Winter 2015-16 RADS

Hi all,

I'm set to do my SIM tomorrow and I was wondering if any of you lovely ladies have had any swelling prior to radiation in the armpit area and if it had hindered your radiation treatment plans? I have no nodes on my left side and still have swelling that stuck around in my armpit/upper boob area. I wondering if i should do a compression shirt before my rads start date (tentatively 1/27/16).

Mental note: cabbage

Dropping in from the Fall '15 list with a trick I learned from the rads nurses:

If you're applying cream, squeeze it out of the tube (or get it out of the jar with) onto a tongue depressor. That way, you don't have to stick the finger that's been touching your irritated skin directly onto the tube or in the jar. It's not strictly sterile, since your finger is touching the tongue depressor, but it's more sanitary and keeps the broken skin at least a little more free of contamination.

I also have found it psychologically helpful to use sterile gloves when applying cream to my burns. Especially if peeling skin is involved, it just feels better.

Good luck to all!

Mdoc2524, So sorry to hear about your mother-in-law! I hope she makes a complete recovery. It must be a real challenge for you trying to recover from chemo and then to worry about her too! (((Hugs)))

I swear I could feel a tiny tingling in the treatment area when I had my rads this morning! Has anyone else felt like they could feel the energy going in?

My skin is holding up fairly well. The upper area is faint pink with small splotchy areas. The breast area looks normal color. The most pink is under my arm. I'm wondering if my deodorant was getting down that far and irritating the area. One week from tomorrow and I should be on the positive side of mending! Looking forward to wearing a normal bra in a couple of weeks! Oh the little things in life that can make a person happy! So glad we are all doing this in the wintertime. It's so much easier to cover my sports bras with sweaters and I'm sure the heat would increase the uncomfortable side effects.

Is anyone on tamoxifen or Arimidex? I'm going for a second MO consult on Thursday. I'm leaning toward taking Arimidex. I've come a long way since the begining of this horrible journey. I obsessed over all of the negative aspects of radiation therapy. I read every trial I could and assumed the worst. Now I'm looking at the next treatment step without too much trepidation! I'm actually thinking positively. I'm going into this phase with the expectation that I won't have more than mild side effects and if they are bad, that they can be managed in some way!

Helen...glad you are "on your way"! And, sounds like you have a funny husband who can keep some humor going. (Me, too and for DH, I am eternally grateful! Humor really IS god medicine! Hadn't heard the "4 hours after" either.

I feel something too during radiation. Some kinda of energy or something also a very faint smell that I can't explain. I finished #10 today! My skin looks awesome so far the scar around my nipple looks better. I'm slightly pink after treatment but it goes away quick. My nipple hurts pretty good at this point. I get sharp pains in breast every once in awhile. Don't know if it's from surgery or radiation.

Best news of the day is my insurance will pay for bras at Nordstrom!!!

JD- my nipple area has been a real issue...the RO had the techs put tape on it for my treatments.,...it was supposed to help- good gravy if it was possibly going to be worse....anyway....are they doing that for you?

Winter Rads People - met with RO today, simulation in two weeks, start in three weeks. Total 33 treatments, no mention of boosts. We went over the risks - here they are:

Fatigue, redness/burning/blistering of skin, breast swelling/tenderness, skin thickening, rib fragililty, chest wall pain from tightening of muscle - treatable, arm swelling (lymphedema)brachial nerve injury less than 1% probable, lung scarring, 3-5% possibility (fever, cough, shortness of breath - fully treatable, pneumonitis - treatable, loss of sweat glands axilla, radiation induced cancer - rare. No heart risk for me because radiation on right side.

I do like the RO and her nurse. They are setting me up with PT for shoulder mobility and lymphedema evaluation. I am on reclast so hopefully rib fragility won't be a problem...? RO said it will lower my risk for recurrence by 2/3 or 66%. I requested sharpie marker with clear tape instead of tattoos - Chisandy thanks and does it itch? They say Calendula CREAM only from FIRST AID. No ointments no lotions.....but I have two bottles of Aloe, two jars of aquaphor, miaderm with lidocaine, and Vaseline!

