Radiation recovery
Comments
-
I hope everyone is having a great Memorial Day weekend. Only 16 more days till I fly to Chicago to see my family, Yeah!!!
0 -
Chickenpants, congrats on finishing rads. Sounds like you're handling recovery quite well and have a great mental attitude, which is so important. Just keep slathering on the lotions, and be sure to allow your body time to heal up from all it's been thru.
I also don't seem to sweat on my rads side, and the hair isn't growing either. At least on the bottom half of my armpit,,LOL. I'm 7 months post rads.
Kate, these 2 weeks will just fly by....0 -
Welcome to all the new sistas! I hope you all are doing well. For those done with radiation, congratulations! It seems like a long process but one done you will start healing. It does get better! I am now 8 months post rads and doing so much better these days.
I am doing great but so sick of this neck I could scream. This has nothing to do with the B/C. I have had neck problems for years but they seem to be getting so much worse. I wonder sometimes if the Arimidex is contributing to the problem. It is so hard to know. The first diagnostic test was not helpful. I go back to the orthopedic surgeon next Tuesday and am wondering what Plan B is. I hope it works better than Plan A did. The doctor who administered the procedure assured me this was just the start and there are a lot more tests they can do. Well, with 26 letters in the alphabet I hope we don't get too far into. I want to know what is next. She did mention that they may need to do a complete cervical block, but that is up to my doctor. I just want something to work. Sleeping is a nightmare, I just can't ever seem to get comfortable. I know that the discs are badly damaged but the official diagnosis is a small bone spur and severe arthritis.
Kate I know you are counting the days, how exciting. I so wish I could make a trip to see my family. You have a great time!
It has been really quiet here so no big news. Now that it is getting warm we are working out in the yard a lot, but it gets too hot to do much in the afternoons. I do not tolerate the heat well at all.
Sew, it as always good to hear from you. I have no underarm hair growing on the rads side either. I have a hard time seeing and when I was in LE therapy I asked the therapist to look. Bald! That is fine by me...I am not supposed to use a regular razor to shave anyway because of the LE. I don't have an electric one. It can stay bald forever as far as I am concerned.
Irw.....where are you girl? I hope at least you read and will post and let us know what is going on. I think about you so much. I just need to call one of these days. I just get busy and forget. You call me anytime hon!
Wishing you all speedy recoveries, few side effects, an an abundance of love!
Janis
0 -
Hi everyone, I was off the boards for a week while I was in New Orleans for a cousin's wedding. I had a wonderful time visiting family and friends, but the infamous fatigue has caught up with me. I will be laying low for a few days. Anyway, seeing everyone was great for my emotional recovery from BC. I was in New Orleans for another family wedding in 2011 when I received the dreaded call from my PCP that my biopsy had showed cancer cells. Needless to say, the trip this year was so much better. Sometimes we forget the future that lies beyond BC treatments.
0 -
Did I welcome the newbies? Welcome!
Elizabeth, your post is timely for me. Tomorrow is one year since I got the news, on my birthday. What a difficult year it's been for us all...but tomorrow I am going dancing.
Yesterday was my younger DDs sweet sixteen. My older DD came home from school to surprise her. Had a fun evening of Indian food, cake (fruit for me, for those of you on the "good food choice" thread
) and a whipped cream fight. Still smiling.Kate, speaking of smiling, only days now until you get to see your kids!
Janis, I hope they find a way to manage your pain. I have intermittent back pain, and I just can't imagine how difficult it must be for you. Hang in there.
0 -
Hi Elizabeth, sorry that you are fatigued, but glad that you had a good time in New Orleans. I love New Orleans. I had so much fun when I vacationed there. 12 more days till I see my family in Chicago, and needless to say I can't wait. Have a great weekend everyone
0 -
SAB.....In case I forget tomorrow:
I already know that this birthday will be so much better than last year. Not going to mention the anniversary. Oops, I just did....but mostly just want to wish you a wonderful, happy day! Hugs and love to you. Your time with your girl's sounds so much fun!
Elizabeth I am thrilled to hear you had such a great time in New Orleans. Such a difference since you were last there. That is something to celebrate for sure.
Kate, I know how excited you are. Almost there!
0 -
SAB, Happy Birthday! I wish you many more happy and healthy years. It sounds like you have a beautiful family to help you enjoy your life.
0 -
SAB Happy Birthday! My wish for next year is a much better year for you.
Kate, enjoy the trip to see your family. You deserve a good time.0 -
SAB, Happy Birthday!! Hope you have a wonderful celebration and a terrific year!
Janis, glad to see you are back...I hope your docs are able to figure out the neck pain and get you some relief!
