Spring 2015 Radiation Sisters

I am HER2 positive and had 4 of 20 positive nodes. After chemo I was so not interested in rads, but RO said my chance of reoccurance is 35%. With that number I decided to go forth.

Waiting for call on my exact start date, should be this week. I am ready to get started and get this over with.

Are most people having fatigue? I am 5 weeks done with chemo. I thought I would be feeling normal by now, but sadly neuropathy in my hands and feet. Still have sudden drops of energy. So I am worried about more fatigue.

Cherice

cbooklvr -- sorry to hear about your neuropathy. During chemo, I developed a little neuropathy in my fingertips and toes, but it's not too debilitating. I don't have fatigue yet from rads, but I've only got one week under my belt. Maybe, some of the ladies further along have some insights.

Wow, my hat (or actually my wig) is off to you gals who are working! For the next 6 weeks my only job will be to get to rads and I'm not sure if I can do that! I retired 15 yrs,ago from over 30 yrs of teaching and now I know why they call it re-tired cause I sure am tired! Love, Jean

Thanks as always for the feedback ladies, it's great to have info and support

Hi again,

The brain aneurysm is just bad luck. Second brain surgery in 10 years. Still tired from that and breast surgery. I start radiation tomorrow morning and will be going to work afterwards. I was an candiate for the Candian Radiation which is for 15 sessions. The reason being I have small breasts. I just need to get to work and then I can rest after work.

I got my tattoos today. The whole process seems tiring. I have my first treatment on the 30th. We are booking the appts for late afternoon so DH can take me as we are an hour away and i just really want him there...I'm not planning on going back to work until this is done. Is everyone else working through rads? I have a good benefit plan which I have hardly ever used. Mentally I feel so drained/stressed from everything ..

I am not working through radiation. My lifting restrictions from surgery don't clear to do my job until I am 3mo post Op should be finishing rads around same time.. but even if lifting restrictions weren't still in place I think I'd stay out. I have been out since diagnosis in July. Definitely could not work through chemo I do not know how anybody does ..so exhausting!

I'm almost to my halfway point in my radiation. I'm scheduled for 36 treatments and because I had a mastectomy without reconstcruction, I've had to have a mesh put over my scar area that conducts the radiation into my chest area where the extensive DCIS is. I have to do a breath-holding technique to keep my heart and most of my lung out of the area and it hasn't been too bad, although sometimes I've felt like I'm not going to "make it" through the treatment length. (sigh).

I have felt the fatigue but it is worst towards the end of the week since I go to treatment 5 times a week. By Monday I usually feel pretty rejuvenated. My skin looks like I have a major tan, but the only discomfort is under my arms where some of my clothes rub. I get around the fatigue and discomfort by, 1) doing all my workouts in the morning and 2) using Emu oil after my treatments,and 3), not wearing a bra or anything else that's binding.

I am very careful to include lots of protein and vegetables in my diet and, trying not to get depressed about my physical condition. I'm a personal trainer and was teaching Spinning classes for 14 years and this whole cancer thing has been kind of strange and out of the blue for me. I choose to be positive, but...in the middle of the night.....

Evilmidget--(Love your pseudo-name there-lol My daughter has Turner's Syndrome and so she's very petite. She would be amused. ) I am glad to hear someone talk about emu oil. Do you feel like it works well? I was put on a natural cream that I had an allergic reaction to because it has a lanolin ingredient. I bought some things today so that I can make my own radiation cream. Emu oil was on my list of ingredients. I've heard good things about it.

MombieZombie - it's really good to hear that you're starting to feel some beneficial effects from your new supplement regimen. I hope that carries you through the rest of the treatment on lighter feet.

A tip that I also posted on the winter rads thread...... If you get itching and an urge to scratch, scratch your leg. It fools the brain somehow. Love, Jean

Hopeful82014--Thanks. Don't know if you saw my past post about having a tough time emotionally with all of the photo taking and such in radiation. I talked to my doctor today. She's going to eliminate the photo taking and talk to the tech team about what they can do to make things better for me and minimize the traumatizing aspects. I'm so relieved. I might just be able to hold on long enough to finish now.

zjrosenthal--My skin is in trouble now. And I have sores on my back that won't heal. I've been itchy from day one. Thanks for the "scratch your leg tip. It will help me not shred myself to pieces.

