Help! Was your breast covered for rads? Need to convince RO!

lifeb4me, thank you! I don't think I went through more than other bc sisters, but the wonderful news is that time really does heal. I didn't quite believe it when people right here on BCO told me that 6 years ago! I was so full of fear and horror I thought it would never end. But it did!

I guess I will never understand having to take a shower with clothes on! Although I am very modest, I would be one of those who rebelled, lol.

So glad you and your RO are working on a solution for you. Speaking up is important, especially when your needs differ from most (nothing wrong with that, you just had to make it known). I am almost 6 years out from a stage IV dx and though I will never be "cured" , life is pretty good!

Well-done, lifeb4me, advocating for yourself! So happy that the RO heard you and will help. Such a simple thing but so important. You may have improved things not only for yourself, but for other patients as well.

My at home alone summer attire: underwear. Winter add a robe. My apt is surrounded by trees so no probs with lookiloos.

Way back at the beginning of this whole rodeo, after being harangued into wearing a silly kleenex kind of paper gown for some procedure or other, I went on Amazon and bought myself my own "mammography modesty gown." It's like a printed cotton robe that wraps and ties around the front. I took it to every single doctor's appointment, every scan, every anything when I had to, yet again, pull out my breasts. I was NOT going through this experience wrapped like a piece of butcher's meat.

And I'm not what anyone would call a naturally modest person. Now that treatment is behind me, I'll hoik up my shirt for the neighborhood to see what breast cancer and reconstruction looks like.

Lifeb4me, good for you for speaking up. The techs will survive. Maybe it will make them think a bit about what the experience is like from the table, under the beam.

This is a difficult time. You have been through a lot already I only had a gown for the waist up. I wore pants or skirts to the treatments. The techs said that the reason that the treated breast was kept uncovered was to help reduce burning of the skin. The doctors there felt that doing the area covered increased the risk of burning. My techs were very professional and they did everything possible to make the uncomfortable situation more comfortable.

Right on, Goincrzy8. Lifeb4me, I'm glad you have the right attitude about the techs' coldness. You did nothing wrong, so don't take any cr*p from them or let them blame or bully you. How immature and snotty of them to resent having to make a small change for you. A mature, caring person would have an outlook more like this: We didn't know that we could do this to make you more comfortable, and we are glad that the RO was able to offer this solution. And of course you respond as I am sure you have, graciously and without gloating. Why do they have to make it a power struggle instead of a team problem-solving effort? Where is compassion for a person having cancer treatment? And you know what? They should have been the ones to go to the RO and say, "Our patient is very uncomfortable, can you help? " The techs may "rule the roost", as pupmom says, but they know that you are not afraid to tell the doc what happens, and they have to obey the doc.

"Today not so much" what? Do you mean not so cold, or not so mindful of modesty?

RadOnc at Evanston Hosp./Kellogg Cancer Ctr. had an illuminated translucent panel on the ceiling above the table, painted with a forest scene of autumn & spring leaves, as if you were lying on the forest floor gazing up through the treetops. I didn’t put together a playlist, nor did I ask for music to be piped in, as each session was so short (5 min.—it took longer to get into the gown and then dressed again). I was allowed to wear my jeans, but had to take my shoes off because that might have affected positioning.

Evanston Hosp.’s Center for Breast Health uses pink wraparound front-opening/side-tie mammography gowns; in cooler weather they also offer pink fleece bathrobes to go over them. The tech yesterday for my semiannual mammo had me slip out of one sleeve at a time for the views; she wasn't surprised when I told her that after slipping out of the R sleeve I didn’t need to put my arm back in before doing the L side. She said about half the women there don’t bother, just taking the gown off during mammography and not putting it back on till they were ready to go back to the waiting lounge.