JULY 2018 Radiation?

Just finished #4 out of 28. Started 7/26 and so far ok. They have me on green tea bags squeezed over area followed with Triamcinolone Acetonide cream. Then green tea bag again with Oronine ointment at bedtime. I’ve had bilateral mastectomy and finished 4 dense dose of AC then 4 dense dose of Taxol

Hi All - hope everyone is doing well. I finished my 16 whole breast last Wed (9 days ago) and then had 4 boosts that ended this Tues (3 days). Everything was going well until the boosts. My skin did very well during the whole breast - I used a lot of creams, hopefully I did not overdo it. I used calendula, Miaderm, and Aquaphor. I just read on someone else's post that her RO said not to use too many products because it may not all wash off and could interfere with radiation. Mine said nothing about that. I was also bummed out to realize toward the end that one of the calendula salves I was using was in a Vitamin E oil base -- which I was told not to take orally during radiation. I asked my RO if it was a problem that I had inadvertently been applying Vitamin E topically and she said no big deal. But at that point what's done is done. I drank a lot of water and forced myself to go to the gym and ended up with not a lot of fatigue. Just made sure I got an extra hour of sleep.

My problem came with the boost. They painted a decent sized circle with dye on me to mark the boost area (on my smallish breast about 25% -33% of my total area) and told me not to wash it off. Just let the water run over it in the shower and to apply creams inside and outside the marks, but not on the dye. So now I have a raised red itchy bumpy blistery rash on the whole line that they drew! I do not have sensitive skin and no allergies, so this is weird. The RO was shocked at the reaction and is having me use over the counter hydrocortisone on it but so far slow to resolve. A bummer as it is itchy and uncomfortable and gross looking and still reminding me of the radiation even after I rang the bell. Hopefully clears up next week.

Again, wishing everyone more uneventful outcomes. All the best!

I definitely find radiation more emotionally challenging than chemo. I hate it and pray everytime I am on the table that God guides the techs' hands and the machine to seek out any microscopic cancer cells and be kind to the healthy cells, my heart and lungs. I have only had 8 out of 30 and am pinker than I was hoping I would be so early on. I put lotion on 4 times a day.

Good luck to all of you.

Carol

I started my radiation in July, 35 sessions. I’m now five weeks down and two to go. This is my second time for BC and I had radiation almost twenty years ago. This time around is definitely more difficult. I suspect that age makes a big difference. My skin does not have the collagen that it did twenty years ago. The fatigue is much more apparent also. So far I have tried to get to my regular exercise classes but they seem to be getting much more difficult. I am a bicyclist and was hoping that I could get one long bike ride in every week but after a long ride the next day I am completely fatigued. The skin irritation is much worse and not wearing a bra is more problematic (but then, the “girls” certainly need more support now).... Am I whining?!?... so far my approach to this is different than it was two decades ago. I now know that I will get through this okay but radiation just seems so long... I hate the fact that I am tied to the radiation center for the duration of my treatment. I can’t go anywhere I want because I have to be back for the treatment! Somehow I think I hate the idea that this disease is controlling my life when I want to be in control.
It is helpful to read of the frustrations of all of the rest of you brave ladies who are facing this ordeal.

jerseymom - I understand exactly. I am just over 1/2 way done with my 33 radiation treatments. I have been on hormone blocker for 2 months now. The title Breast Cancer Survivor is not one I had ever hoped to have. This whole process is just crappiness. I'm glad the tumor is gone and I hope to not ever have another but it is just the chapter not the entire book. My son asked, I know you have all that happening but how's the rest of your life? Really, consumed with fatigue and trips to radiation that IS the rest of my life, for now. I don't have the energy to do much more! Geez. Oh and apparently, I still "look good"! What's that supposed to mean anyway? I don't look like I have cancer? Great! Yea me! I know it could be worse, but it's bad enough, thank you!

jerseymom12, I'm right there with you. I'm grateful that I didn't have to do chemo, but radiation isn't a picnic. I just finished 25 whole breast yesterday and start 8 boosts today. I was thrilled to take off that sticker in the middle of my chest; I didn't have any shirts that would cover it, and I didn't want to have to explain it constantly at work, so I've been wearing scarves - in August! I'm tired and my breast is currently itching like mad, and starting to peel. Super attractive!

