Winter rads 2014-2015

CONGRATS gtlucky & scubawoman!!!! You made it, welcome to the finish line.

Gtlycky, I love your "nipple bowl" idea!! That would have been so helpful, wish I'd thought of it!

Scubawoman, enjoy the wine, go for two! Pretty cool about your prison labs, sounds like a neat program.

Ladies, and all my bc sisters, ENJOY your new normal and I hope you all heal quickly. For those of us moving onto drug therapy, fingers crossed that we have no se's.

How about a new board? Maybe spring 15 drug starts?

Our support for each other has been a God send.

So glad I checked in before calling it a night.  I get to be the first to send congratulations to you, gtlucky.  That was a great gift to give to your supporters at the clinic - Almond Joy's are little bites of heaven.  I hope all goes great in your future. Smiles to you.

Number 16 of 30 today.  Whoo Hoo have more behind me than left to go!  Only side effect so far has been a coloring of the breast and very tender nipple area.  They took my picture before my first treatment and use that to identify me.  Of course there are only a couple of other patients that I have ever seen in the treatment area when I go.  I have the same three techs that rotate around 2 at any given time.

The art studio is beautiful.

Congratulations to those who have finished and good luck to those still in treatment.  Hope everyone has a blessed day!

scubawoman and gtlucky. Super job finishing up! Delighted for you. Your happiness brought "joy" to me. The bowl made me think we all need those Madonna metal bras. I have been watching my "mound" shrink but it was swollen so that is a good thing.

Love this group. There is always a gain from every life experience.

Scubawoman, the prison pups program is awesome. So glad you got those nice dogs from them. And, yeah, congrats on finishing!!!!!! Enjoy those walks.

Quiggy, if you're going to "downsize," I might have to plan to add a room or twoI did consult with a plastic surgeon prior to starting rads, just to get an idea of my options, if I choose to go there. I really don't have anything to downsize, and now my "good" boob is looking bigger than the bad one—or at least, a more normal shape. I have a bit of swelling from rads, so who knows where it will end? How long do you have to wait after rads to do plastic surgery? "My" PS said she would want to wait at least 6 months, but would see me in about 3 months after rads to reassess. At the moment, with 2 boosts left to go (happy dance time, almost), I don't even want to think about another surgery and any down time, but I might feel differently after awhile. Since I don't want implants or a major flap-type surgery, my options would be limited to some minor "rearranging" of the tissue that's left, as my PS suggested, along with releasing and improving the look of my Lx scar, which is dragging the nipple down, and possibly a bit of fat-grafting to fill in the big dent and maybe a little to fluff up both sides. Or maybe I'll decide I'm just going to live with whatever I wind up with, being no spring chicken and not sure if I really want to go through something that's only to make me feel better about how I look without the "aid" of a helpful bra.

Re techs: so today my world was slightly rocked when the tech who appeared to take me back to the treatment room, in my oh-so-flattering gown, was—a male! Really?? Only 3 days from finishing, and I've had rotations of the same 3 or 4 female techs since day one. I like them and feel totally comfortable with them—and my favorite was there today, but then there was "Greg."!!!!!! Well, he was perfectly okay—young guy, possibly a student?— and the boost is so quick it's all over before you can even think about it, but it was left to Greg to position me, which made slightly more stressful what was already an annoying morning (non-stop fundraising on the NPR station I listen to on my 40-minute drive to the rads center, all my music CDs replaced without my knowledge in my car's CD player with my husband's disks that are NOT to my taste (grrr), then spilled coffee all over my lap while trying to rearrange the CD's, but too late to go back in and find another pair of jeans to wear—you get the picture, right?) And then, Greg. Hahahaha. Oh, well. I guess he might be back tomorrow, and even on Monday, my last day, but if he is, at least it won't be a shock.

I'm very itchy in places and somewhat red and rashy all over the boob (spell-check wants to make that "trashy," which just figures on a day like this!), and nipple is getting very tender since that's where the boost is going. I basically had my "discharge" visit with nurse and RO yesterday, even though I still have to finish these boosts, and was told again that skin could get worse in this next week or so before it starts to get better. Today the nice (female) tech explained why my itchiest rash has all along been right in the middle of my chest, over the breastbone, not even on the breast—it's that the electrons bounce off the bone there and scatter or something. She told me that location and under the breast (the two worst places for me) are generally the worst places for everyone, so I'm not special And I'm still wishing I had tattoos instead of marker & stickers, because now, for boosts, I have a sticker right over my nipple and in a ring all around it, which makes it all but impossible to get the Miaderm where I need it. But, only 2 more, and then I can lose the stickers for good. I think I'll make it.

Congrats to those who have finished.

I finishedon Tuesday and celebrated 47th birthday yesterday! I had 4 techs that rotated (one male), I brought them a basket of goodies (gourmet popcorn bags of different flavors, chocolate dipped strawberries and some Easter candy) and a thank-you card and ballon. They were very touched, but they made it a bit easier for me since they were so nice.

Glad to be done - meet with MO on Friday and get the Tamoxifen script.

Congratulations Mm68!!!! Welcome to the finish line. Yahoo!!!!🎆🎉🎇

Wow what a week! Congratulations Ladies lots of finishers this week. Next week should rock as well. I haven't seen so many happy posts in one place for a while. You are going to wear out Coyote from smiling so much as she updates the list. I hope you all heal soon, and move on!

Quiggy, thanks. Looks like my bad day yesterday is spilling over into today. Up bright & early and showered to head down the road for ALMOST the last time for this, only to find a message from one of the techs at my center. Their one and only machine isn't working right this morning, so my morning appointment is now an afternoon appointment, if the engineer who was on his way can fix it in time. So close! If I can't get it done today, of course, they'll have to tack an extra day on next week. Boo! Fingers crossed that I can get it done today. I'm so ready to be done with this.

oh kayfry... GRRR!!! Hope it's working this afternoon, I get the angst! 😀

kayfry. Fingers crossed everywhere. I remember near the end hoping there would not be a snow cancellation because you are really really really ready to do the happy dance.

Mega grats for all the finishers! And to those who are dragging themselves to the finish line, you can do this! Don't know how many times I threatened to quit, but I managed. My wound area is down to one tiny scab which will probably come off in the shower today. Tomorrow marks one year since I found the lump, on the last day of a cruise. And two weeks later I will turn 64. Last year I spent my birthday getting a mammo and u/s and being told it was "definitely malignant, but we will biopsy for dx". Now I am NED.

magdalene51. "... When I'm 64" Quite a difficult year but enjoy a nice celebration for your birthday. Each day is a gift for me, even hard ones. Bring on those birthdays!

Yippee kayfry!