I do want to say welcome and congrats to you all who are finishing up rads now. It gets better, thank goodness! I finished at the end of October and am feeling really good.
For any who are interested, the switch to Aromasin seems to have been good. I don't have any side effects at the moment. The Femara side effects came on slowly, so I'll keep you posted if any show up, but the fatigue and joint pain is so much better. I still have a touch of bronchitis that I caught from my little nieces and still feel better than I did a few weeks ago.
As for the biopsy, we are waiting until August to see if the spot on my incision stays or goes. It's a lot like psoriasis, which runs in my family so we think it might be that.
Even when I'm not posting, I'm following along on my phone and praying for y'all.
Steph
0 -
Sab, Happy birthday. Sounds like you're already celebrating with the whipped cream fight....I'm still smiling with you about that. How fun to have your oldest home for a visit, that's a present in itself. Enjoy your day girl, and here's to an awesome year ahead.
Kate, got those clothes all packed?
Hey Janis, glad to hear such a newsy note from you, but I'm bummed that the neck issues stll continue. Fingers crossed for your Tuesday Dr. Appt.
I've been knee deep in the garage rebuild to make a quilting studio for me. It will be wonderful once finished. It's just hard getting there! I've been feeling stronger each day though and am getting my strength back too, outside of the occasional muscle fatigue from the arimidex. And I frequently make good food choices too.....lol.....
0 -
Happy Birthday Saab! Stephn I am glad you are feeling better, and not experiencing side effects. Mostlysew my trip is in 11 days, and you are right I almost have my clothes packed. Gigil you are right on the money I so very very much need a good time which I will have in Northbrook, Il( suburb of Chicago) with my family. Besides my son and daughter I have a granddaughter 19, a granddaughter 14, a granddaughter 8, and twin grandchildren ( a boy and a girl) age 5, and they all live in Northbrook.
0 -
Thank each and every one of you for all the good wishes, and thank you sistas for making this last year bearable, and do-able. Going to listen to a friend's band tonight at a local dive bar with a few friends. Planning to dance the night away!
Sew, take it easy, a little at a time and you'll get there (I'm giving advice to me too--I am redoing the guest room
) I think a room for quilting is going to be amazing.Kate, it sounds like you are going to have a busy, happy time!
StephN and Janis gentle {{{{hugs}}}}
0 -
I'm glad to hear everyone has such good things going on. I love hearing about the room renovations and the trips! Kate, how fun to get to see your kids and grandkids!
0 -
Hi Stephn, I am so excited. As you know it has been a crappy year. I had my first lumpectomy July 8 and my second AUG. 1. sINCE THEN I have had 3 more surgeries, so as you can imagine I am ready to party, party, party, and that is what I will do in 11 more days. I need to say that you, mostly sew, and Gigil have given me so much support that I needed so badly, and I love you for it. The main thing thru all of these adversatises is to have reslilience. I may not have much of anything else, but I can honestly say that I am a master at resilience. Actually I shouldn't put myself down, because of course I have many good qualities, but my best is resilence. If I have numerous mispellings tonight it is because I have enloyed so much chardonnay. I love you all. Be well!
0 -
Hi there,
I'm just popping in here for the first time ( I think). I just have a general question. When, oh when, does the energy come back? I finished radiation 2 1/2 weeks ago and I am dragging my arse. Last week was my first week back at work and it knocked me out. It's always hard to go back anyway (I'm a freelancer in the film business) but it was really tough, and I'm dreading the week to come.
I was told I'd start to feel a little more peppy at about two weeks. Has that been anybody's experience?
Thank you
Janet
0 -
Janet - I, too finished about the same time, May 23. I did work full time during tx. I'm a hospice nurse. Yesterday I went shopping. Came home tired but not the wiped out exhausted I would have been a week or so ago. Not that working 10+ hour days isn't tiring but it did feel better than I would have thought. Now house is still a disaster and didn't do much today to help that. Made it to Sunday School/Worship both this am, first time in couple of months at least. Afternoon spent on couch with newpaper and a magazine. Laundry going. I also restarted generic mulitvitamin. Trouble remembering to take it. Hope things improve. What does a freelancer in the film business do? Do you have to hustle/rustle up your own work? IF so, that could add to your fatigue. Contacts might have changed when you were out. Emotionally opening up to others about your absence in your job??? The job itself sounds like fun. Toronto have lot of movie business? If these are nosy questions feel free to ignore. DH has a radio/TV/film degree. Never used it. Grew up in CA. Wanted to be a movie producer. Nice down to earth goal, right? Worked for years in Fortune 500 Co in contracts and something else I forgot. Never used the degree. Parents paid for it b4 we met (married 36 years). Course he moved from CA just as he started college. Might have worked if he had stayed in CA as he did know people in the business. He grew up in the San Fernando Valley.
