Topic: May 2012 radiation

May 31, 2012 09:58 PM Goodie wrote:

Oh my, I need time to read all these posts.  My daughter graduates from high school tomorrow morning so we've been busy, busy.  I'm exhausted but I don't think it's fatigue from rads yet.  I only got 4 hours of sleep last night.  I finished my 6th treatment today.  Tomorrow is my 7th and I'll be 25% done.  So, I'm making brownnies for my peeps at rads.  It's one of the best things from this experience.  It's the best recipe.  I think it will be fun to celebrate 1/4 way done! 

There's a bell at my place.  I see it while I wait for my treatment once I have my "gown" on me.  It says something about joy.  I'll have to take a picture of it with my phone cuz my brain can't remember anything.

I'll have to get some corn starch.  I've been using miaderm so far.  RO said day 14 is when treatment starts to "show" up. 

I asked my rads tech and he said the buzzing is the radiation.  Ugh.  Maybe I'll ask one of the other two techs. 

Gotta go wash my "hair"!  Fun, fun.

Jun 1, 2012 10:11 AM mckenna wrote:

good luck with the corn starch everyone!!!

Ellen, i thought of a photo you could put with your sign (by the way i love the you won't be the first (or last) to see em')  sbelizabeth once called her lotioning a lube job so i think you need a photo of a jiffy lube :)

under the boob is very tender and almost purple.  my ro nurse was shadowing the techs today so i had her look at it.  she said the skin still looks intact but she put aquafor on a large pad type thing, it is big enough to fold over so it goes in the crease of my boob and the bra goes over it.  i did not realize how much that area was bothering me until it stopped bothering me with this new plan.  i am feeling so much better, i even called a left a message on the nurses vm to tell her how good it is working and thanks!

i think my scar tends to look more angry right after rads but by night it looks back to it's ugly self ;)

goodie, good luck with graduation, it is your day too!  i swear if my oldest makes it to graduate high school i am throwing the biggest party for me!! :)

6 more regular zaps and 5 boosts left :) i am on the down hill now!!!

enjoy your weekend and 2 days off!!!!

Jun 1, 2012 10:26 AM sbelizabeth wrote:

Good morning, girls!  Today is #9 of 35, so that's more than a quarter of the way finished!

What's left of my mastectomized chest is looking fine.  Side effects are a little fatigue and a twinge of nausea.  The R.O. said if my stomach is even a little in the field it might rebel somewhat, and it must be.  Not enough for a Zofran, though--I'd rather deal with the mild urky feeling than the DAYS of constipation that even one Zofran leads to.

Finished zaps yesterday evening and took a short bike ride.  I saw the cutest little rattlesnake.  She was about a foot long and had one little button that she rattled bravely as she snaked away.  Nature is so beautiful!

Have a wonderful Friday and enjoy our two-day break!

Jun 1, 2012 11:12 AM Joanne_53 wrote:

sbelizabeth and BLinthedese --- OMG -- I would be running as fast as I could if I saw a rattlesnake ..... and to say "cutest little"  -- yuk !!!!

Nature is wonderful but that type of nature needs to stay FAR away from me.

Jun 1, 2012 12:35 PM Joanne_53 wrote:

BL -- I  cannot see it since I do not have the Google account

Jun 1, 2012 02:18 PM Neeners815 wrote:

Joanne - I'm with you.  I can't imagine thinking any rattlesnake is cute. I would have run away, for sure!

McKenna - glad you found some relief for the underboob.  I'm going to need to remember that.

Goodie - Congrats on your daughter's graduation!

Jun 1, 2012 03:52 PM, edited Jun 1, 2012 03:53 PM by BLinthedesert

Jun 1, 2012 04:35 PM Joanne_53 wrote:

OMG I would never go outside -- I can handle spiders ok but not snakes .... especially ones that can hurt you.

Jun 1, 2012 04:40 PM JNS wrote:

Yikes, that is a serious snake!  Very...nice. :)

Spokanellie, sorry the saran wrap didn't work out--it helps that my affected breast is small and it's barely 70 degrees here in the Bay Area!

So I asked my techs today and they agree with all of your techs--all the buzzes mean radiation is being delivered.  The longer buzzes are "whole breast" and the shorter buzzes are "targeted".  Just goes to show you that doctors don't know everything...which isn't very reassuring.

Hope everybody has a great weekend! 

Jun 2, 2012 09:13 AM AnnieM353 wrote:

Hi Blinthedesert and all you terrific women.  I know this has been rough for all of us but having this forum to see other people are having the same experience is helpful.  I lost my mother last November (at 93 after a good life) and had my bad mamogram in December.  I am so sorry about you losing your dog.  Mine is almost 16 and is hanging around with me.  I have one daughter, who is 23 and doing a teaching program in Oakland.  This has been very hard on her too.  It's been a ride, one I wouldn't have gotten through without my family and great friends.  I've finished 19 of 33 treatments.  I am feeling a little more comfortable at the radiologist's office, what a difference from the people at the oncologist's office.  They aren't nearly as nice, probably because they have to get you in and out and stay on schedule.  This seems to be the more difficult part emotionally, although the side effects aren't nearly as bad as the ones from the chemo treatments.  My skin is starting to itch and get red but otherwise no problems.  It's amazing how all consuming this process is, don't sure how I am going to feel when it's all done.  In a sick, sad way, I might miss it.  Anyway, enjoy your weekends.  I am so glad to have found this forum.

