Fall 2015 Rads
Comments
-
Hi all, I had my 4th out of 16 today. Did not expect fatigue to begin until the 2nd or 3rd week, but for some reason, I was wiped out after treatment #3! I've been paddling (dragon boat) but after yesterday's treatment, I could not keep up! I felt uncoordinated and weak
It was so weird, and discouraging. Is anyone else receiving the hypo-fractionated WBI type of treatment (a larger dose of X-rays in a shorter time) and did you notice early fatigue?
0 -
Sweetmammaj, I had the Canadian Protocol & was surprised at the wave of fatigue that hit me at #4. It lessened in intensity after that until the week after I was done. The 2 weeks after were the worst for fatigue.
0 -
Molly, I get rads to the supraclavicular which includes part of the neck too. It makes my throat sore!
0 -
Just checking in
I'm still waiting to have my planning session - we've had a short week here with it being the Eid holidays - hopefully it will all be done on Sunday and we can get started!! Getting impatient and just want to get to the end now
0 -
BT828, thanks for your reply! I was told to expect most SE at weeks 3 & 4, so this really surprised me. Glad to hear the intensity eased up for a couple of weeks. How did the rest of your rad treatments go? I guess you are almost 3 months out, so hope you are doing well! (At least re the rads--hormone tx is probably another story)!
0 -
Sweetmamaj: yours was similar to my pattern--a wave at the end of the first week, then receding, to surge back at the beginning of 4.
Molly: my sympathies about the field that includes your neck--did the RO say anything about getting dental work out of the way first? (My dentist expressed concern about my treatment, but my field stopped a hands breadth from my clavicle.)
Djmclelland: got you down for a tentative start date of Sunday (not surprised about different schedules in different countries--large Seventh Day Adventist population around where I live, and the affiliated university shuts down on Saturday.)
Steflove/Kbee: good luck with your marathons! I'll be cheering at the finish line for both of you.
0 -
I've been so busy hanging out on the chemo boards that I didn't really think to look for a rads group. Also, blaming chemo brain. :P Anyway, I'd like to join y'all.
I wrapped up chemo on 9/9 and go in on Friday for the CT scan/mapping session. IIRC, I start radiation about a week after that. The RO told me how long I'd be going in, but the whole thing is a bit fuzzy (have I mentioned chemo brain yet?). I think she said 6 1/2 weeks. Something odd and not a neat number like 36 or the ilk that I could remember, but I'll find out more in a few days. My fingers are crossed that I'll be done by (U.S.) Thanksgiving. This is my last phase of treatment before I toddle off into the sunset with my hormone pills; definitely going to be thankful for that.
0 -
Inkster: (teasing affectionately) you might have mentioned chemo brain....I'll put you down for a tentative start date of October 1, but that's easy enough to change. Six and a half weeks does make sense if you're getting a total of 33 treatments--that seems to be what several people on the lists get.
0 -
Sweetmammaj, I had bad skin reaction 2 weeks in. I blistered pretty badly...but that doesn't mean everyone does. The 4 boosts at the end were easy and gave my breast where the blisters were a chance to start healing before I was done. I finished on a Thursday and by Sat turned the corner and started seeing improvement. Now, 2 1/2 months out, it's all good except in the last week have developed some pain and stiffness from my lx scar (10:00) up into my armpit. RO told me it could happen as breast tissue heals, he showed me massage technique but said if I needed some help they have a great PT that works with the BC patients. So far, so good...My range of motion is ok but still wake up with a swollen breast which resolves shortly after I get up.
I've been fortunate so far with letrozole. A little stiffness in my toes & hands but that's not all the time, a little insomnia that seems to have gone away since I changed the time I take it to AM instead of PM. A few headaches but ibuprofen takes care of that. It's been very doable.
0 -
How timely to see some of you mention fatigue about a week into the short protocol. Today I had #5 of 20. Surprised to be feeling slow and blue, not myself. I'm more achey too, but expected that. Anyway, It helps that others have experienced this and that I'll likely bounce back.0
-
Horsegirl: aren't the boards a wonderful thing, now? (I was feeling pretty much the same way, though I'd rather expected that if doctors bother to warn you about a symptom, brace yourself: it's gonna be BAD.)
0 -
I hear ya littleblue! I have 9 more and I'm really burnt. My nurse was ready to give me a note to stay out of work because i was so bad on Monday, but I told her no. I can't afford to be out of work without pay. Hoping I can hang in there..
