Summer 2015 Rads

I had xrays today, so maybe that's why I could not tell which was x rays and which was the rads. Tomorrow I will just have rads.

Hey, they, like, didn't arise, like, sua sponte, dig? And they like totally listen to Phish.

My techs had told me at one point that my beam lasts about 25 seconds on each side. They divide that into two parts on each side since I am in breath hold. I have X-rays everyday while in breath hold. About 74% of the time they make a small adjustment which means they must take another X-ray. Today was 22/23 wbr. Then on to 7 boosts starting Monday. I am finally seeing the end. Hoping the hurricane headed towardFlorida decides to stay off the coast and doesn't mess with my schedule!

#9 of 28 done. I'm pretty frustrated with the different information they give us. I told my RO I was using Cetaphil. She said that was good. My Rad Tech says, NO, NO, NO. CVS AfterSun Aloe with Lidocaine only. I'll see my RO on Monday and will ask again.

My machine does not do xray. The tech calls it digital imaging. Yesterday after I was done, a Siemans tech was there to replace the imaginer. He didn't get it calibrated, so they didn't use it today. It was a real shortcut session without the fine tuned alignments provided by the imaginer. Made me a bit nervous. They said it would be fine.

I have 3 shot angles for my left breast. Each shot last for ~45 seconds. I'm not sure if it shoots for the full 45 seconds. It sounds like it shoots, 2-3 seconds, a reset, then shot, etc., for about 45 seconds at each angle. I've walked in, changed, radiation, changed and back out the door in as little as 18 minutes.

So far, no major side effects. I have just a little reddening under my boob where my bra band is. After rad#7, I changed to the cup-less, pullover your head, sports bras. Now instead of two boobs, I have one uni-boob.

I'm thinking of taking a voice recorder to my next Dr meeting. Do any of you think the Dr would be offended by seeing a recorder there? Have any of you ever recorded a Dr's meeting. My daughter has gone to some meetings with me. We would compare notes afterwards and you'd think we were in two different rooms talking to two different doctors.

Keys - I take a recorder to ALL of my medical appts. - it's a HUGE help. I do let the provider know in advance (usually day before but don't let that hold you back tomorrow) that I plan to record and no one's ever objected. If they did, I would leave - seriously.

Nancy and Bev - belated congrats on surviving Camp Idonwannaburn. Your company was great but it's homeward bound for you - yay!! Bev, enjoy the boat.

Re: products - I learned to do a patch test before getting carried away with any changes to my regimen. I also learned that somethings irritated early on but not later. I did use aloe but not the gel. I found a brand that did not have alcohol and I used that throughout. It felt good and my skin did great but of course, I can't say it was due to any one factor since I was not doing an untreated area as a control. I had a lot of treatment however, and really expected to fry, but did not. For what that's worth. I've also learned that everyone responds differently - what worked for me might cause problems for CAMommy - and vice versa.

Hang in there everyone. One more day and then you get a reprieve for the weekend. I hope the hurricane stays out of your way, fltchr!

I was told that drinking in moderation during radiation was fine.

I counted the blasts today. I think I counted 7, which would correspond to the tech who said I have 7 fields being treated. I may have counted wrong though. 3 are without the bolus. The first is a short one, about 5 seconds, and there's some metal square they put on the machine for that one. The second one is 25-30 seconds long. 4 are with the bolus. I think they were each 5-10 seconds long.

2 down. Lots to go.

I'm a little spotty (in the US, not UK sense). I think it's because some areas are fading to a more tan color, while other areas now look like red-brown splotches. The one small area is still peeling a little, but not open. Today should be the peak of the whole-breast radiation, so everything but the boost area should be resolving.

I'm 3 weeks out today. Did 25/25 with the bolus daily. I'm fair skinned and the skin got really dark brown at the end, but intact, no real itching/pain.Started peeling about 5 days post rads, and over about 1.5 weeks the top skin layer where the bolus was. peeled off, with new skin underneath. Fatigue intensified post rads, but I tried to continue to walk/exercise. Now 3 weeks out, the fatigue is much much better.

