Starting Radiation August 2017

It is nice to be done with chemo. I hope your RO is right too. I hope your PT USB going well. I never went to PT. I have pretty good range of motion. Again thank you for starting this thread.

Thank you for sharing Tappermom38. I am worried about the mapping and holding the arms still for a long perod and the fatigue. I appreciate the positive and feel I can do this now. It is always scary starting a new treatment.

I think I was told left breast and nodes.

Hi Annbee - No they don't use contrast for the mapping. I think I was there about 45 min and found it went pretty quickly. The only needles I had were the tiny dot tattoos they placed and that was also very quick and to me felt like a bug bite or mild bee sting at worst. I started June 21 and finished July 13 - 16 sessions total. I've posted on here earlier about using green tea to treat the area and I swear by it. A few others have posted as well using it with good results. It greatly pulls the heat out of the treated area and I will swear forever it saved my skin and made me only turn slightly pink throughout the entire process. If you're interested in that, search for green tea - I'm sure I posted it under the radiation threads somewhere. If you can't find it message me and I'll get the info to you.

You're welcome Annbee! Anything that's helps with the process is so good for all of us when we're stuck walking down this road! If you don't find my green tea post, please just let me know and I'll be happy to post the info here for you. I can't express enough how much difference it made in my skin. My RO was amazed when she saw me do it and watched my skin turn back to it's normal color right in front of her eyes, not to mention how "hot" the cotton pads were that I had "bathed" my radiated area in because they pulled the heat right out of my chest/breast area. It was just wild to see it. Plus it's cheap and easy to do!!

Annbee - Here it is. I went back and found it. I'm editing it a little since I've now completed rads. When I wrote the original post I had only done 10 treatments. So here goes my edited protocol.

I "bathed" my breast/chest/armpit area in green tea 3x a day. I know it sounds nuts but I can't begin to tell you how well this worked for me. Here's what I did:

On Sunday I boil water and add it to two green tea bags in coffee mug. I only use about 5 ounces of water - keep it strong. Steep it a good 30 minutes or longer - squeeze out the bags and put the tea in a jar in the refrigerator. On Sunday night I take 5 small zip locks and put 3 cotton squares/pad into each baggie. I use those instead of cotton balls because they are larger and swab the area easier. Then each day just before I leave for treatment I take one zip lock and pour some of the tea into the baggie - enough to thoroughly wet the cotton and take it with me to treatment. As soon as I finish treatment and get to dressing room I rub the entire breast with the cotton, the arm pit area and chest up to collar bone - be sure to get under the breast too. I repeat this w/ the 2nd cotton square, then the 3rd cotton square. I bend at the waist and fan myself dry then dress and leave. My treatments were generally about 11:30 so I did this at home first thing in the morning, then immediately after radiation right there in the dressing room, and the again late in the day. I think all 3 times are very important, but using the tea as soon as you get off the rads table I believe is the most important treatment of the 3. I also treated on the weekends as well.

My Rad Onc got to see me do this and she was blown away. The cotton squares are truly hot to the touch when you finish from pulling out the heat from your skin. Also she was shocked to watch the redness from the skin disappear in front of her eyes. I certainly knew the cotton was hot but I had not noticed the redness leave - just knew I wasn't getting red. So I watched myself in the mirror in the dressing room and I couldn't believe it when I saw it. My skin changed back to its original color right in front of my eyes as I bathed with the tea soaked cotton. I didn't notice the cotton getting how until about 5 treatments in and suddenly with each treatment the cotton got hotter and hotter right in my hands. It was unreal.

I make a fresh cup of the tea to use every other day so that it stays fresh and strong. Just thought I'd pass this on in case you or anyone else was interested in giving it a try. I asked my Rad Onc about it before starting treatment and she said she didn't know if it would help but it couldn't hurt. She now is a believer in green tea!

The only other treatment I used was at bed time I would massage in a generous amount of Emu Oil for skin hydration. So that and the green tea were all I used. I believe the emu oil was very helpful as well in keeping the skin from drying out. My RO okayed that too.