Doc says my skin is breaking down more than excpected. I still have 14 rads left and 9 of them will be boosts.

neogirl--Not sure how pelvic treatment differs from breast treatment, but I felt zonked pretty fast in the fatigue department. But oncology massage and supplements from my naturopath have made a HUGE difference. I'm almost bouncing with energy compared to before. Only 10 sessions? Does that mean your dosing is higher than it would be if you were doing more sessions? If you don't mind my asking--did you go through breast cancer and then get uteran cancer from the tamoxifen?

Question--Has anyone else had pain/irritation develop in their ear? The point in my ear that hurts is directly above and in line with my radiation treatment field. I brought it up with the doc today. They definitely seemed concerned. (It's not infected.) The doc and the nurse had a big whisper together out in the hall about it. I couldn't hear enough of it. But I'm wondering if the machine or techs made a mistake. They were having a lot of technical difficulties last week.

Brand new diagnosis here. Had my biopsy March 12th, and met with the surgeon today. I expected that if it wasn't benign, it would be DCIS, and I was right. Surgeon said that we could do the lumpectomy tomorrow or the 25th - I opted for some time to let things sink in and get some things taken care of at work! So lumpectomy will be a week from tomorrow. I will meet with my medical and radiological oncologists on April 2nd and figure out when to start radiation. The surgeon said it could start in as little as 2 weeks, but my breast health navigator said it's usually 4-6. (I'd rather hurry up and get started so I can be finished!) I will then follow with hormone therapy - probably Tamoxifen.

Doing lots of reading hear and appreciate learning from everyone's experiences!

MombieZombie - Yes, I meant to say something about the photos and I'm glad that you've spoken to your RO about them. Frankly, I think the physical trauma is enough for us to deal with. We should not also have our dignity, privacy, sense of control impinged upon.

I've already made it clear to my RO that tattoos won't be happening and will plan to request female staff only once tx. is scheduled. For what we (or our insurers) are paying, they can darn well treat us as valued customers rather than so many pieces of meat.

Cherice - haven't seen you around before; you've probably been too busy with chemo and so forth. I would think that it takes a while to work through the post-chemo fatigue. Ongoing infusions of Herceptin probably contribute to that, too. Give yourself this time between chemo and rad. to take it easy, do only what either HAS to be done or you WANT to do and get back in touch with yourself.

I know that the neuropathy can linger but hope in your case it hits the road SOON!

rjrosenthal--I know just what you mean. I felt tired and drained almost immediately. And I have itched from day one. Ugh. Psychological or not, it's real to you and it's OK to acknowledge it. And OK to holler about it too! I'm sorry you are tired already. Radiation has been an emotional trauma that has gone beyond anything I expected. I'd rather do chemo again. But I'm half done and I didn't think I would make it this far. I want to get well, so I will push through. You can do it Jean. When people ask me how I'm doing, my answer is always that I'm just taking it one day at a time. It's easier to say than do, and I am thinking I need to heed my own advice in more than just words: Just take it one day at a time and try not to think too far ahead. It's just too overwhelming otherwise. (hug)

hopeful82014--Thank you for letting me know that I'm not the only one. I'm glad you are sticking to your guns and demanding your personal preferences. I wish I had been more firm and more vocal about my needs from the start. I was vocal, but not enough. And nothing prepared me for those photos because I wasn't told they were going to happen. No informed consent form was shown to me on this matter. The day of the planning session the dosimetrist came at me with a camera. She bullied me into accepting it when I protested. I ended up in such frozen shock that I let her. She promised me there wouldn't be any more. Then on my first day of rads, a tech came at me with a camera again. I had warned them that I needed to know things ahead of time--NO surprises! They adamantly insisted that they had to have these photos by requirement and there was no other choice. It took me a lot of searching on the net, but I have discovered that this is a lie. They take the photos to make things easier for themselves. When I brought this up with the doc today, she admitted that there are other ways and the photos aren't completely necessary. I had to fight to get them to do invisible tattoos instead of ones that show, and I had to fight to get them to let my breasts be covered whenever possible. I'm getting more backbone though and now I'm getting ready to protest a problem with my Herceptin infusions at the chemo center--there's a modesty issue there too. Enough is enough! I did win myself a female only staff for my rads, but I get wigged out by our coed dressing room/waiting room.