PB

Hang in there, Littleblue. Fwiw, I was pretty grumpy and cranky throughout rads, and after rads, too. I cried a bit every day and was generally overwhelmed. Sorry about the ink, holy cow! I'd give the RO a call and just ask. Couldn't hurt.

I'm now 3 weeks post rads, had my follow-up this morning. My skin held up quite well, but it's still also quite pink. My nipple is peeling, oh joy. Nipple stuff didn't start until I finished, but symptoms can develop for a couple of weeks post-rads, and apparently can peak even at 21 days. I've finally peaked;) Fatigue not lifting. And now I need breast massage to get fluids moving out. My RO showed my DH how to do that this morning - lovely little threesome at 9:00 am. We have to do this for a couple of months. I'm on steroids for another illness and a higher than usual dose to deal with the rads, so I guess that's at least part of it.

I thought treatment would never end, but it did. Now on to healing. Guess it's time to change forums, but I've still been following everyone's progress, just been too tired to really post. Anyway, you'll get there.

Thanks you guys. Sorry to be a bummer. Dragonista, your threesome comment cracked me up!

#10/28 done....littleblue....Your comments are very interesting to me. I went in my first day expecting it to be my worst. It wasn't. I guess I was expecting really bad and it didn't happen. So far so good. But for some reason, I guess my defenses were down after #1, 2 was worse (emotionally). #3 was horrible (almost hyperventilating) and #4 was a total meltdown on the table. #5 was OK (thanks to Xanax). I finally got it together during that following weekend and now with week 2 (6-10) everything is OK (without any Xanax). I don't know what it was about the later part of week one, but it was a kick in gut. I hope I'm permanently over the hump. It's this cancer thing. You get to a new chapter/unknown and it's like starting back at day one again. On the plus side, the dark cloud and anxiety doesn't last as long. The recovery is faster.

I'm thinking my next new chapter will be starting Hormone therapy. But first I'm focusing on getting through this radiation.

10 of 28...I have some reddening under my boob. I'm not wearing my regular bras anymore. I'm wearing the cheap 3/$10 over-the-head sports bras.You know the ones. No cup size, just circumference. So now I don't have two boobies, just one big uni-boob. I followed someone's advice on this web site and bought 3 sizes. My size, one larger and one 2x larger. That's really helped. Some days I feel like a regular and other days one or two sizes more. To me the key is having that flexibility. Each size hits me in a different place. So when one area gets a little tender, I shift to a different size. So far, so good.

OK, I'm a self-proclaimed GEEK and proud of it. I bought a new laser beam, IR, no contact, thermometer (on Amazon). My older one broke some time ago. After radiation, the surface temperature of my left boob is ~2 degrees warmer than the right boob. So when I come home, it's off with the bra, on with a softy T and the cooling towel (Polar Pad) over the left boob till it's cooled down. Works for me. I told my techs and they 'bout fell off their stools. An extra bonus....I can pick out the coldest beer in my fridge to enjoy while chilling. It would probably work for getting the perfect temp wine too.

I got a bunch of large freckles on my RT breast. They are still there, weeks later, but seem to be fading.

I got very red over the whole area, and then it went to brown, but started fading once the treatments stopped. Only had the boosts with cut-out metal square, no bolus, and only at the end. I think they do a large area because they want to get the entire area of the tumor bed and the margins plus the incision... not just where the tumor was. Maybe they think there's the possibility of cancer cells slipping around to that whole area, I'm guessing???

Anyway--congrats to everyone getting through RT and to those who have completed it!

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Oh, and I think someone mentioned post-chemo nail problems. I definitely had them--but... nails started to separate but didn't fall off and they started getting more normal and less sensitive after a while. Months after, but really, I was more worried about how bad it might get than anything else, and it eventually got better without getting too bad. That's one of the worse parts of this whole thing... the not knowing what's going to happen... and you're not really sure until you go through it all! Ugh!

I did (and, post-radiation, am doing) the same every day.