Spring 2016 Rads

Artista...my machine is quiet and the only noise is makes is a beeping noise when the radiation starts.

Randi...that has to be a terrible feeling not trusting or having any confidence in your group! It's a bad enough experience as it is, let alone have these feelings! I love my RO and radiation techs. I can honestly say that through this whole process (from diagnosis to radiation) everyone has been wonderful and caring! It puts me at ease knowing they care and are trying to make this easier for me. Thank goodness my radiation is being done at the hospital here in town so I see the same RO each week. Love Dr. Rao!

Today will be 19 of 30...so I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (and I'm hoping it's not the train)! So far my breast is wonderful! It's my underarm that's just a little red and irritated. Not sure why that far up, but I'll ask my RO when I see her on Monday.

Have a great weekend everyone!

I asked the technician at my first appointment yesterday when I might expect to see changes in my skin (she said around 2 wks, which will be the half way mark for me) and she mentioned that the armpit area, presumably where the lymph nodes were removed, was where I'd feel the most discomfort as opposed to the breast itself, although she did say it would also become tender/pink/red over time. She said the normal daily movement of my arm rubbing against the underarm area (as with walking, for example) would additionally aggravate that spot. I do remember that sensation in the days following my lumpectomy as I healed - I kept my arm out from my side for a day or two so it wouldn't rub back and forth as a walked.

Hi. I am new here. Today will be RAD treatment #3 out of 20. I am aware fatigue may (probably will) kick in when I am half way through. My appt is everyday at 11am. My work hours are 8-5 everyday (no weekends). Do you think it may benefit that I try to change my treatment time to later in the day? Starting to get a littled pooped around 2:30 pm. Not bad, but I know it will get worse.

Thanks for such a great overview of your experience, Sunnyone! For those of us just beginning treatment, it's great to hear about someone's really recent experience. I like the "put your hand on your hip and walk with attitude" advice too!!

I'm going to be starting an exercise regimen very soon to help combat fatigue - it's a program through the university here that is specifically for those of us undergoing cancer treatments (the RO sends through a "prescription" and it's, therefore, free to anyone who wishes to participate), and it is designed with our specific needs in mind. The hospital is quite near the university so I'm thinking of heading to the gym right from my treatment before I can get home and make excuses not to go, which is something I'd do!!

During Chemo, it was suggested that I brush my teeth with Biotene , since Chemo can cause mouth sores and dry mouth. My last chemo was 2/29. Started radiation on 4/4 and will have last treatment today ( 25 total) YAY!!!

On Monday, I switched back to Crest and over the last couple of days I have had sores in the corner of my lips and now I think I have sores in my throat. It hurts when I eat but not when I swallow. Is this a side effect of radiation or do you think it is from the toothpaste?

I am three weeks out, so I thought I'd offer some encouragement. Fortunately, I never felt fatigued, and while I got a little red, I only started to feel it, as a little irritation, only the final week (of 6 1/2 weeks), and that's when I was having boosts, anyway. The redness was minor, so I didn't expect any peeling, but the skin peeled a little, under my arm around the SNB scar, only after radiation was over. When the peeling was done, the scar looked much better! As for my lumpectomy scar, it hasn't exactly peeled there, but that scar also has diminished and looks better.

An there are plenty of others who have minimal side effects and thus don't bother to post to this forum.
It's all chance. The chance/bad luck of getting breast cancer, and what kind, and then the chance/luck of how your skin holds up under radiation.

My RO is robotic with 0 personality. Luckily the techs and the RN are nice. They tell me step by step what to expect. Like every 5th zap they take xrays to make sure the positioning is still right on. Otherwise if the whole place was like that I may have looked for another place to go. Bedside manner is so important when you have something like cancer or other deadly diseases. This guy is more an engineer than a doc!

Randi, I hate that you've had such a horrible experience. My rad crew is absolutely wonderful! All the way from the receptionist who will chat with me when I wait, all the way to the nurse, the techs, and the RO himself. They are fantastic!!! I will actually miss them when I'm finished because they always make me feel comfortable and make me laugh! They feel like part of my family now!

Randi - terrible that you are treated so poorly. You deserve better. And it's not like you can just pick up and go to another rad center down the road. Linear accelerators are very expensive and that equipment just isn't available everywhere. Seems like there isn't much accountability for how patients are treated there. I hope you can stick it out and then give the rad center your honest assessment of their services.

For the record, my rad center also felt like a spa. Had the same team all the way through treatments and they were angels. .

Linear accelerator is the machine that delivers many radiation treatments - the one that circles us as we lay on that very hard 'table'... It is the big "X Ray" machine that delivers high-energy X-Rays to breast tissue.(and sometimes other tissues and organs) to prevent local cancer recurrence. Even with so many medical advances, Linear accelerators (also referred to as LINAC) are still the most common way to deliver rads.

https://stanfordhealthcare.org/medical-treatments/...

I start rads tomorrow. It's going to be a crazy week. Just finished weekly Taxol and Herceptin Thursday. I have an echocardiogram Wed, and my first Herceptin only Thursday morning. My MO is in another little town about 20 minutes from work. Then my rads are at 4:30, so at least I can leave work and not go back. At least the hospital is a little closer, but Thursday will be challenging.

Nothing I love more than people with a great sense of humor - a physician friend of mine emailed this morning to ask if I'm feeling "radioactive" yet (only she can get away with that kind of remark) and sent me this link to Imagine Dragons' video "Radioactive". At our cancer centre, patients who are finished with treatment whack a big gong in the lobby -- she said I should hit the gong as hard as the guy in this video hits the big drum. Was my laugh for the day. Radiation, "I'm ready to rock you!".

hey everybody! I finished chemo on April 19, I am starting radiation on May 24. 25 treatments, whole breast plus lymph nodes

I'm not going to lie I am really terrified. After finishing chemo I really feel like I'm getting my life back, I'm starting to get my energy back and exercise and have fun again. I hate thinking that this might be reversed by radiation.

A lot of people say radiation is a walk in the park compared to chemo, it doesn't feel that way to me. I'm very scared of that skin damage. Because I still have my breasts, and they are large (f, there is a lot of room for skin to skin on me, and if I cannot wear a bra I'm not going to be going anywhere or doing anything.

Any advice on how to deal with this, both emotionally and physically. Emotionally I just feel done with treatment, I hate that I need to do this other treatment, that seems so intrusive and like it might really impede on my lifestyle.

Physically I just want to do everything I can to avoid skin damage.

Thsnk you Grazy!

Hi Jill:

I am on my third week of rads and it's scary at first because you lay on a cold hard slab and the machines whir and spin around and it's like a sci fi movie. I always laugh when I think of that. I am having 33 sessions so it's going to take a while. As far as the skin getting red I was told that they can't predict whose skin will change which way even based on race or age, so it's hard to predict that. They gave me lotions to put on so we do that to keep the skin in good shape. It gets easier as you go along and know what to expect. As far as the bra goes I haven't worn a bra since my biopsy in January I use a well fitting camisole and loose button down shirts. Best of luck, you are not alone.