January 2018 RADS group

Towards - Congratulations! Doing a happy dance for you.

It's been 7 days since my last rad and I still prefer to be braless. I told my 80 year old mother that today and she said, "well Sarah, I ditched my bras years ago! Good riddance". Of course she has very small breasts..... And doesn't have to wear a suit for work LOL.

I'm looking forward to the day that all of a sudden I notice that I'm not noticing my breast.

Happy Wednesday and hugs to those still in the midst of rads. You'll be done soon!

Thanks, PVM. He did say the scar... which is interesting because I've seen others talk about finding a tumor on their scar line later. I need to ask when I see him next Tuesday. I'm not really good at thinking of all my questions on the spot

Congrats Towards!!!! Gentle hugs Down and Skookum!!!

I had my last regular rad today and move to 4 boosts to finish up. I have some small rad burns on my nipple so I am using Solugel (Aussie product for burns)and they gave me some dressings for if it gets worse. It isn’t too bad and doesn’t hurt unless prodded so I ditched the physio for a few weeks. I only have to work this afternoon and I get 4 days off so I’m not too stressed. I can rest and be topless. Ugh daughter just informed me her boyfriend is coming over tonight so I guess I won’t be topless tonight lol.

Down, I need to practice some relaxation. I just had #3 and have been tired, but swear is from tensing up, trying not to move!!

I saw the RO today and asked him if the redness on my torso I noticed after the first day was typical. He said no, it wasn't. He thought it was from one of 2 things. 1- my body was being hyper reactive between the surgery, the infection I just got over that was where they took the LN and now radiation and was sending an abundance of red blood cells to help heal or 2- the infection isn't completely out of my body and was settling. I voted for option 1. He agreed, but said we'd be watching it. Power of positive thinking and a whole lot of prayers.

On the down side of the week now.... Enjoy ladies.

Skookum - we have to laugh. Make up some wild story about your neck, modeling scarves or testing makeup, whatever makes you giggle, go with it.

Congrats to all who have finished. Those still in it, there is an end in sight. Keep on slathering on the lotions, we'll get thru this!

Congrats to all you who have finished!!

Hi everyone. I am currently still undergoing chemo and not due to start radiation until April, but I had a question I thought you could all weigh in on.

Do you think it is silly to check out two different radiologists? I didn't check out additional surgeons or medical oncologist. Both came extremely highly recommended by multiple people from different areas and since they did, and what my surgeon said jived so much with what I read online, I went with the fastest route then. And radiation seems to be the least stressful part of this process, so it's a little weird to me that I'm considering checking out two different places/people.

I have a choice between two radiologists though. One is at the cancer center I'm currently at. I love the building and know the place. The drive isn't bad, about 20 minutes without too much crazy traffic. This radiologist doesn't seem to be very well known though. I've only found two reviews online and two people that I personally know who have worked with him, but he gets glowing reviews from all of them. The other one is at a major hospital system in town. The drive to this big hospital can be 20 min. or 45 depending on traffic. (When I left there the other day after visiting someone, it took me an hour to get home because of a crazy busy intersection that is always ten times worse when it snows (and during rush hour) and it was snowing big time.) However, tons of people have worked with him and he consistently gets five star reviews and glowing recommendations. Now....I also know that you work more with the techs than the radiologist.....so......... I don't know if it's silly to check out both places and see what I think of them or not. If both are good and the drives aren't that different except for traffic issues, do I just stay where I'm comfortable and already familiar with things?

Thanks for opinions you have for me!

I can't remember if it was this thread or the December rads thread that we were talking about the area being radiated and it was much larger than some of us thought. I found this picture that shows the area of radiation if you are having your nodes radiated. This is a good representation of where I got rads and where you should make sure you are lotioning.

Sara, I have 2 ROs. Both are in the same practice and alternate seeing me every week. Each RO spends at least 30 minutes/appointment with me: checking my skin, interpreting test results, discussing next steps, etc. My suggestion is to set up consults with the ROs, ask questions about the equipment they'll be using, and see if they have a good rapport with you. Since you will receive treatment on the left breast, inquire whether or not you will need to perform deep breath holds.

Congrats Scaligirl...hooray that you are finished!

Petey I don’t think it’s weird at all to get a second opinion! They are giving you radiation you want the BEST people doing this! My daughter is an Radiation Therapist and she has done a few placements at a big hospital in our area. She recommended them over the private breast centre I had my surgery through. She said they had more RTs and a dedicated breast machine. If there was a breakdown then they could just switch you over to the other machine. They also have psychologists and social workers right there if you are having a rough day, My breast surgeons reasoning for recommending the private radiation place was that they had a “newer machine”. My daughter afterwards said that was stupid because the hospital where I was being treated had a much better machine. I had another friend who had a different type of cancer and he got treated at the private clinic because they were better at treating his type of cancer. Maybe ask some questions of both places to help you decide? Like others have said it is the Radiation Therapists you will see each day and they are the ones doing your rads. You want them on their A game as well as a fantastic Rad Onc. Good luck with chemo and rads.

Be safe Jenruns! Snow commutes suck.

Thanks everyone! It was definitely weird not having to go anywhere for treatment yesterday. I'm totally over it though LOL!

Amy, great diagram. That is precisely where I got treated too. It's hard to picture it when you're planning or even in the midst of it, so that is super helpful to explain why so much of my torso is oddly tanned.

My raw area is less and less raw each day thank goodness, and the rest of the area is peeling like mad now with actual skin underneath so that's been interesting. I put my bra back on today as I really need the support. Gotta go buy more non-stick first aid pads to stuff between my bra on the raw side though.

Oh and I am actually starting to notice my dark brown hair growing back beyond all the wispy grey/whites that are longer. It is all very short and still seems to be growing super s low even though I am taking 10,000 mcg of biotin a day. It makes me really question how much less I would have if I wasn't taking that. I really thinking it is going to be months and months before I can ditch the wigs and hats. Maybe in another month I will be confident enough to rock the "recovering from chemo" look with super super super short hair. Right now I have too much shiny scalp showing through to even think about pulling that off.

I took this is this morning, so 7 weeks PFC. From a few feet away it's like I have a little brown halo over my head LOL.

Anyway... thanks again for all the support! I hope everyone has a great treatment free weekend !

Scaligirl, your hair looks great for just 7 weeks PFC!

Amy, what is Topix?