DAY 1 Rads

Good luck, Mellanie! You got this!!

Also, while it's a pain to have to go five days a week, it also makes the sessions fly by. Every week you have five more behind you--hooray!!

Derm should know those are tattoos!! Easy to tell with the little magnifying thing they use!

Mellanie--sounds like you're all set. I think I bought Miaderm once, but saw it was mostly calendula cream so went with that (cheaper!!) afterwards. I like the cheap camisole idea--I've recommended women use old, soft exercise bras and to save the new pretty stuff for a post-treatment treat. Whatever you wear will likely get permanently stained from the markers they use.

Re: foods, what I can tell you from the last year is I've become a HUGE proponent of protein. I ate a LOT during chemo and my blood levels stayed really good. My MO said I was the first patient she'd seen who was actually manufacturing blood through chemo. A had cut way back after Taxol and found I was feeling kinda crappy after Herceptin only, which isn't supposed to have much in the way of SEs. I made a point to eat red meat the two nights before an infusion and felt much better. I think protein is the beginning of so much in our bodies, so a little extra when you have added stress on your body is probably a good idea.

Re: fatigue--I never had it too bad. In fact, I really only felt it a few days each time I went through rads, and I think that was mostly related to having a big, active, busy day the day before (we hosted one of my kids' wedding at our house 10 days after my last session in 2016--aiyiyi!!). I'd never experienced fatigue before--it's not the same as being tired. There are ways to muscle through being tired--a little caffeine, taking a walk, . . . .--but fatigue is different. It's not like I was necessarily sleepy but my body just felt like I *had* to lie down. I found that the only way to get rid of the fatigue was to honor that. An hour or so off my feet and I was feeling much better. Listen to your body and be gentle to yourself.