As for feeling peppy at 2 weeks out I'd give yourself some more time. Big transition back to working. Be kind to yourself. Maybe set up little rewards throughout the week something like a midweek treat. I'm going to brainstorm on something like that for me.
Check back in. Care about how you are doing. I love your avatar. How did U choose that?
0 -
Hi Janet and Lvmygoats, welcome to both of you. Janet, 2 weeks out is a bit pre-mature to have all your energy back. This whole process of eradicating the cancer took months, and the complete healing will take time as well. Don't worry about the house disaster zone.....healing is more important! Says me, the recently more relaxed house keeper. For me the energy came back slowly and one morning youll realize you're able to do more things before being zonked. You'll also find that recovery takes way less time, like sitting quietly for only 10 minutes instead of an hour or two. just allow your body time to catch up with itself.
Lvmygoats, ok, so what kind of goats are you raising? They are all especially silly things I think, and can be quite spoiled too.....according to my good friend who has several,
Kate, I'm glad you found all of us so that we could offer the support to get thru all this. That's what I so love about this group, the support. Ive come to decide that it takes a village to get thru cancer.....makes it much easier to know we've got friends to turn to day and night.
Steph, I'm sitting here at almost 6 pm and the dry wall guy is still taping/muddying away and my contractor is busily battening down the hatches for the bit of rain we're supposed to get tomorrow. Oh, and my DH is cooking dinner......I'm just relaxing. How's that for decadence? Think I'll do some knitting till dinner is announced....
Have a great evening everyone...0 -
MostlySew, You are so right about how it takes a village to help fight cancer. A dear friend of my cousin was recently diagnosed with BC. When asked for my words of wisdom, one of my first suggestions was to log on to BCO. Thanks everyone for always being there for me and for anyone who needed help any time of the day or night.
0 -
Welcome to the newbies here, and congrats on finishing rads. It took me six weeks to get back to mostly normal energy levels, with possibly a tired day now and again. The skin took about that long as well.
SAB I just re-did my guest rooms as well. Maybe it is a part of healing, to put things right in our homes.
I want to say thank you as well, for the care and support. It has made this past year bearable, knowing I could always come here and discuss things with my sisters, and get similar experiences to compare to. No one else in my life understood what I was going through like all of you have. It truly got me through.0 -
Hi to my friends on rads recovery...
I am so grateful for this thread, because recovery takes a long time. Not just the physical, but the emotional, and the long term changes we are going through in our lives.
SAB - so glad you had a birthday celebration. I hope you can now put this year behind you and look ahead to many more celebrations.
Janis, good to have you back, but ohhhhhh so sad to hear you are still in pain. Are you getting pain management? The days get long when there's pain...
While I was away I noticed that my hair is growing again in the rads area....quick got out the razor and zapped away a few strands :-)
About recovery - my skin cleared in 2 weeks. I was shocked. The swelling started to go down, and then I became acquainted with the mass of scar tissue I had not yet felt....it's tender, more now than before. But overall, I slept for a week or two, then back to work full throttle. It's only now that i realize I was pushing myself needlessly....and it all caught up with me this month. I have 2 months off this summer and I really need it.
So am back from San Francisco - CA is always refreshing....Hiked up SentinelDome in Yosemite and loved the views of the valley. Watched the solar eclipse from a bluff high above the ocean....it was all good. Travel took its toll though...am just starting to catch up on sleep.
Kate, so hard to believe this year is almost behind us. So much to look forward to....and glad you are doing well.
My best thoughts and hugs go to everyone here!Joan811
0 -
Janet, I don't remember anymore how long it took. I do remember that it was 2 steps forward and one back for quite a while. Once I was able to start getting some exercise regularly it helped. Regular exercise started about a month after finishing rads (there was a hyster in between, which also got me tired).
0 -
MostlySew - Thanks for the welcome. These days, I need very little encouragement to beome a relaxed housekeeper. My hairy sofa suddenly seems quite appealing, and I've been using it a lot.
Luvmygoats - Thanks to you too. I think you may have hit the nail on the head when you suggested that fatituge may be due in part to 'covering up for my absence'. I have felt like an alien at work, and feel so much better at home when I can peel off my hat and get back to my sofa with the basset hound. I had the luxury of not working during treatment, and then slowly picked up a very low stress part-time job in an art gallery, but my days mostly revolved around myself. Now I have to move at a faster pace.