0 -
Kbeee, thank you for the warning about the sore throat. Queenmamacat, I don't remember her mentioning the dentist. I just went in July before my lumpectomy. Maybe I will make a follow up appointment.
0 -
BT828, thanks for the heads up and the tip to be aware of my range of motion. I've had frozen shoulders in the past, and had rotator cuff surgery (but on my R shoulder, so I don't expect much of a problem with that). Glad to hear your letrozole is manageable!
QMC and Horsegirl, I don't know what I would do without these boards! It's great validation that this fatigue is real, and not because I'm feeling puny, or getting a cold, or something else. When my RO casually mentioned fatigue, I though it would be gradual and feel like a minor inconvenience. Definitely did NOT expect to be smacked down feeling like suddenly half my red blood cells had disappeared in a matter of hours.
I guess I should take advantage of any bursts of energy in anticipation of things to come.
Ok, just remembered that I've also been feeling dehydrated--like stand up and see stars dehydrated. Normally I drink tons of water, but have been adding gatorade powder.
On another note, my throat has also been sore, even though my field does not reach that high. They let me leave on my earrings and sometime a small necklace. So I asked the techs why they don't use those thyroid shields anymore (for you younger gals, it's a type of lead apron that just drapes across your neck), and was told that the type of rads they use "doesn't cause radiation scatter". She said I didn't have to worry about other parts of my body (aside from what my RO already said: "only the top part of the L lung and hardly any part of your heart") receiving unwanted radiation. It was somewhat reassuring, but they still run behind the lead wall
0 -
My RO swears radiation isn't the cause of my sore throat. Actually he said no one has ever told him that before. I told him a bunch of us are having throat issues. So now he's learned something lol. 9 more? Yeesh. No open skin yet but I look like a cross between a leper and a pizza..
0 -
Molly: don't worry about dental treatments if you weren't planning to have anything done while you're having rads. It may be worth asking your dentist/RO if you were planning something involved (implants, root canal, crown) before you've fully recovered from rads, but given all the other things we have to worry about right now....this isn't one of them.
(This came up for me because I was scheduled for a routine cleaning during my Month 'O' Rads, but since no dental X-rays over there or rads above my clavicle over here involved, neither faction was worried)
SweetMamaJ: rads fields really are that much more focused (I hope!)--my techs weren't fussed about my watch (serious metal twist-o-flex band), my glasses (metal frames) or my wedding band (metal...duh). But I'm still seriously into holding my breath when I'm getting zapped.
0 -
QMC, I also wear my giant metal diving watch, glasses, and rings. They won't let me hold my breath because they said my CT was taken while I was breathing, thus the plan involves my breathing pattern. Still, I would exhale and hold it, if I knew exactly when the beams were zapping me. I tried to push my glasses down my nose to see the screen while I'm laying down and trying to be still, but I'm too myopic to read anything and also haven't been able to differentiate the various sounds and lights. How do you tell when you are being zapped?
Oh yeah, speaking of being worried about my lungs...the VW diesel scandal? I own one!
LittleBlue, you go girl! It seems like some docs only accept the SE that they've read in major journals, and dismiss anecdotal accounts by their patients. Something is causing a lot of sore throats at the same time as rad tx! Sorry to hear about your skin; the description sounds painful.
0 -
26 down 2 to go. Many of ya'll talk about the multi-miles you walk or run everyday. I'm happy for you, but my main goal was to keep working. From the time I leave home, go to work, do rads and get home, I've covered 10-11 hours. Then I fix my dinner and crash. That's been my main objective. So far, I have not missed a single day of work. I've been late a couple of times, but I still get the job done. So for you working gals out there, it is possible to work through rads. I work in an air traffic operations center. So my job is not very physical.
Yeh. There maybe a dish or two in the sink or a stack of unopened mail on the table, but I'm still working. And that has been my priority.
I was a gym rat for the two years before BC. Not so much now. But again, I've been distracted by work and all this. I sometimes feel a bit envious and maybe a tad intimidated by the miles, steps and workouts some of you ladies do. Yes. I know that exercise helps through this process, but what helps me even more is getting a paycheck, maintaining my insurance coverage and paying my bills (eventually... remember the unopened stack of mail?).
Anyway, I'll be ringing the bell on Friday. And hopefully be back at the gym in a week or two. Everything's intact. No weeping or oozing. That CVS Aftersun aloe with lidocaine is all I've used. The lidocaine really, really helps with the tingling, sensitive skin. If this is the worst it gets, then I'll call it a success.