My final update to this post is now that I have totally finished the radiation I can report that I only experienced pinkness by the end. Definitely not red or what I would call burned at all. I'm now 10 days post radiation and I had no sores, peeling, redness. Just the mild pinkness. I wore a bra the entire time with no issues at all. I did stick w/ a cotton bra and no underwire b/c I felt like that would be more gentle against my skin. Also I stayed out of the sun and if I did go out to garden or anything like that I applied sunscreen even though I had on a bra and crew neck t-shirt. I didn't go out in tanks or V-necks. I kept up to the collar bone covered at all times outside. I also would rinse off in the shower if I got sweaty and tried not to be in the heat too long.

Hope some of this helps. I wish you the best of luck!!! Let me know if you have any questions. Cindy

My RO recommends green tea as a spray, 4 x a day. Twotea bags per 1/4 cup boiling water, steeped for at least one hour.

Cindy, bare claws, annbee-- thanks for sharing green tea tips! I won't have rads for a while as I still have surgery to get thru in September but REALLY appreciate you all for sharing so much which helps those of us farther down this c path

Thank you!!!!!

Thanks llamalady for the tips. Keep them coming. I told my husband about the green tea and definitely going to use it. My mapping is tomorrow afternoon. Will be happy to have that done. I feel better about now knowing it is a no contrast appoinment.

I just had my last chemo last week. Hurray!! Should be meeting with my RO shortly and hopefully this will be over in early Sept. Definitely will try the green tea, so easy. I am under the impression we aren't supposed to put anything on our skin prior to the rad treatment...did you run into any problems?

Each center is different, shocked, but my mold was done at the time of my mapping (CT scan). It was like a plastic pillow - they sucked the air out of it to mold to my head and shoulders. That way, I was in the same position every day. My center had me come back after the medical physicist did all the calculations for a simulation - a dry run of the treatment with no radiation.

I hope you don't have skin irritation or fatigue ; each of us is so different. If the RO doesn't give you suggestions as to what lotions and creams to put on, look back at some of the other radiation threads. There are lots of great suggestions.

Three weeks seems like a long time but it will pass before you know it (mine was traditional and seven weeks). BTW - I lay on my back.

Good luck to you.

MJ

Mesaaz - So happy for you that you're finished w/ chemo!! I applied the green tea approx. 3 hours before my treatment. I did NOT apply any lotions, creams, oils before treatment. My dr. said that was ok. She didn't want any oils/cream/lotions used because she said that could accelerate burning. So I only used the green tea before treatment and again that was about 3 hours before my appointment. Of course I did the tea bathing immediately following my treatment then again at the end of the day. I applied emu oil generously at bed time. I did not burn at all - turned a little pink towards the end and stayed pink for about 4 days after treatment ended.

ShockedAt48 - I also did the accelerated radiation. I had 16 treatments of whole breast - no boost. My RO said boosts were not necessary with all clear margins and no node involvement. I was lying on my back for the treatments. I'm a D cup. Scroll back up and read my green tea regimen that I used as well as the emu oil at night. I had no real skin issues just some minor pink that started the last week and never got worse. I also experienced no fatigue at all. And with only 15 treatments it goes by quickly. Seems like about the time you get started good you're on the countdown to finishing. I went for mapping/tattoo and that is when they also made my mold for my arms. I then had a 2nd appt. a week later for the simulation. That was where they just get you positioned on the table and make sure everything lines up. It took just a few short minutes for that. That day they also gave me my radiation schedule and I started treatment the next day.

Hi Gdeann - My docs said 4 weeks after surgery before starting radiation so I'm sure you're right that you likely won't start until early August. I actually took Tylenol before my mapping b/c I was scared of the tattoo :-) I didn't need it though, the tattoos didn't hurt - just a quick prick or sting feeling - gone almost as fast as you feel it. Also the tattooing wasn't anywhere near my incision/scar. They didn't do any pushing or probing on my breast for mapping/CT just some light drawing w/ a marker but I barely felt that. I would tell them up front that your still tender and I'm sure they'll be careful.

If they haven't talked to you yet about scheduling times, be thinking about what times of day would be most convenient to you. They try to accommodate that as best they can. Best of luck to you tomorrow!!