January 2018 RADS group

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  • CindyNY
    CindyNY Member Posts: 1,022
    edited March 2018

    Smash - hair loss wasn't mentioned to me, but I've read somewhere about hair thinning from rads. I shed like a dog on a good day. I didn't notice any additional shedding. Rads completed 1/18.

    My RO mentioned the throat clearing, but said some people with allergies don't notice it, because they attribute it to the allergies, which I do have. But when she told me this in late December, it sounded to me like it could occur after rads were complete, as far off as 3-6 months post rads. And she said if I got it, I should call and she'd prescribe something. It sounded fairly common. Ask your RO if he/she can give you something for it. Best of luck.

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  • Towardshealth17
    Towardshealth17 Member Posts: 47
    edited March 2018

    Congrats BellWAMissy!

    My hospital doesn’t have a bell either, I also didn’t bond with the radiation technologists the way many here described. I do know that there are prescription topical medications that your doctor can prescribe if something like hydrocortisone isn’t sufficient. I also tried Benadryl but hated how it made me feel. I had more success with Zyrtec so maybe ask your doctor about those alternatives.

    You will start to feel better soon but it was more than a week before I was myself. Lots of gentle hugs.

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  • Smashleywnc
    Smashleywnc Member Posts: 13
    edited March 2018

    BelleWA so glad you are finished. Enjoy this blessed month with no treatments!

    Sorry to hear about your skin troubles - I hope it all clears quickly!

    TowardsHealth - I only bonded with one of my techs - I call him my radiation boyfriend. 😊 He went missing about 3 weeks into treatment and I cried about how mean the other ladies are to my MO and how much I missed my radiation boyfriend. The next day he was back (he’d been moved to cyberknife) and has been there every day since. 😂

    So...did any of you get blackish looking skin under your arm - almost like a bruise and feels sore like a bruise? There’s a red/burned area and the blackish area is inside about the size of a quarter.

    One more full breast tomorrow and then I’m off to boosts for the rest of my final week


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  • Skookum
    Skookum Member Posts: 45
    edited March 2018

    Smashleywnc- yes, I got really dark and sore under my arm. Still pretty tender.

    Finished rads 2/22/18, still pretty dark. The area of the boosts and underarm are the most tender and sore areas.

    I started on Al on Monday 2/26/18. I’ve had the worst headache I’ve had for 30 years, the last 2 days. I got migraines starting when I was 16. It was so bad yesterday I threw up. Anyone else gets headaches from Al? Or am I just back to getting migraines?


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  • DownNotOut
    DownNotOut Member Posts: 99
    edited March 2018

    Catching up after working this weekend, and so happy to those of you who finished this week! Yeah gals!!

    My mom is visiting, which is nice. But I am really missing all of you these last 2 weeks especially. It seems like reading here is my only "me" time anymore and it is not often enough to satisfy. I am praying for all of you and am walking this with you. I finally got to "celebrate" my completion of rads today when my mom took us out for a delicious steak dinner. My last treatment day was pretty darn anti-climactic and so today felt really good. I ate every bite of my ribeye and asparagus :)

    My rash is so very much better after 5 days of the prescription steroid cream. My skin is so abnormal looking and very splotchy, but without the itching I can take it. Still lotioning up 2-3 times a day with all the assortments of creams. Under my arm is peeling and exquisitely tender. It hurts to relax my arm down, so I keep it on my hip and my DH thinks I'm always mad like "why are you standing with your hand on your hip?" and I think "duh" but I guess he just forgets. This was supposed to be like a sunburn, right? Well, I've never peeled from a sunburn for 9 days with no end in sight! I'm guessing all that super dark skin in my axilla will go eventually and maybe a funny looking area on the side of my breast too. I'm not complaining, though...it is so much more fun to go to Target on the way home from work instead of radiation!! Ha! Hang in there, those of you still in the thick of it. It won't be long and then you'll be finished too! Warrior on ladies!

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  • Smashleywnc
    Smashleywnc Member Posts: 13
    edited March 2018

    image

    Well - 25 full breast down. Everything looks good except that splotch and the tiny open wound where the peeled off my skin. Today my boosts start - I'm hoping they don't hit the open skin with the boosts!

    I start PT Thursday - I can't wait! My shoulder gets tighter by the day.

    Hope you all are healing, healing, healing!

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  • klvans
    klvans Member Posts: 258
    edited March 2018

    Smashleywnc that looks painful! I hope you heal quickly. I've only done 3 treatments and my underarm hurts already so I think I will be dealing with a similar situation.

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  • CindyNY
    CindyNY Member Posts: 1,022
    edited March 2018

    Smashlywnc- that looks very sore! Keep slathering on the lotions. I swear Aquaphor saved me.

    Skookum- Anastrozole every other day, started 3/1. I wake up and notice I have a headache. It goes away as I get up and get moving along. I hope yours goes away too.

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  • Towardshealth17
    Towardshealth17 Member Posts: 47
    edited March 2018

    Skookum,

    I had an awful headache on day 5. Now it’s intermittent nausea and muscle and joint pain. Trying to believe that my body will adjust.

    Hope yours subside. Hugs.

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  • scaligirl
    scaligirl Member Posts: 74
    edited March 2018

    Catching up not having been on for a week...

    Down, Kim and Missy, Congrats on finishing!!! It is so great to read when people are finished. You all make me smile so much.

