Starting Radiation October 2017

Yesterday I also finished my 20th and final rx session. Got to ring the gong, and everyone applauded. One woman whom I hadn't even met was crying for me. I am so glad to be finished... and yet I'm not. The radiation nurse warned me against pulling off the marker stickers, since my skin is so tender from the radiation, it might tear off the skin as well. She suggested when I shower with Dove, to gently massage the edges. So those "X' marks the spot stickies will be on for a while longer. Also fatigue, so I hope this will be a restful weekend. At times, my nipple feels like a knife is stabbing it, and the prescription lidocaine doesn't help. If I'm home, I'll use the aloe vera gel from the refrigerator.

Congrats to all who have finished (or are almost finished with) treatment, Lojo100 and speedyteach. And to everyone who is still going through treatment, I wish you all strength. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

I have been lurking on this site for some time. I started rads on October 23 but since I would be receiving treatment the ENTIRE month of November, I decided to join the November group instead. I must say that you ladies have provided much needed inspiration and encouragement. What I have learned is not to sweat it... just to put your head down and GO! and moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! I have also learned that our rads journey is individual...some of us go longer than others, some of us are face down while others are on our back, some have a bolus and some of us need to use a breathing technique,... whatever best eradicates all traces of our disease...that is the treatment I hope we all are receiving! I wish each and everyone of you a lifetime of NED. You ladies rock! Congratulations to all of you who have rung the bell & my heart goes out to you (Utjoy) that have endured more than your share of worry and heart-ache. I send a mix of hugs and high-fives

DodgersGirl; you are just moving right along! GREAT!!! Almost reaching that light at the end of the tunnel; thats awesome! Glad you are feeling good as well. I was wondering what the reaction too would be for my lumpectomy scar; its around nipple. My surgery was Oct 19th and the glue strips just finally washed off over the weekend. Its healing good though. I had the pinkish 'healing' before it goes back to my 'brown' skin. I won't have rads until Nov 27th and nothing under the arm so my SNB scar 'should' not be affected (and because im laying in the face down position) just w/right breast rads.

Ive been treating the scar w/a dove lather during my shower and eucerin and neosporin (mixed). Its doing well; just want it more healed before rads (crossing fingers and prayers to God). Just want my skin to be in its best health for what it'll endure for the 20days.

I guess Im nervous on one hand of the SEs and anxious at the same time to just get started...uggggghhhh...

@lovepugs77: Another vote for Silvadene. I have a good friend who is a nurse, and I showed her my messed up boob last night, and she also recommended the same thing. I'm going to ask my doc about it when I see her tomorrow.

@sweetsmilefh: YAY for being done! What do you mean NOT done though? Those stickers can't seem to stay on me at all, at least a few of them. One fell off again this weekend and one I know is in the wrong place, so I imagine they will redo them again today. Sorry about that stabbing sensation for you....ouch! I may have to follow the aloe vera gel suggestion myself!

@Linwentz: Best of luck to you on your journey!

@DodgersGirl: Yeah for the last FULL week. This is my last "FULL" week also, and then 3 days next week. I am just counting the days right now for sure, especially now that things have really started to hurt/itch! I tried some aquaphor yesterday and today for my open wound, in addition to my normal Emu Oil, Macadamia oil and Shea Butter treatment.

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Here's hoping we all get to the end of this journey quickly and as painlessly as possible. Since my lumpectomy scar is pretty well hidden right around my nipple, I expect that will be the next painful thing once that area is targeting beginning Wednesday. I'm not looking too forward to the weekend because of that, but we'll see how I do.

catlady72 - Here's what I meant when I said I was not really done - I am still processing everything. I am a survivor, yes. But having cancer is affecting me profoundly. I know whenever I go for screens in the future, I will be anxious. And even past the five year mark, there are never any guarantees. At least today I was able to gently roll off several of those blasted clear markers in the shower. My breasts are more asymmeticial than ever, with swellings, dips, tats and small scars. None of it is terrible, but it definitely is a reminder.

By the way, you would probably appreciate that several times during this whole process, my son asked if I would like to visit him and his girlfriend for cat therapy. Two mostly all-black cats, Clementine and Oscar. Their company was very relaxing.

Strength and fortitude to all you ladies!

I’ve been lurking on the site since I was diagnosed back in March and I just want to say how grateful I am for all the wonderful information and support given here.

I started my rads (just right breast) on the 30th and at 11/28 down so far so good. I’m starting to see some darkening but so far no redness, soreness or blistering. I’m big on mixing different moisturizers together so I have been slathering eucerin with palmers cocoa butter and/or shea butter on the area after treatment. I figure if I see it’s not working I’ll switch to something else and the nurse at the radiologist’s office hasn’t told me I’m doing anything wrong yet.

I’m doing the deep inspiration breath hold as part of my treatment and was wondering if anyone else is also and what their experience had been with it? I haven’t seen much info on the boards about it. I was nervous at first about whether I could sustain holding my breath for the 20 or so seconds but I think because I’ve been doing yoga for years it hasn’t been as hard as I expected.

