Starting Rads in March 2017

Check-in day with RO team today. Nothing too exciting, although my slightly pink area got visibly darker over the weekend. I now have a defined reddish/tan area that lines up with all the stickers still stuck on me to guide the radiation treatment.

It doesn't hurt at this point, will see how it goes from here. This is definitely darker than any reaction I had when I had radiation the first time.

LynnieRich- I do think it could be from the rads. I woke up this morning and it's tight in there again like it was last week. It went away over the weekend, but is back after yesterday's blast.

butterfly- I hope you enjoy the yoga as much as I do. I love it more for my mental state after I do it than for the physical benefits. It just gets my mind calm and right, you know?

15 more to go.

I can do 15 of anything.

Hope you enjoy your classes, butterfly. I haven't gone since I started cancer treatments. After my hair comes back, I'm looking forward to it. Right now, I'm doing some light yoga every other day at home. It's kicking my butt. I haven't really engaged in any exercise other than walking my puppy for the last 6 months. Surgery and chemo really left me weak. But surprisingly I have tons of energy on rads. Now, I have zero reserve. So when I've shot my load, I'm done. But it is noticeable.

I'm gradually increasing the activity to meet left arm. I refuse to get lymphedema and have been babying my left arm since surgery. And since my rads are superclavicle and chest wall, not under arm, I might get away with no lymphedema. Got my fingers crossed.

I get new x-ray pictures and repositioned every Tuesday. To make sure that just my chest wall and not my lungs and heart are in the field. We do deep inspiration breathing as well. And since this past Tuesday, when we redid everything, the pain in my chest wall has gone away. So, is this a good thing? Like are they hitting my lungs and heart instead which is why my chest wall feels great or what. Ugh.

Half way done. 2.5 weeks down. 2.5 weeks to go.

javamama, I got lymphedema from my surgery. Very mildly though and I went to PT and it helped tons. I think it's not too big a deal as long as you don't let it go. I could feel my arm getting achy and my rings tight and so I mentioned it and thy sent me to the PT. I would have ignored it as no big deal but they asked specifically. So that's my biggest advice on that front. If you notice your arm feeling heavy that's a sign of lymphedema and don't hesitate to have a PT check it out!!

Lynnie- I don't have lymphedema. Even though they took all my auxiliary nodes. My MO says that the skill of the surgeon and extracting the nodes makes a huge difference in whether ones gets it from surgery. Now, he says that radiation will give almost half of women wove had node dissection lymphedema. I am ever on guard for the beginnings of it. Having a heavy arm, however, doesn't work for me. I've had so much nerve damage that the upper part of my arm is mostly numb and feels weird to me all the time. I wouldn't be able to tell if it was heavy. I check my arm every day. Sometimes, more than once if I remember.

Chest wall pain is back, but slightly different. So... make what you will of that.

I got nausea again after rads this morning. I do think it's radiation related.

Even if doc doesn't think it's related, I will tell him again when I see him on Monday. I am also getting slightly fatigued. Nothing crazy. Just a little tired by late afternoon. I will tell him of this as well.

Skin is holding up well.

Oasis, my skin has started to return to its normal color too. All the skin under my arm that had peeled off is coming back nicely with no pain, thank goodness. The only thing I have at the moment is a tearing sensation across the center of my left DBMX scar. We've been keeping an eye open for any changes in the scar and the only thing we can see is a deepening in an area that took forever to heal after my DBMX. I wonder if it's opening up from the inside out? I'm being very careful not to move to fast and avoiding the position that increases the tearing sensation. I have a f/u with my RO on Wednesday and I'm hoping to get an appointment with my PS soon to discuss TE exchange date. I know I have 6 months before PS will even think about doing the exchange surgery. If my scar is tearing open then lets go ahead and do the exchange. Wishful thinking I know lo

javamama, Yay! Your almost done! You can do this! I think what I'm feeling is nerve endings?? I'm in no real hurry if my PS says 6 months I'll wait 6 months. Besides, he ruined my pool time last summer I WON'T let him do it 2 years in a row lol This Fall is soon enough for me 😊

Waving hello to everyone 👋

I have my balcony door open to enjoy the cool night air, I may need to close it. All I can hear is the coyotes howling! What a racket!!

I'm hoping my exchange goes well when the time comes as my PS doesn't do FGs. He says if it's done right the first time there's no reason to have to fix anything?? It'd be nice if I needed FG, I've got lots of fat that can go someplace else. My TEs have always been up under my chin and over into my armpits. I call them my hooker Fools. I've seen my PS's before and after photos of reconstructions and Ihave to admit they are amazing.

Good Afternoon ladies,

I finished my last treatment on April 11th. Very happy that this is part is over! I had mixed emotions on my last day. But really cried when my husband gave me a beautiful crystal necklace to celebrate the end of my treatment. After 1 week, my skin is starting to clear up, but still very tender. My skin got very dark in some places, raw in some and developed a rash in the rest! I managed to keep working through treatment, but was pretty tired by the time I got home from treatment! Mostly used aquafor ointment for the skin but had to get the benadryl cream for the rash! Started taking the pain pills so that I could sleep at night! I wish you all the best and all I can say is keep a positive attitude and take it one day at a time!

FightingGMA - Congrats on your last treatment. Tomorrow is my half way mark. Heal quickly! Gentle hugs,

It's 3 weeks since my last treatment and my skin is on the mend. I had a f/u with my RO today and he saw a lot of fresh new skin developing. I need to make an appointment with my PS as the muscle has contracted some and I may need to have a little saline removed. I can handle that. It was nice to see all the girls while I was there. They all came out to say hi.

FightingGMA, yay! Congratulations, what a beautiful thoughtful DH you have he's definitely a keeper. I'll keep mine also. We started to plan our trip to Australia, Greece, Italy, France or any other place I'd like to go as my treatment graduation gift. We have a year to figure out exactly where we're going as he wants me to be able to enjoy myself and not spend 4 hours a day sleeping. By then I'll have my exchange surgery over with too.

🦋, halfway there! Yay! It'll be over before you know it!

Hello to everyone 👋

Butterfly, I don't see why not. But do a test patch. Orange seems to be the result if chemo drugs are still in the system. Be careful. Maybe go check out the hair threads.

I have 7 more to go. 18 down.

Skin is starting to get really irritable. It's slightly red. But it's almost like a breeze brushing against it is just annoying. Chest wall pain is remaining steady.

9 more to go for me out of 28 treatments. Darker redness in the area, and seems to be a little puffy but that's about it. Doesn't hurt, though I write that off at least in part to nerve degradation in the area after multiple surgeries.

One thing that is a little weird is that it's quite dark red for most of the area being treated, but part of the area inside the perimeter they marked doesn't look more than lightly pink if that. May try and remember to ask RO about that.

Best wishes to all.

Javamama, yay! You can do this! I'm in your pocket

Javamama, my RO scheduled another appointment to see him in 3 months then he'll release me permanently. So we hope! All ROs are different, hopyou'll be done on Monday 🤞