    I have my 1 mo after rads check up tomorrow for them to check my skin. I stopped using cream about a week ago and am happy to say healing well. I have fresh skin everywhere on my boob and under my arm and definitely still some weird discoloration. I think the wierdest part is after my nipple peeled it now looks so pale in comparison to the other one. it's like I'm two different people lol. I can't quite envision the day when I am not obsessed with my breast but hopefully that comes soon for us all.

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  • DownNotOut
    DownNotOut Member Posts: 99
    edited March 2018

    I've been missing you all! Oh, Smashley, I hope you are on the mend. As we move on to our oral meds, I am praying for minimal SE's or that they lessen as time passes. I meet with my MO on Monday and will probably be getting a Rx for Tamoxifen if he thinks I'm healed enough to begin. I should get my baseline Thyroid, CBC, and lipid panel results since I had them drawn prior to rads. I'm hoping for good numbers. My documented BPs have been running a bit high since all this began in November...I work in medicine, so I was surprised that I ended up with "white coat syndrome"!! When I take my BP at home, it is always fine!

    I am now 16 days post-rads and my skin issues keep "evolving" but only for the past 3 days have I been sort of comfortable...the peeling parts are still so itchy and I have this weird stripe of redness extending past my axilla that is very irritated. Did my boosts zoom past my breast and hit there?

    Are some of you getting a little bit of "life as we previously knew it" back? I have times during the day when I forget about BC and am very grateful for those moments. I'm looking forward to the future when I may go a whole day without thinking about it!!

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  • CindyNY
    CindyNY Member Posts: 1,022
    edited March 2018

    DownNotOut- its good to hear you're doing well! I'm about 2 months post rads and life is trying to be on the "normal" side. I'd like to say I go days without thinking about bc, but the tracking every other day of Anastrozole keeps it in the front of my mind. I've got a calendar all marked up with highlighter that I look at nightly before bed. Once 6 weeks are past me, I should get into a daily bedtime ritual of just taking it.

    I'm hopeful for all of us that at some point we're survivors, warriors, with this part of our lives being a distant past.

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  • moth
    moth Member Posts: 4,800
    edited April 2018

    I hope some of you are still checking in & would let me pick your brains ?

    Do you guys think it's possible to go to school full time during radiation treatments? I was hoping to be done rads by end of Aug but it looks like that will not happen & it's more likely to drag into Sept.

    I am supposed to start back to school in September.

    Assuming that I could get my rads scheduled around most of my classes, would you say that you could work or be a student full time during rads?

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  • CindyNY
    CindyNY Member Posts: 1,022
    edited April 2018

    moth - I think you could do it. Judge it by how you've been doing since dx.

    For me, I do think my focus was "off" ...hard to concentrate on anything but bc & rads. Example - I'm an avid reader, or I should say I was an avid reader. Usual year would be over 50 books. From diagnosis 10/6 thru end of rads 1/18, I might have read 2 or 3 chick books, easy reads. Anything intricate, Greg Isles book Mississippi Blood, was just too hard to follow. I've tried 2x so far.

    Go with your gut. Best wishes!

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  • JenRuns
    JenRuns Member Posts: 350
    edited April 2018

    definitely possible to go to school with rads. I worked full time.

    Do build in some rest time though, especially when you’re done. I found I’m more tired the month after rads than I was during.

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  • DownNotOut
    DownNotOut Member Posts: 99
    edited May 2018

    Moth, I agree with CindyNY and JenRuns that you should be able to go to school during rads, and if your location is anything like mine, they were flexible with scheduling as long as it could be planned ahead. Like Jen, I am more tired the months AFTER rads than I was during, but it is nothing that a quick nap before dinner cannot fix. I work full time and maybe it is the sunny drive home that makes me sleepy, but now I have a fantastic "excuse" to head straight back for a powernap while the kids wait for mom! Good luck in your studies!

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  • moth
    moth Member Posts: 4,800
    edited May 2018

    Thank you guys for your encouragement on this thread (& the private messages I received about it too!)

    I think I will try it. Worst case scenario I'll have to bail & re-start in January but I'm feeling hopeful & have heard from previous students that the first semester of the program is a lighter one as they ease students into it gradually so it should be doable.

    Best wishes to all of you.

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  • CindyNY
    CindyNY Member Posts: 1,022
    edited September 2018

    Any Jan 2018 rad ladies still have this in their favorites? I'm due for my first mammogram on 10/1 and I'm not looking forward to it. Left breast is still hard from rads, and the thought of it being squished makes me shudder.

    Otherwise I'd say I'm fine, and hoping you all are too!

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  • Lewhy
    Lewhy Member Posts: 54
    edited September 2018

    Hi Cindyny, I know how you feel. My appointment is 9/26 and I am not looking forward to the mammogram. I am still sore and I am nervous too.

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  • Skookum
    Skookum Member Posts: 45
    edited October 2018

    hi- how did your mammogram go, I’m having my first since DX and I’m a bit worried.

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  • CindyNY
    CindyNY Member Posts: 1,022
    edited October 2018

    Honest answer - it put tears in my eyes, it was my first ever 3D mammo and they go slower than a regular mammo.

    My rads breast is hard, sits higher and is perkier than my normal breast. The tech asked me if I had been told to massage that breast after rads. I said not that I remember but its possible. I had to look it up - use lotion or oil to rub/massage in a circular motion, etc.

    If your breast isn't hard like mine is, you might be just fine. If it is hard, don't be surprised if its more painful to mammo. But you & I know, we've been through worse! It is what it is, I'm glad its only 1x a year. Best of luck to you.

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