Jun 2, 2012 06:17 PM surfgirl wrote:

I just had my first two treatments last week. I felt very emotional like some of you. I was a nervous wreck. My best friend came with me for my first treatment. I love her to death but she can talk alot. She tried to go into the room with me but I told she can't get radiated too. I will say by the time I had the treatment and got dressed it took only about 10 minutes. My friend was still talking to the conciere and didn't have a chance to sit down and read her magazine when I came out. She wasn't done socializing so we stopped in the cancer resource center and talked to a few more people. During my second treatment my little cover up fell off and I was hanging it all out for awhile. Luckily the techs are all women. My tech told me not to put on any cream until they tell me, I find that weird. 

Jun 2, 2012 07:37 PM sbelizabeth wrote:

Happy Saturday, everyone!  

Spokanellie, I was stationed at Fairchild AFB about a million years ago.  I loved Washington State.  My twins were born at Deaconess Hospital.

My husby and I celebrated Saturday with a long, long mountain bike ride to the ocean.  Wildflowers everywhere.  No snakes, but we saw two does with a baby who still had spots, a flock of wild parrots, lots of lizards, wild fennel, poison hemlock, purple sage, black sage, blue sky.  Then we sat on driftwood and looked at the ocean. A sea lion was splashing around about thirty feet from shore.  What a wonderful day.

For anyone who's just beginning this journey of the cure, I would recommend purchasing their own exam gowns.  After putting up with paper and flimsy, skimpy fabric "gowns," I bought my own on Amazon and bring one with me to every appointment.  It's been such a comfort to have MY dignified, warm gown to wear.  For some reason the link won't paste here, but if you go to Amazon and search for "Exam Gown-Mammography Patient Gown" you'll find it.  It's knee-length and wraps in the front.  It comes in a 3-pack for around $22.  Don't buy the blue color--your rads center probably has blue "gowns" and they might think you're sneaking out with one.

Enjoy the weekend! 

Jun 2, 2012 11:49 PM jnbg88 wrote:

Hi everyone. Well so far I've had 6 treatments. Yesterday I saw the doctor for the first time since my initial visit, and boy was I in for a surprise. I thought he was just going to look at my skin, as the nurses told me he would. Instead, he told me that he was going to change my treatment. All along I have been told that the cancerous lymph nodes extend up into my superclavicular areas (above my collar bone and into my neck), which was what showed up on PET scan. My oncologist and surgeon both agreed that was the case. Now the RO tells me he doesn't think that the swollen lymph nodes there were "probably" not cancer and he is going to decrease my Radiation from 6,000 to 5,000 rads. I asked him how he can be certain that they are not cancerous when they can't biopsy them. He said he believed they were simply swollen from my surgery. Well, my head is spinning. Of course my mind was a blank and I couldn't think of what I needed to say to him. What am I supposed to believe? I would like to hope that he is correct, but my biggest fear is that he is wrong and they are not going to get all the cancer. I especially am upset because all of the 22 lymph nodes removed from my underarm were cancerous. I figure, why not just Zap all the remaining lymph nodes as hard as they can and be done with it! I am feeling anxious and a bit angry at this change in approach.....why all of a sudden the change? I am not the doctor, but this is my life and I just have to share that I am afraid. I don't even know what the normal Rad level is.....would any of you mind sharing what level you are being treated with? My apologies if I am sharing too much detail or frustration. I have to thank you all for being there for me last week when I started radiation and was terrified. I have told more than 1 person that all of you ladies helped me over that bump last week. So, I felt I could come back here and tell you how I was feeling. THANK YOU!

Jun 3, 2012 09:23 AM mckenna wrote:

Neener's your day sounds like a perfect way to relax

Jnbg I would defonatly ask to talk to your ro and another ro in the practice to see what he/she recommends. I am slowly learning to be my own best advocate and that while you want to just get this treatment stuff over with if rads get interrupted for a day or two that is much better than you worrying that you aren't receiving the best treatment. I don't know how much rad I am getting but I had scissor so no nodes were biopsied so probably not a good plan to go by.

I agree seals are much more my speed than snakes

Jun 3, 2012 10:58 AM Goodie wrote:

The graduation was AWESOME!  I am so proud of my darling daughter! 

I even went to a radiation treatment in the afternoon after our celebration lunch.  I am done 7 out of 28 - 25% done.  :) 

Annie - I agree about the rad techs.  I LOVE my oncology nurses.  I actually saw them on Friday too after my radiation.  I had to have my port flushed.  They are the most wonderful group of nurses!  I am so blessed to have had them for my chemo.  My rad techs are nice but not the same feeling. 

I'm enjoying my 2 days off.  My appointment time is 8 a.m. so I get up at 5 a.m. to have a cup of coffee and then walk my dog before I get ready for the day.  It's been nice to sleep in a bit.  Gotta psych myself up for a full 5 days straight of treatment.  I had 3 the first week and then the holiday weekend and then 4 last week.  I take myself.  Radiation is a lot more lonely.