Winter 2015-16 RADS

Hi,

I go for my simulation on Dec. 8th and hope to start therapy during the holidays. Im doing 16 treatments with 5 boost at the end. I'm wondering how radiation will affect the healing process of my lumpectomy site and my sentinel node biopsy site. Does anyone know what it will do to the scaring/healing process? Right now I can still feel a small seroma in the lump ectomy site and the sentinel node biopsy site is hard along the scar. I had 40 cc's of fluid taken out of the sentinel node area two weeks ago due to a seroma

Suz-Q,

We want to welcome you to our community here at BCO. We hope you find this to be a place of support and encouragement as you go through treatment! Hopefully the radiation doesn't affect your healing process at all, but definitely something you'll want to discuss with your doctor when you go in on the 8th. Please let us know how it goes!

The Mods

I will also be starting on Nov 30, but will only have 16 treatments. I am looking for suggestions of moisturizers to buy before I get started. Would love any recommendations as my nurse didn't offer any suggestions and I forgot to ask. Thanks

Thank you! I wish I weren't here. I'm having a really tough time handling this cancer diagnosis. I spent the day before Thanksgiving crying. Radiation therapy and all of the side effects and the ongoing long term effects makes me wonder why I didn't choose a mastectomy! I'm scared. Every time I get really good news back from test results I feel more like crying than celebrating. My Oncotype score came back a 10 on Tuesday. I really should have been celebrating, no chemo for me. I'm going to talk to my doctors about getting counseling. Sorry for being so negative.

Welcome, Suz-Q. I was in the same boat as you--stage 1A, grade 2, low oncotype, lumpectomy + radiation, to be followed by endocrine therapy in Jan. It’s natural to feel angry and scared, even if our diagnoses are less dire and planned treatment easier than others’.

My radiation dept. gave me a handful of tubes of Aquaphor--handy, because they fit in my purse so I could lube-up immediately after each treatment before getting dressed again. At night, I found that both Boiron brand calendula cream and the clear (no dye, alcohol, or fragrance) 100% aloe gel that the cancer center’s pharmacy sells worked equally well. Didn’t even need the lidocaine burn gel or moist burn pads. Now that I am 5 days post-treatment, I’m just using the aloe and it’s fine. I’d advise avoiding Jason’s 84% aloe cream because it smells too perfume-y. If you do buy Aquaphor, make sure that it’s the “advanced healing” rather than the “original” formula. It has more lanolin and you can get it in a tube with its own applicator. It’s not worth buying the large economy size because you won’t use it up. (It’s pretty good for chapped hands, too).

Hi Mary,

Moving on from Chemo July 2015, and thanks for starting this thread! I'm starting rads in late December, but don't have actual dates yet. I meet again with the RO 12/7, but I'm pretty sure I'll have 15 treatments. I'm a bit different in that I'll first be radiated for my hip and spine mets, to make certain they've been rendered necrotic. Then it's on to surgery in late January with more radiation to the breast area most likely 25-30 treatments probably in late Feb. or early March. Hello to all my fellow RADS sisters and I look forward to us all sharing our experiences.

-Barbara

I saw an old post somewhere from someone who said she kept an aloe plant in her house and would cut the leaves off to get the pure aloe. Has anyone else heard this or done this? Also, a lot of the information I've been reading says to wear loose fitting clothes, etc. after rads, but my problem is that I had a breast reduction with my lumpectomy, so I have to wear a sports bra, day and night. Have any of you ladies had this problem? I'm worried how these tight bras are going to feel after a few weeks of rads. Thanks, Patty

Thanks Sandy, No underwires for me for six months. I meet with the radiation oncologist on Friday, so I'm not yet sure how many treatments I will need. My son just moved to your neck of the woods. He lives in Lake Geneva Wisconsin, which I think is not too far from Chicago. His only regret is that he can't get decent pizza. LOL. He was raised on NY style, not deep dish.

I just started my treatments today. I am scheduled for 33 treatments, running over six weeks. I was bit emotional and a bit scared, but the techs were so nice and so comforting. They asked me what my favorite music was and turned on the blues for me. It took about an hour and half with all the moving and measuring and re-marking, but the actual radiation only took a few seconds. I seemed to be a bit emotional the rest of the day, but that happens sometimes. Most days I am fine and strong and then everyone once in a while I just get teary and sad. I guess it's pretty normal after going through all this. My RO recommends aloe gel, but the one they suggested was full of other chemicals and preservatives, so I went on Amazon and got just a pure gel. It was a bit more expensive, but I am so careful about what additives are in my cosmetics and personal care items now. I don't to go through all this just to keep putting the same toxic chemical on my skin!

HI Zelda, Welcome to the community. We are glad that you reached out and hope you find support and information here. Here are some questions for Medical Oncology and Radiation Oncology. We look forward to hearing from you. The MOds

Hi, PattyMeg--Lake Geneva is about 90 min. NW of my part of Chicago (only 60 mi., but traffic’s no picnic). I can sympathize with your son about the pizza, as I’m Brooklyn-born-&-bred. We have a good NYC-style pizzeria, Jimmy’s NY Pizza Cafe, that delivers (the pizzaiolo trained at DiFara) and even makes beignets.

The brand of pure aloe gel I use is Fruit of the Earth. No alcohol, dyes or fragrance. The pharmacy at the Kellogg Cancer Center sells it.

Hi

I am planned to start rads in late January. I have 5 weeks of radiation, I think. I am nervous about it only because I have reconstruction and worry about my skin changes and scars reopening or having to have another surgery to do a skin flap.

Did anyone work full time during rads?

Starting sometime in Jan 2016 for possibly 25 rads....all tbc

Sbeddows- nice we can compare our adventure through it. I hope your BMX goes smoothly with clean nodes. I bounced back fast, hoping the same for you.