Ringing the bell....they have a ship's bell that you get to ring when you finish rads.
0 -
I had a lumpectomy and clear SNB. I'm having wbr...whole breast radiation. They're not targeting my nodes. But my underarm nodes are in my radiation field. In the beginning I asked my techs to draw an outline of my rad field with a Sharpie. I was surprised how much area wbr covers. So even with just a lumpectomy, if you have wbr, it is a large area. Ask your techs for an outline. I have some areas that were inside the markings, but do not have any skin reaction at all. So I'm thinking, not too bad. It could've been a lot worse.
My rad field starts at my sternum below my neck, goes across my chest to around my armpit then down my side (under the arm) to below my bra line and then back to my sternum about an inch below my bra line and then back up the sternum to below my neck. It's like a big square. That's whole breast radiation.
I might also note I had/have IDC and ILC. We're all the same, but different.
0 -
Keys-plez: ringing the bell with you on Friday (not sure about ringing mine on my own behalf). I'll certainly count "working full time during treatment" as equivalent to at least two half-marathons.
Littleblueflowers: I may just mention a (mild) sore throat to my RO if/when I see him again. I have had a mild one, though I'm not ure if it's a direct effect of the rads or a byblow--my immune system on overdrive because it recognizes a threat. (nothing compared to chemotherapy or immunotherapy. A more nebulous one.)
SweetmamaJ: a VW diesel? oof. I've been following that with a more clinical interest, but hoping VW comes up with some serious concrete corporate apologia.
0 -
Add me in!
I think I have a total of 33....
I started on 9/21!!
0 -
Ankledolphin: you're on! and welcome to the group. Doing OK so far? (And gotta ask: how'd you come up with your name? Mine's how a previous cat seemed to regard me.)
0 -
3 more whole chest to go!!!! Start boosts next Wed. Hoooooboy. I sure hope this carnival or horrors is working.
0 -
Keys-Plez: Yay that you are almost done ! I had my 13th of 18 today. I am in the prone position so the square is smaller (and no nodes) and ends under my breast where I cannot see (because of droopy breasts...). I also work in the air traffic field ! (writing software for FAA etc). But I am fortunate to be working from home most of the time right now.
Here is a sample non-frontal view of the radiation field of prone vs supine - I cannot find an example which shows the area affected from a front view.
0 -
Littleblueflowers: don't we all hope for a conclusive end to the freakshow.
Goofyfoot: thank you for the image. I was rather wondering that myself.
0 -
Goofy..You must be a Geek like me. Those are some cool pics. How did you get them?
I'm so geeky that I took a video of my radiation procedure. I've edited it to cut out the times where I just there getting radiated. I cut about 5 minutes out. If anyone is curious, you can see it at . You tube added some ads, not me.
27 of 28. Ringing the bell tomorrow.
0 -
QMC....Thanks for the half-marathons. I guess I was just having a little pity party for one this morning. I wish I had time to do more...and the energy.
0 -
0
-
There it is now. (waves hello to Keys-Plez) I see they play the same music at your facility as mine did.
0 -
I know everyone is different but I also know I appreciate hearing stories and seeing photos. I am 62 yo, fair skinned and DD size. I'm half way through and this has been my experience.
- fatigue - it hit me hard the second week but cravings also hit me hard, I started focusing on eating a lot of veggies and fruits and my fatigue is better for the second week in a row
- tissue shape - My breast is changing, the whole nipple area has lifted probably an inch. I now have one 62 yo nipple pointing towards my toes and one that looks almost perky. You should see me in a t-shirt, it's like googly eyes!
- skin - My armpit is turning black and the skin on my breast is very red. There is also a pinpoint rash. I am using both Miaderm and Aquaphor and cortizone cream when it itches. I am including a photo of my underarm and side of breast. The scar at the very top is where they took the sentinel nodes. To the right is the beginning of the scar from my lumpectomy. The skin looks pretty bad but it has been live-able with lots of creams and very loose clothing.
- There is a lot of irritation where the underside of my breast touches my chest wall. My RO keeps telling me to not wear bras but I bought a cheap over-sized cotton sports bra at Walmart yesterday and it feels so much better to not have skin touching skin.
- My breast is starting to feel hot, don't know what else to call it. I had two cool packs in the freezer from my biopsies and used them today. Amazing! I need to go shopping for some more.
0
https://youtu.be/TgJLgHBKRD4