I think it's brilliant that you worked ten hour days during treatment, and I'm inspired by the fact that your level of wiped-outness is improving.
In answer to your question, I'm a set decorator, and I don't really have to rustle up work anymore (knock on wood). Jobs come to town and I move from prooject to project - most lasting about three months. Often there are breaks in between, so I'm used to the feast or famine aspect to freelancing. That's why so many people at work are familiar/unfamiliar. I've known some of them for fifteen years, but in reality, I don't really 'know' them and I have told very few people about the last year. And everybody wants to talk about my short hair, and they want the hat to come off, but luckily I'm not stuck at a desk and I can always invent a task, and run away.
I don't mind my short hair - but at this stage - it's far from flattering. I look like a Ken Doll. Hopefully by my birthday I'll look like 'Mod Hair Ken' rahter than the old-fashioned one who I now resemble.
In regard to my Avatar (thanks for the compliment) I chose it becuase my head, once shaved, exactly resembled and upside down egg. And then I found that baldness, and wigshopping, and yoga in a wig, was all kind of hilarious so I started a blog and christened myself Lady Egghead. The blog since moved to subljets like turning into the hulk while on steroids, being radiated, nosey nieghbors, and all that kinds of fun stuff. I was determined that that I'd never use the word 'journey', and that there wouldn't be anything scarey. If you're interested, its
http://balderdish.blogspot.ca/
Also, luvmygoats, becuase I don't often wear glasses, I thought your name was 'lumpygoats'. I was afraid to ask... but luvmygoats makes perfect sense.
Thanks for all the information everybody. I wish you all a happy Monday,
Janet
0 -
Janet, welcome to the group. The ladies here are wonderful and you will find a massive amount of support here. Warm and helpful. Everyone is right about the Village......here you will defnitely find it.
As others have mentioned, recovery from rads usually takes a little time. Of course it is different for everyone. I just learned to allow my body to talk to me and rest when I needed. As long as you can afford a nap, take it. Do not worry about the small stuff. The house will survive!
Sew how exciting that you are getting your studio! I bet you can't wait. I am really thrilled for you. If possible please post pictures. I am sure it will be beautiful. I wish you many happy years of designing and sewing in there.
GiGil......don't you love this group? I have found so much love and support here. I am glad we are all here for one another!
Joan, so good to hear from you! I am originally from SF but have not been there in so many years. I love Yosemite. I hope you are recovering from the fatigue.
Elizabeth...my sweet friend, I am so glad to recommended this board to your cousin's friend. We all know what support means during these confusing and difficult early days. I hope she can get both information and comfort here.
I am doing well except for the neck. I go back to the orthopedic surgeon tomorrow and am anxious to see what they are going to try next. I do take pain meds and muscle relaxers. Have tried PT to no avail. I am sure they will offer another course of treatment.
I am excited to have my neighbor's over to dinner tonight. It keeps me focused which I need. I am making my favorite BBQ brisket, and serving fresh green beans with toasted almonds, homemade "cowboy" beans, pasta salad, garlic bread. We made some cheesecake stuffed strawberries last night. I hope there are some left tonight! We made the pasta salad yesterday and Chuck keeps sampling it. LOL.
To all my 'sistas'............wishing you healing, joy, love.
Janis
0 -
Janis....sounds delish...making me hungry.
Good luck at the surgeon...no one wishes you relief more than I do. I have done it all too except surgery. Not sure that is the answer for me.
0 -
Joan, thank you for your support. I am glad you are doing well too.
0 -
Schatzi.......when I first saw the surgeon they did offer up disc fusion. I told them no. I want something that is not as invasive if possible. It really is frustrating the hit and miss thing. So far I have only had the one procedure so I guess I shouldn't be too impatient. I am very anxious to see though what they think they should try next. I just want some relief!
I am a cooking fool some days. I am also making a new potato dish but making in early in case it doesn't turn out right. An Irish recipe....potatoes very thinly sliced and layered in muffin tins with cheeses and heavy cream, salt, pepper and nutmeg! Oh yum. Sue.....can you tell I am not being good at all?
0 -
Janis, Good luck with the doctor tomorrow. You certainly deserve some relief. I surely wish I could taste some of your delicious food. Have fun with your dinner tonight.
0 -
Sitting here reading delicious-Janis-food-things and getting very hungry. I haven't had briskit or potatoes in a year! If you posted a picture I would probably drool on my keyboard!
0 -
Sab, you're so right.....I'm drooling even without the pictures...LOL. Janis, you're totally tempting me and strawberry cheesecake to top it off?. I'll be right over!
0
