Radiation May 2019

i have had some zingers. Psychosomatic? Hahaha. All pain is processed in our brain regardless of its source. And it is REAL. I have been going to bed about an hour or two earlier myself. It is not the radiation, per se methinks, but the pressure of the 1 hour drive each way coupled with the treatments ON TOP of work that, if I don’t do, it doesn’t get done. Prioritizing has never been more important. It all feels real to me and I pride myself on being a “never sick, never tired” kind of person, a pride I am reluctantly letting go of

Sleep is my favorite drug. . .and then we will see what happens when I start the Arimidex in June (I know, a different thread)

Restful Sunday to all—I plan to stay in my sticky-topped, greasy jammies all day.

Such enthusiasm here, thank you! I've had one treatment, and you guys give me hope! Haliday, I went ahead and started my Arimidex early and, so far, so good. Do not fret too much on what you read. Barbjc, those bike rides sound absolutely wonderful, enjoy that! Best wishes to everyone.

Glad you shared that image--I'm doing the deep inspirational breath hold too and was curious where the field lands.

the tech took me to his console. And let me take the pics!

I wonder what my radiation dosage is. Maybe I'll ask today, which is my LAST full breast treatment of 16. Yay! But I still have 4 boosts afterwards. Two this week and then Mon and Tues next week and I'm finished. I do have an itchy pinkish breast now, but it's not too bad and seems to recover overnight a bit (and this past weekend). The pinkness seems to stick around more starting this monday which was treatment #14. So I am wondering what the effect will be when I just do boosts now. My incision was very far to the outside, almost to the point of not really being part of my breast (but there are still ducts there) - almost in my armpit, right at the outside edge, so my main breast will not receive radiation after today, so it should begin to heal.

Although I am concerned that others who breezed through this get more symptoms AFTER they are finished. I'm hoping this is not the case as I really want to just not think about this anymore and just live my life! But I know I will have to go to an MO about doing the anti-hormone treatment. My estrogen progesterone was 100% for both. Although the calculations showed only a 2% benefit of using hormone treatment (but the percentage was not taken into account - it was just E and P positive as the criteria). I can't take tamoxifen because of a history of endometriosis so it would be the AI's. I also may be in menopause. I took a progesterone medication for 7 years for endo and didn't have a period. So when I stopped in Feb. (due to cancer diagnosis) I got ONE period in March and then nothing after that. I'm almost 54 years old. I also need a new MO as I moved since I saw that previous one (he's one hour away now). So I guess I still will have to think about this stuff.

Hi Spiralforest: I was one of those who breezed through the rads with no symptoms or side effects. After I finished the rads, I did get a little pink and itchy but it was very minor and went away pretty quickly. Hopefully you will not get any symptoms after you are done with the rads.

I had my first boost today and I was mistaken about how they work. I assumed that they would ONLY radiate the area where the tumor was, which is on the very outside edge of my breast towards the armpit. So I thought my breast tissue was not going to be radiated at all anymore except for that small spot. Well, they still radiate you from 3 points (3 directions), so there is one that is from the left side so it goes through my breast still from one side to the other. I almost thought they were giving me the wrong treatment and asked them about it afterwards! They explained that they do 3 points because all of the radiation in one spot is too much for the skin, but the diameter is much, much smaller than before. I just felt a bit disappointed as I thought my breast would get a breast from being radiated so much. Well, I guess part of it will have a break. Poor thing. I was also hoping they would stop drawing on me with sharpies, but no such luck.

For the whole breast radiation, they shot it from two points only. I swear this boost seemed like a slightly longer treatment than that (time-wise and from 3 points). Although they did tell me that it was slightly less radiation each treatment than the main treatment.

Well, Barb, I road my bike to my treatment today. It's nice to do that, although it's only the third time I've done it. It takes about 30 min for me. Otherwise, I take the metro train and then walk 15 min (one way).

About the hormone treatment, I will see what is best for me, but I can't see the tamoxifen being something I can take as it actually increases free estrogen in your body and that is really bad for endometriosis. I had it grow in my liver in 2005 and had to have half my liver removed, so I can't risk that. So hopefully my bone density is ok. It was when I was 32! LOL I actually had a DEXA scan back then as I worked in the field of osteoporosis research (as a research coordinator) and in a demonstration of the equipment, I volunteered to be scanned. My MO agreed with me that tamoxifen wouldn't work for me. Well, I guess I'll get a scan and an FSH test and go from there!

Good luck to everyone and may your pinkness keep fading!

How are all you ladies doing with your treatments? I'm done! Today was my last boost. I feel much better than I did on Saturday when I last posted here. I have not gotten the fatigue again and there is much less pinkness. So overall it has improved.

I don't have any pain or major skin changes. Just itchiness sometimes and a little pinkish/tan in the area radiated.

On the menopause front, I don't have it yet as I got another period a few days ago. Ugh. I was hoping for natural menopause. Last one was almost 3 months ago. Oh well. I guess I will have to take lupron then.

No, there wasn't a bell to ring at the end. I didn't see my doctor today as he is not available on tuesdays, so I saw him yesterday. Maybe the bells are only common the the US? I'm in Canada. But I did hear people talk about them on this board.

Good luck with the rest of your treatment! For me the next step is to see the onc again (or rather be referred to a new one since I moved to another city) to do the anti-hormone treatment. My lump was very highly hormonal at 100% for E and P.

Ugh, i have some itching but doing remarkably well. 1 1/2 weeks since treatment ended. A few blisters and slight itching but not even too red. Just brownish nipple and freckles. Pleasantly surprised. Biggest thing has been fatigue. Waiting for it to lift. But still incredibly tired.

How bout the rest of our May crew?

Hi all, I also had 25 rounds of radiation starting on May 23 and I wish I'd thought to seek out this message board!!! How's everyone doing? My last round was June 27. It's early September and I'm still getting some painful twinges and the muscle under my arm is a little tight, but the skin has healed up well. I'm still working through some fatigue but I can tell it's getting better. I hope everyone's doing well.