possible treatment days from their start date, and no indication from previous posts of a problem, I gave them a thumbs up.   What do you think?  If it were you, would you be okay with that decision?  I know it won't be you, because you will let us know with loud exclamations of joy and merriment that you are done, done, done! 

Good morning ladies. I just got a call this morning and I start rads on Tuesday. I will have 14 regular treatments and 6 boosts, so not as long as most of you. Not sure why - maybe this is how they do it here in Canada??? Anyway I should be done March 23rd.

I am looking forward to starting this and getting it done so I can move on. My daughter is getting married this spring and I want to be well healed by then. I have gotten a dress with a high neckline so I won't worry so much about redness if it is still there.

Beachbum - yes I said goodbye to modesty awhile ago.

I will ask my RO about the amount of radiation - glad to not have to go as long but how will my skin handle the increased (if it is) rads per visit compared to others? We'll see I guess. I have been told to not use anything on my skin until (if) there are issues and they will deal with them then. It's hard to not be proactive and try to get ahead of any issues. Thanks for the tip about drinking water. I will do that.

Wedding is in May and it has been nice to have it to look forward to.

Gemmafromlondon, Congratulations from Ohio! I hope your rads will be your big thing! And good luck with choosing the next step. It is a game changer for sure, but Game On! I am limited for treatment since I am triple negative, and my choices are sounding like a choice between yikes and sucks. So I will find out after I complete rads and see what I can roll the dice at.

Have a great weekend, I hope you find your peace and balance.

I do not mean to frighten the new people. However, I believe that we do them a disservice by not telling them that this is possible. My radiation oncologist was very dismissive of all my questions and I suffered because of it. I only wish people to know that this can happen, not that it will. if I had listened to my doctor I never would have known that such a thing was even possible. I will continue to spread the message that this sort of thing is, indeed, possible.

Yep-mine was uneventful as well. Every day I kept thinking-ZAP-take that you little cancer bastards. The thought make me giggle.

And JustJean, I'll admit that I was one of the newbies who was absolutely terrified by your story. I'm glad to hear that you got the pain relief you needed and that you are healing now.

One of my frustrations with this whole process is the lack of full disclosure we get from our docs early on when we are making the lumpectomy/radiation vs mastectomy (with or without recon) decision. My BS told me "Radiation is no big deal. You'll get a pink breast, but they'll give you creams to deal with it." The first time I heard "moist desquamation" was from one of the techs the day after my first treatment. I don't know that full disclosure would have changed my decision, but I would not have viewed mastectomy as the nuclear option to be avoided if at all possible.

Now that I'm near the end of radiation, I know that if I develop BC in the other breast, I'll go for BMX. And it's not because radiation was horrible (because it wasn't), but the psychological effect of addressing cancer every dang day is just not healthy for me. (Yes, I AM a Drama Queen. I should stop that.)

Wheely Girl - I think it all depends on their scheduling. I had my set up appointment on Wednesday 2/11 but did not get scheduled to start until next Monday 2/23. I did request late afternoon appointments, so not sure if that held me up from starting the next week or not.

I had a PET scan before I started chemo will they still do a CT?

Seems like a lot of you had PET scans, CT scans... before / after chemo. Do all MO do this differently? I had nothing prior to chemo and not sure if anything after, he never mentioned it. When I asked I was told that there is no reason to do scans, there would be nothing to see at this point, possibly false positives.. Can anyone share what they had done? I am getting a little nervous as to why I had no scans done. I am still trying to decide on Radiation. I don't have much longer to make that decision. RO says she is not recommending that I need to have it. But still as always doubting what I am being told. I have tissue expander in and am worried about that and the effect it will have on reconstruction. If there is truly a benefit for radiation, I would do it, but just want to make sure. How do you make such choices?

Wheelygirl - I had grade 3 as well, was told no scans.. They did do MRI which led me to have mastectomy vs lumpectomy as it picked up additional lesion on MRI than what was seen on original Mammo and Ultrasound. I guess each facility or each MO has their own protocols that they follow. Makes me a little nervous.

No scans here either even though tumor was quite large.  I have been told my labs look ok and I am not having pain so no need to scan.  I am done with 15 today (half way), but today is the first day that my skin feels a little burned.  The RO said she thought at the end of this week or the beginning of next week, my skin would start to turn pink and then get progressively worse.  She said 80% chance, and I said that gives me 20% chance that it won't get bad.