Lifechoices-sorry just saw your post about the lotion. This is what they gave me plus samples of aquaphor ointment when things started to get red. I used this 3-4 times a day. Allantoin and aloe are main ingredients plus a bunch of other stuff-lol.

I have the tub of Aquaphor (it looks just like a tub of Vaseline) I have been using it for years on my cracked heels! I have used it liberally at night since the beginning of treatment (on my boob!) Yesterday, the tech noticed therewas lotion on my skin--under the boob area-- & reminded me I wasn't to use creams before treatment. Apparently my liberal slathering of Aquaphor had not been completely washed away. Note to self: do a better job washing under that boob!

Lifechoices:

Anyone can put details of their dx, treatments, dates, etc. in their signature. To add or edit this, go to the My Profile section. There's a link on the upper right corner of the page. Problem already solved!

@sweetsmilefh - Yes I totally get that, this will ALWAYS be with us and nobody can really grasp that for sure. I watched my mom go five years clear...and then WHAM! Another cancer! So of course I can't help but think about that. So glad you could remove those clear markers. I'm well aware that this treatment breast will never be the same, and this week I'm questioning if I shouldn't have just had it removed! Also love that you had some cat time. I love mine...all FOUR of them...all different colors but we have one all black one.

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Ok so today is treatment #25 of 30, and the last FULL breast treatment. I am just focusing on this getting close to the end because right now...the pain is getting bad. I have an area under my breast which is raw with peeled away skin. I'm not sure what to do about that yet, as my RO left early yesterday so I couldn't see her as planned.

ANYBODY had to treat raw, peeled skin because I tried some cortizone gel after reading about that online yesterday, dabbed a little bit in that are this morning and HOLY COW that HURT so I had to stop.

I will ask today for SURE. Sleeping is painful, as anytime I try to roll over it feels like hundreds of needles poking my skin because I'm not a small breasted person so there is so much moving each time. As I said above, I really question my decision to radiate over just removing it completely. Of course, who knows if down the road I won't be removing it anyway. Sorry I have a hard time thinking positively about all of this but I do my best to put on a brave face in real life.

Best of luck to everybody still going through this.

Hi ladies! I went yesterday for my surgical consult and found out that I’m going to need radiation. My lymph nodes are clear but apparently with a tumor 5cm or more, radiation is standard. Anyhow, I see that several of you have mentioned fatigue. I have a husband with a very demanding job and 7 year old twins. We have 2 sitters who have been helping us get thru chemo (no family near us). Now I’m wondering if I’ll still need some help after I recover from my mastectomy.

Can you share how much fatigue you’ve experienced? I know that everybody’s different but If I’m going to keep my sitter(s) I need to sort things out before they get other jobs. Thanks!

Hi Flynn,

I'm TNBC, too. By surgical consult, do you mean you haven't had surgery yet? We were diagnosed the same month and I had a BMX in July. I'll just say if your surgery didn't find a pathologic complete response, your rads could be more aggressive. I didn't have a pCR. And I haven't started rads yet, but I'll be doing 33 sessions plus boosts. My BS and RO have said to expect fatigue.

If Xeloda is in your future, you definitely will want to have sitters. Neoadjuvant chemo was a breeze compared to X.

If you haven't been on any of the TNBC boards, you might want to browse through them. Good luck.

25/30 treatments done...today I begin targeted treatment #1 of 5...so close now!

Finally saw my RO yesterday, who was rather upset I hadn't contacted her sooner once she saw my raw and peeled skin. I told her it really hadn't gotten that bad until the weekend, and then I figured I'd see her Tuesday anyway...but of course didn't know I'd end up waiting until Wednesday. She did a quick analysis of my next phase, and since the treatment area for the targeted radiation is well outside of the current raw area, she is okay with me continuing on schedule. If the targeted area had fallen in the range of my current raw area, she would have advised me taking a break from radiation to let it heal.

Anyway, the first thing the nurse said to me when she checked me out was that they would be calling in a script for silvadene, which is what my friend (the nurse) told me I should ask for and so I picked that up last night.

OH MY GOSH...I couldn't believe that even putting it into the open and raw skin didn't even HURT! It was amazing. I've got that stuff slathered on heavy now, and I took some advil last night and this morning for pain and swelling. Whole new world. Plus I am using a gel pad today on the slathered area as extra protection and cooling. Whew!

My DH is giving me a hard time about not calling the RO earlier, but honestly I just thought I'd be okay until I saw her. The good news is that I am doing better now and treatment will go on as planned.

I am finding that every day when I get home after radiation I need a nap, a longer one than I used to take, but it could be that I come home and curl up on the couch with a blanket and a cat and it's just easy to nap there.

Supposed to play a tennis match tomorrow night and I think I'm going to try and see how I do with it. Even though it's my right side and my right arm I use, I think I'll be okay as I was playing this weekend. Oh and another bonus: they told me when the current stickers fall off not to worry, they don't need those any longer. They advised probably not to try to remove at least the ones on my raw skin, but the others if they come off it's no big deal. Yay!

Hope all is well with everybody else!