But the worst is, yeah, that this is forever. I have an appointment on my last day of radiation to figure out hormonal therapy (not looking forward to those side-effects, especially as I'm pre-menopausal), and the boost prep CT found something that is probably a cyst in each breast, but I still have to get it checked out. I'm probably whining, but I feel like I have to put on a good face for everybody else, since it isn't THAT bad. Sigh.

You have had a lot of painful things to deal with jerseymom. I’m so sorry.

Idk anyone who hasn’t been affected by cancer directly or indirectly. I never thought I would be branded with the C word but here I am. My mother had it and now my sister and I do. I worry about my daughter and her 3 girls.

I am grateful too because I had early stage BC too. IDC, Stage 1b, Grade 1. I had a lumpectomy and 33 radiation treatments. I took Arimidex for one year and Tamoxifen for 4. I’m 7 years out this month.

Tamoxifen is no walk in the park but for me it was manageable. Ditto radiation.

We are stuck with cancer in our resumes but I refuse to let it control my life anymore than it already has. I will always be a bit fearful come annual mammo time but that’s just the way it is unfortunately. Time does help.

Diane

BAZelda - So sorry to hear about the skin problems - but you are almost done! I had 4 boosts and there is no indentation. Granted I was able to get the accelerated whole breast treatment and only had 16 - I am sure that 2-1/2 more weeks would have been tough both physically and emotionally for me. How big is your boost area? I can measure mine because the dye they used to mark it has left an ongoing rash, but I figure if the radiation worked I can deal with a rash for a while. The area is surprisingly big - 9cm x 7cm for what was a 1.1cm tumor. And again I have no indentation from it.

I am no medical expert but the boosts are such a standard part of the treatment protocol I imagine that there has to be some expected benefit. But we should all have control and a voice in our treatment so you should definitely discuss the importance of the boosts with your RO if they are difficult - and of course consider if you will have better peace of mind down the road if you complete the original plan. All the best to you for speedy healing- either way you are close to done

Thank you ladies for your encouragement. I did the second boost today and currently have a packed of frozen tortellini on my chest as there were no peas in my freezer. It feels better with tortellini! Maybe I'll have to put some pesto on afterwards!

18 of 33 today. I have the clear tape changed at least every other day because I use so much lotion and oils that it simply does not stay on or gets very gooey and the radiation tech has to change it. She doesn’t seem too concerned so neither am I. As long as the marks are there, changing the tape daily is no big deal. Moisturizing for me is more important than worrying about that. Not feeling the fatigue yet. I’m as active as I’ve always been and other than the annoying sunburn feeling on my skin, so far not too bad.

It’s my wife’s last treatment today, 20/20. Then she rings the bell. It feels like a good day today.

I’ve done 27 of 33 rad treatments. I’m also on arimidex. I’m having numbness in my radiation side arm and hand. Has anyone else? Should I mention it to the RO

Having a tough day! Finished 27 whole breast and I'm 2 days into my 5 days of boosters. My skin is red and itchy plus the skin under my breast has opened and the skin on my nipple/areola has peeled off. With the pain and burning I'm having a hard time just being in my skin. I have been doing everything my nurse tells me plus spending most of the day bra-less and airing out my left chest. Finding radiation emotionally harder than chemo, maybe because I thought I was done feeling like this when I finish chemo. So glad radiation is done for me on Friday.

Hope everyone else walking down this road is having a little better day.

Hi everyone. I've done 27/28 right chest wall/lymphnodes and then have the 5 boosts left.

Mostly radiation has been pretty tolerable but I'm lobster red and have the texture of a basketball. I'm starting to be pretty dang sore in some areas especially under my arm where my bra rubs (very loose sports bra)

I figured out this morning that if I put one of the gauze pads I had left over from the mastectomy under my bra it feels SO much better. Thought I'd share that tip.

I went to a dermatologist and he recommended the same thing as well as Crisco (yup, the cooking kind). I must say it has been a radical improvement.