Summer 2015 Rads

knittingPT -- That's too bad you're starting to get SEs. I hope they don't get worse.

My machine was broken on the day I was supposed to start, but fixed by Friday. They have other machines, but said I need treatment on the machine my calibration was done on. #2 tomorrow.

Beautifully said, Metta! I am there at the same time as a woman who has a tumor on her esophagus. She has a feeding tube, but still has a great attitude. I am so grateful for having this center and staff so close to home.

Hey everybody! Just reporting back. I had some itching early on and doctor gave me a prescription strength hydrocortisone that took care of it. Today, she gave me a topical lidocaine to put over the armpit while it is healing up. Their imagining machine was down today so I didn't get my first boost (and won't finish on Friday as planned!) But, I'm happy to have another day off. Tomorrow I see the surgeon to (hopefully) set up a date to get my ovaries removed. This cancer journey is slowly creeping toward the end.

In other news, I have a guy coming to help us come up with landscaping plan for our back yard. Something to think about other than cancer! (YAY!) We are still new to the desert so don't feel as comfortable doing it ourselves. We will probably end up with mostly rocks and a few well placed plants. We want to keep our view of the mountains and not use very much water.

Hi all

I finished my 30 radiation treatments including 7 boosts last Wed. For the last week of treatment my breast was also itchy. RO and nurse said to use Hydrocortisone cream. They said to use over the counter cream but I had a left over perscription strength cream from a pre Cancer rash that I used. It really helped. So I would recommend having the RO give you a Hydrocortisone perscription if your skin gets itchy during treatment.

Best wishes/Gerry

It's very normal after any major surgery to have skin sensitivity or pain. The skin's pain receptors are disrupted often continue to send y surgery (or injury) and often continue to fire even when there's no stimulus. Eventually, they typically settle down. I had BMX in February and still can't wear a shirt or have a blanket over the incisions for more than a few hours. Initially, it was not at all. My surgeon says "Yup."

knittingPT: thank you for answering (and jucaha for asking!) I've had a few meltdowns, and general anxiety, so good to know.

Another thank you to jucaha and knitting for asking and answering these questions.

I'm on week 2 of rads and every day I'm surprised at how emotional this is for me. It's really thrown me for a loop, hearing about your experiences is super helpful. Haven't had pain from rads yet, but I still have pain from the lumpectomy, and that was 2 months ago. My RO (not the surgeon) suggested using frozen vegetables on the painful areas (not directly on the skin, of course), which slows down blood flow and helps with the discomfort. I'd actually been sticking half my body into the freezer, which also helped with hot flashes. Trying to stay positive here.

I did try going to a bc support group, but wondering if it still exists here. There was no meeting when I tried going but I thought perhaps that was because it was before the July 4 holiday. I tried calling the social worker who leads the group, and no one got back to me. Now I'm just too tired to get there at 6:30. Grateful to have this forum, and trying to stay positive.

queenmom - what a clever idea! Looks like I'll be making a trip to our local nursery. I love the place, any excuse to go there is good. But a walk-in freezer sure does sound appealing right now lol.

On the subject of staying cool, someone gave me a "Mira Cool" bandana in a BC gift bag a few months ago. It sat unused until I started radiation and ovarian suppression. Now that I'm hot, and hot flashing, I use it all the time. It's just a narrow bandana with cooling crystals sewn inside. You soak it and voi la! The crystals get cool and puff up. I have been using mine almost every day. They are cheap too. See link from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Miracool-Cooling-Bandana-Nav...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1436896392&sr=8-1&keywords=occunomix+miracool+bandana

The company that makes it, Occunomix, also makes hats and a cooling vest, but ithe vest is really suited to people who are doing construction or roadwork.

I am now in the home stretch with 9 more rads to go. My skin is getting pretty pink and very itchy. Had my blood work done today but won't find out how my white counts are till tomorrow. I'm praying they'll go up. I'm supposed to go away for the weekend.

I think the transition when rads finish will be a difficult one for me. I've been on this BC roller coaster since December. There has always been a treatment on the horizon. When I finish rads I will still have to do reconstruction next year and possibly have my ovaries removed, but that seems less immediate to me. I also will be returning to work in August after a major leave of absence. For me,the most stressful thing is thinking that people are going to expect me to go right back into the swing of things.

I was taking some anti-depressants before DX, but was going to go off them since they really weren't doing anything much... but thought I'd put that off until AFTER all this stuff, since, well, if there was anything to get depressed about, it would be cancer! (I totally asked my MO for Xanax and other stuff, too, just in case. Luckily, I didn't need it... but I could really see that there could be times I would!) I'm just over half-way through rads and am now going off the anti-depressants and it seems fine. But I totally think it's natural to be upset and depressed by all this. There's really nothing good about it aside from the fact that we're still all here, which IS good, but let's face it, things would be so much better without the cancer!

I'm still thankful to be over the chemo and feeling half-way normal... That really put things in perspective for me. It wasn't terrible, chemo... but it certainly was the toughest part of my treatment so far, and I'm so glad I'm not doing it any more!

LiveDeliciously, I am right there with you. The fear of recurrence is a problem for me as well. I had my 2cnd of 36 treatments yesterday and so far so good. When I get under that machine I concentrate on the expectation that it will reduce the chance of that cancer coming back. It is a powerful motivator.

Peace and healing,

Nancy

LiveD, they have me using Aquaphor. The nurse at RT told me that it's really the only thing they recommend. My PS had also highly recommended it and advised me to slather it on frequently. I have tried a few other things though, because Aquaphor is probably the messiest option. I tried miaderm and my skin seemed to be sensitive to it, so stopped. I also tried Fruit of the Earth aloe gel. I use that if I'm going out to a social event and having grease stains all over my shirt isn't an option. This weekend my husband is taking me to a nice hotel/resort. I'll use the aloe during the day and switch back to Aquaphor for night.

Since I do slather it on pretty thick, the Aquaphor has presented laundry challenges. Before I throw my camis in the laundry I usually wash them in scalding hot water with dawn dish soap, then scrape off as much Aquaphor as I can. I used to be worried about saving the camis, now I just want to protect my washing machine/dryer and keep my other clothes from getting messed up.

My white count is still low, but it went back up a little this week, so I feel a little less apprehensive about going away this weekend. My skin is starting to show wear and tear. Today for the first time I could see the radiation field on my skin distinctly, with straight lines separating the healthy skin from red skin.