Summer 2015 Rads

We moved here 5 years ago, and it's been a nice place to be!

Warm Hugs to All. My first post ever. I've been reading the Spring Rad ladies' posts as well as yours. Thank you all from my heart for teaching me so much. I'm writing out of much anguish. I feel absolutely terrible...worse than chemo flu since Weds. I want to know if anyone who had chemo (Taxol/Herceptin-- with Herceptin every 3 weeks) has felt terrible with radiation following chemo? I've had 7 Rads thus far after finishing chemo on June 23rd.

I've left message with RO to discuss and I'm thinking of quitting Rad (7 of 20) or postponing until I recover from chemo (I could only do 10 of 12). I'm scared and sick. Any shared experiences would be so appreciated. I'll try to update my profile. I'm 62. Stage 1 HER+. Second BC (5 yrs ago OTHER breast, Stage 1 Estrogen +, Femara)

I send each of you strength and healing, love & HUMOR!

Thank you.

Xoxo

hi Peruna, welcome to the group. I am sure other swill respond to your questions. I have not had chemo so can't answer your question. I have had my first t of 36 radiation treatments and am doing reasonably well.

It sounds to me like you should talk to your Dr.

Pease and healing,

Nancy

Hmm... I've gone off the anti-depressants I was on (they didn't do anything for me and I only kept taking them because with the cancer dx, I figured I might actually need them! But I didn't). Rads hasn't affected my mood at all. I'm feeling pretty good and happy, even though I'm now getting red in the area, which IS not a good thing, but not unexpected.

23 of 35 treatments so far. I was just wearing my normal underwire bras before a day ago when I went out and bought a non-underwire bra. Still the same size bra, though. I've just spent today, since it's a weekend and I didn't have to go out, lying about putting lotions and creams on... bleh.

I stay with my sister on the weekdays, as she's only 15 minutes from the radiation place. I drive an hour back home on weekends. I'm not at all too fatigued for that, but every day would be a bit much even if I wasn't undergoing any treatments. But I think I could do it. I've feel like taking naps in the evenings now and then, but that's about it. Not a huge amount of energy, but it's not bad for normal activities (I'm not a terribly active person ordinarily!).

I'm wondering how much more red I'll get since I've got two weeks to go, and I've heard people still can get worse afterwards...

Does everyone get red at some point or do some people escape getting that?

Dear JenH2015, Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I hope you're feeling better each day. I know I pushed my RO to start me ASAP so I'd finish by the first week of August when my son returns after months far away at internship and college. The fault is mine as the Doctor really wanted to wait 3-4 weeks instead of two. So now I must meet with him to apologize and figure out how to proceed. I've been in bed most of days since last Weds.

So now I'll share my RAD experience which has been excellent in set up and administration. My latest BC is on my left side so my RO wanted to administer prone. I had extreme difficult lying on my chest bone. No way could I last thru even one! So the RO & techs allowed me on my back and we're lucky to figure out the angles to avoid heart & lung. Everyone is so kind. I was not upset by the little tattoos. It's now a joke with our 21 yo who I've begged never to get a tattoo since he was 13. The tattoo from my first bc on other breast 5 years ago, is very faint.

I am a VERY STRONG WOMAN, BUT, I found my self weeping with no reason while on the radiation table. Nothing hurt, the techs 2 are sweethearts, the rads are quick ... But yet all the overwhelming emotions since Feb diagnosis come pouring out as I lie there. The techs have not noticed I did start to take a tiny bite of Xanax before going each morning.

My rad breast is swollen and I've got a tough chemo rash on my chest that I'm still struggling with so I've ditched all bras this weekend. Just wearing Gap cotton tshirts. If cool enough a soft jacket or sweater to hide my own 36DDs. I'll be looking for a camisole today online. My RO has given us his liquid gold cream for eac patient to use liberally from day 1, 2-4x/day.

I will note my throat, esp side near radiation began to be sore Thurs night and after worsening and my overall rapid decline, my oncologist nurse saw me relating that this is a common side effect. She suggested the Tylenol Motrin treatment but I'm taking Aleve which helps. DRINKING QUARTS & Quarts of WATER HELPS SO MUCH. Also eating healthy meals of lots of protein with veggies & fruit help. I take Florastor Probiotic 2-3 x per day. And have cut out all dairy. I've tried to walk 20 mins each day, down from swimming 30 mins daily and weight lifting. Now I'm such a wreck I can barely leave the bed! Very depressing! Please note my first Rad on other breast was a breeze. Yes a bit tired but was involved in life, driving son to tournaments, had skin breaks but used telefa pads and Aquaphor.

Wishing you all strength and courage. Please let me know of your experiences with Chemo followed by Radiation in quick succession. Peace & love.

~

Peruna, hugs to you; you sound like you are at a low point. I'm having the same "treatment" (can we just say torture?) as you (AC+Taxol, then Herceptin every three weeks, even during radiation). Like you, I was athletic before chemo. During radiation, which started about a month after surgery, I was very tired, like you, and stayed in bed. During the Fourth of July weekend, for example, I was mostly in bed, no energy, but sometimes I'd force myself to walk or run.

I'm glad you called your RO. It's normal to be fatigued and nauseated, it sounds like you have a horrible case of both. Maybe there's something else going on. When was your last echocardiogram? Perhaps that's something they can check, in addition to the CBC/blood work that I'm sure they are doing every week. Keep being the squeaky wheel even though you feel bad ... I know that can be hard. It's possible you are just fighting a cold or virus, and it's taking all your energy.