El Tigre, I did have swelling and a seroma and they will tell you of its an issue. They did tell me underarm wasn't a big deal and very common.. Good Luck.

This thread moves so fast I cannot recall who started the conversation about feeling the radiation, I swear I feel flutterring primarily on my underarm side.

Hope everyone is doing well this evening

Lee Anne

I forgot to mention my RO said she would see me every week of the 7 weeks for 33 treatments.

HappyHammer - So glad to hear that the eyelid thing was so easily taken care of and so soon (!) - always good when you don't have to go through the worry for very long. All my life I have been a non-worrier - every symptom that would appear my thought was always, "I'm sure it's nothing". But now, to my dismay, I think everything might be cancer! I hope this "shell-shock" reflex goes away with time.

I hope your soreness goes away real soon. That nipple area is definitely problematic. My husband took me to see the new Star Wars last night. I didn't want to be uncomfortable at all, so I did the cabbage leaf before, and Yay! I was able to totally forget about it for over 2 hours of escape - sweet! My husband is not a science fiction fan, so it was so dear that he wanted to do this for me - and he didn't even fall asleep

Octogirl - Sorry to hear you have that area of skin degradation and the tightness. I hope that the cabbage leaf helps, and anyway that it goes away very soon!

Suz-Q and Peachy2 - Congrats on finishing!

Justmaximom - Glad to hear that things are going well with you. Sounds like you and I are the only ones doing the "no creams until needed" route. I did 7 of 21 today and also no skin problems (just general tenderness, especially the nipple).

PattyMeg - Ugg, sorry your skin is having a hard time. I think for me this is the only thing that causes anxiety about the treatment - that it appears completely random as to who will have problems and who won't, so it seems as though there is nothing you can really do to prevent it.

rainnyc - So glad you are finally healing! You sure had a rough time and it must be great to see the end in sight!

Marijen - I also have ink markings and a special tape over the 3 most crucial areas. Every couple of times they redraw the rest of the lines so they don't fade too much. I usually have trouble with tapes irritating my skin, so I was concerned with this staying on so long, but no problems with it so far. I just hope it doesn't take skin when they finally take it off!

Phoebe - Thanks for the info on the swelling!

I was supposed to have first "during rads" meeting with RO this morning, but all the docs are at a conference through the end of the week. I really don't have any problems to speak of, so I am fine with it. I have a number to reach the on-call RO if anything comes up before my next week appointment.

I start rads officially today. I went back yesterday for port films (X-rays) to check that the rad plan is good. And I got to practice again with the active breathing because I am having left sided rads. I really struggled with breathing thru the tube because I had problems due to stuffy sinuses. Plus my mouth was really dry. My mo came into the treatment room in between films and asked if I wanted to take a break. She said I did so well last week at the sim and asked what was wrong. I think they knew I was having a mini panic with not being able to breathe. They did adjust the angle of the breathing tube which worked much better. The only thing that sucks is I am marked up with green sharpie which my tech told me not to scrub off too hard before tomorrow. Wtf that's what I thought I got rad tattoos for? My chest looks like connect the dots roadmap!

Keepwalking- that is such a lovely photo! Chocolate seems to be an almost universal balm, doesn't it?

Shopgal2- I start with the sim and breath training on Monday. Thanks for sharing your experience! My son sent this to me to cheer me up:

I admit it makes me feel better.

Keepwalking- Loved your photo! Thank God for chocolate. I couldn't have made it through without it!

ivy@-Loved the comic!

I have one big smile on my face today, I had my last treatment this morning. I'm so HAPPY to be DONE!!!

I'm going to do fat transfer in the fall after most of the healing is done. I'm doing it to improve the skin quality and fill the lump dent. I've read much about fat transfers ability improve the skin and tissue fibrosis after radiation.

My RO told me radiation would reduce the chance of recurrence by 66% but now I am wondering 66% of what

Sorry to hear you're feeling so bad lindab143!

marijen, For example, if your recurrence rate was 30%, 66% of 30 is 19.8, so you would be left with a recurrence rate of 10.2% after treatment. I would be good to know what number your RO is talking about!