I don't think you made a mistake by starting radiation a little early, so don't blame yourself. It took me almost a month to feel better after that awful Taxol. Also I cried a lot on the radiation table. Let's face it, it is humiliating and frightening to surrender to a soulless machine that can cause permanent damage. Hang in there! We are all here for you. Please let us know what the doctor says.

Dear Metta, thank you from the bottom of my heart! My husband says you're so incredibly kind. I'm truly sorry you're going through this hell too. I just don't understand why we have these extreme side effects. (Fri blood tests came back good with liver thyroid etc coming tomorrow). I agree maybe an infection. so depressing when we were vital strong women. Like you, after 4th of July in bed, missing my husbands birthday celebration and our anniversary yesterday, I was so down. Today gave it the ol college try and I walked 4 NYC blocks this am and had to rest partway, then rode the bike at our gym for 10 mins!!!! Lol was like doing the NYC triathlon or biathlon. I'm sooooo weak.

Do you think there are side effects from Herceptin? I feel everyone saying no side effects is not true for me. I go for echo on Thurs. I know Herceptin is miracle drug but it flattens me each time

I will say the following have helped: Probiotics Florastor 3x/day, drinking quarts n quarts of water, eating protein...lots -chicken fish some beef (1x week), filling up with veggies & fruits. Mainly staying hydrated. Getting good long sleep with naps as necessary. I never needed sleeping pills till menopause and now I'm taking nightly 10mg Ambien with a tiny bite of Xanax just to fall asleep and sleep thru night. Crazy! Yuck. Having sense of humor, binge watching Poldark, True Detective, reading Daniel Silva spy series and guilty pleasure "the Bachelorette" have saved me.

I keep hoping "and this too shall pass" for you, me and our warrior friends here.

Much caring and warmth,

Peruna

I've been off here for a little while and there are soooooooo many messages :-) Someone asked about my boosts. My skin is tolerating them better than the regular sessions. During the regular sessions, I had some blistering in the arm pit and over the breast bone. That has pretty well resolved. My skin is looking good right now. One more to go!

Someone else asked about bras. I couldn't wear one during radiation. It hurt too much for me to have them pressing on my skin. Even the camis without much pressure hurt. Loose t-shirts for me! I did have quite a bit of swelling in my arm pit and around to my back. it improved when I had a break from rads due to equipment failure but came back immediately when we started back up. I am still not sure what that was about. Swelling started after lumpectomy/node dissection but got significantly worse during rads. Hopefully it will go back down again when I'm all done.

Fatigue: I got progressive more and more tired as treatment progressed. I recovered over the weekends but by Fridays I would need to take a nap every afternoon and go to bed early

Oh, Peruna, I am LOVING Poldark! I watched three in a row yesterday!

Poldark is the new Masterpiece Classic that is airing right now. You may be able to find it On Demand or on your local PBS station website.

I used the basic unscented Toms of Maine. It's not great but it worked okay if I carried it in my purse and reapplied throughout the day. My RO told me no shaving at all so I'm no help on the razor front.

Yeah, I think I'll just have to suck it up and use a solid antiperspirant during radiation treatment--I react more strongly than most to textures, and solids have always felt odd to me. But it looks like alcohol's a problem also, and I did get the RO to concede the point about swimming. Still contemplating the shaving thing. It's not like I'm likely to be wearing sleeveless stuff out on the street, so the only venue of concern is the pool. But lots of dark hair and fair skin means it shows. Bad enough for my father to deal with five o'clock shadow on his face.

Awesome idea Ksusan! I've also been told to lotion up the back/shoulder blade area. Have just been doing as far as I can reach, maybe that's not enough? Anyone have skin issues on that area?

PB

I had my RO mark the area with a Sharpie, then my partner took a photo so we'd have a reference image.

Midgiemoon- That's quite a trip you have to take. Even the thought exhausts me. But I do love the pic you posted, very soothing.

It seems like lots of us have weekend fatigue. Thanks to everyone who posted, this is the first time I'm sitting down at the computer to read in a couple of days. Sat. I just rested up so we could go out to dinner with visiting family, and yesterday I was a complete and total slug. Today, treatment #10. I ended up increasing meds from illness #2, and actually made it to my painting class after treatment for a while. I ended up leaving early again, but so glad I went, it's my way of totally getting outside of myself.

I'm surprised to read about needing to take care of the skin on our shoulders and backs. No one said anything about that to me! I've notice the skin on the rear side of my armpit is irritated, thought it was perhaps the bras, but am now putting aloe there. As of this morning, the skin is still looking ok and I sure hope this lasts. Friday the RO and techs were kind enough to draw all kinds of stuff around the area to receive the boosts, today was the sim for that. I had commented earlier that the tattoos should at least be pink for breast cancer, not blue, so they drew the lines in bright pink magic marker and covered them with stickers. I now have some weird constellation around my breast. Another little surprise.The fun never ends.

To everyone who commented about being cranky, I was the crankiest of cranks the first 2 weeks, plus I cried a lot. On the table, at home. I felt terrible for my husband. Honestly, I was surprised by my reaction to all of this. Today somehow was better. Maybe I'm getting used to it, realizing that I'm nearly halfway through. I dunno, but my sense of humor is starting to return. I'm sure everyone around me is relieved. I sure am.