Fall 2015 Rads
Comments
-
Jane, I had nausea from the radiation at toward the end. I also had dizziness. The newer RO in the practice had me take ibuprofen before my treatment and again later in the day if it returned. He said it is the result of inflammation from the radiation and the bodies reaction to the treatment. That worked for me until fatigue set in then I just plain lost my appetite. The other RO in the practice were plane rude about the side effects in the beginning. If ibuprofen does not bother you give it a try. If it works great. If it doesn't well you tried.
0 -
I love gingerale and a while back I went to Whole Foods and brought home samples of a few unique kinds but....when I checked sugar content on the back label they were all very high. Then I went online to check for ginger ale recipes from scratch. Saved a few, then unfortunately went off on some other track, maybe it was the three weeks recovering from skin cancer surgery in August. Serious headaches from damaged nerves. Ah well one of these days. Love carbonation!! too.
0 -
A few years ago on Food Network’s “Good Eats,” Alton Brown had a recipe for home-brewed ginger ale. (I think it may even have involved fermentation, so it probably packs a bit of a kick). As to Whole Foods, they do have some Stevia-sweetened Blue Sky sodas. Costco occasionally carries diet Boylan, without aspartame. Not sure where you live, but if Diet Vernor’s is available it is particularly good for settling the stomach if you’re shunning sugar, better than diet Canada Dry or Schweppes. However, if you’re drinking ginger ale for medicinal purposes, I wouldn’t worry about the sugar content--especially if not HFCS--since your nausea will likely not last past your treatments. You might want to dilute the sweeter stuff with a little water, seltzer or diet ginger ale. When I do drink sugar-sweetened soda, I like the Bruce Cost “handmade” (yeah, right) ginger ale; not cheap, though. Sometimes, at ethnic groceries, you can find Reed’s Jamaican Ginger Beer. A bit spicy, but it really works!
0 -
mmmm, I could go for any one of those right now! Love ginger. I am shunning sugar as much as I can. Do cheat but.... sugared sodas also seem to make me even more thirsty. Have cut way back on sugar for at least a year now. It helps me feel good about myself. I'll check on the ginger ale aisle next time I go to market and Reed's Jamaican, Vernor's just for the heck of it - they made the old cream soda? Blue Sky and Bruce Cost if they're there. Thanks Chisandy! Sometimes I buy 100% cherry juice, or cranberry and dilute. It's expensive, less sugar if you buy the right kind and a little splash in carbonated or ice water is all it takes for a tasty refresher. In the morning first thing, I do fresh lemon and hot water. It seems to me my labs are improving since I started. Doctors put a lot of stock in labs. Been doing that since spring. Little changes go a long way. Eating and drinking healthy can be fun.
0 -
Congrats EF!!
0 -
Congratulations EF and Blue Dog! Great to be done! Welcome Jane!
I've done 5 of 25. Skin a little red after treatment but back to normal by the next morning, though I know it's still early days. I'm getting a LOT of radiation: I think my treatment is longer than most of yours. Yesterday they took X-rays as well. Saw the RO after that, but that was quick.
I'm not getting nauseous after treatment anymore, though I suppose it could come back. Agree that it felt like morning sickness: omnipresent but in the background.
My favorite kitchen appliance through last summer's chemo adventure was the soda stream. When water tasted like dish soap, I could drink seltzer, especially if lemon or lime flavored. I don't know why I haven't tried to make ginger ale with it! Has anyone done that?
0 -
JaneSheridan: you're on the list, and welcome to the group--things going OK?
EnigmaticFox: CHEERS!
ChiSandy: thank you for the advice on nausea, and how to deal with it. Diet Vernors? I only wish I'd realized that duriing my treatment.
0 -
my nausea was vicious. I had food aversions. I'd make dinner and couldn't touch it. I simply couldn't eat. Compazine helped a lot. Zofran when the Compazine didn't work. As soon as u was done with rads it stopped, thank goodness.
0 -
Congratulations, EF!!!!
Sloan, yes, my hair is growing. I have a lot more than in my picture. It almost looks like an intentional haircut -- well, OK, a really, really short one. I'll have to get a new picture in there.
Yes, ginger for nausea! A friend of mine gave me a bottle of ginger syrup that I've been mixing with seltzer for a lighter "real" ginger ale. Yum and very helpful with nausea.0 -
I finished 33/33 yesterday, woot! I worked full time and exercised all through treatment, I think staying busy keeps me sane, and staved off the tiredness. I never got any fatigue and my skin is just a little pink and itchy, They gave a big bottle of Garden of Eden aloe that I used the whole time, and eventually needed a prescription hydrocortisone cream to stave off the itching and rash. I was expecting the last 5 treatments, which were small field boosts, to be more intense, but I didn't notice anything different. My 12-yo daughter came to the last few weeks, she sat in the waiting room and drank all their hot chocolate, lol.
All the techs were so nice and I loved talking to them and the other patients. Honestly I will miss them, is that weird? I found myself wearing all my shoes to entertain them, lol, what else are they going to look at?
The whole experience was very sobering, I shared time with folks with several different kinds of cancers, really hard to watch some times. Lots of suffering with this cancer business. I was amazed by my doctor and the techs, grace under pressure.
0 -
Congrats, jctreehugger!
Take care,
--Sherri, aka EnigmaticFox
0 -
Jctreehugger!!! Hooray! What WILL you do with all your new-found free time?
0 -
Congratulations Jctreehugger on finishing Rads. Time to celebrate.
0 -
thank you ladies for validating the nausea! I will go to settings so you can see my info. Not sure why it's not popping up. Thanks for the warm welcome. xo
0 -
I have a SodaStream too--made ginger ale and diet pink grapefruit soda, but prefer just to squeeze in some lime or lemon. But I also have some sugar-free Torani syrups--a little of the cherry (not black cherry) in seltzer plus a squeeze of lime makes a pretty passable cherry lime rickey from my Brooklyn childhood.
I notice those who had chemo first seem to have nausea more often than some of us rads-only gals---could it be there’s still some residual damage to the stomach’s epithelial cells that haven’t yet fully regenerated?
0 -
thanks Brutersmom! I will try the ibuprofen. I hate being a complainer but just didn't anticipate feeling crummy. After all of the other crap I guess I figured this would be like a trip to the tanning salon! Not so. But it's so annoying how the RO nurse looks at me like a nut when I describe feeling lousy. They keep saying that the nausea cannot be due to radiation but I just don't understand how it can't be?! After all aren't cells being killed/traumatized? Wouldn't the body give pushback in some form? It scares me that something more is cooking and my hope is that it's just this portion and will go away.
0 -
Congratulations JCT!!
0 -
"Cuddy: you're on the list. Welcome, for certain values of "glad you're here"."
Erm, what?
Congratulations, JFC and EF!
8/15. Sorry I haven't been around, but the fatigue and various other distracting factors have gotten in the way. I've been having insomnia. It's 3 AM here and I have to go for rads at 8:45 AM.
There is a very slight pain and itching on the outside of my left breast. The fatigue is maddening. I've had to cut back on everything. Then I feel guilty for being a slacker. There's a couple of women in the waiting area who work out every day and go to the theater. Meanwhile I'm dizzy and dragging around and thinking, "why aren't you doing more?". Mostly I dick around the Internet. Even writing emails is a bit of a struggle. Twitter's okay, but I'm spending waaaay too much time on it!
I learned the other day that I'm getting the boosters along with the rads, so maybe that's it. I still don't quite understand what they are. Wearing a cotton camisole under my bra because I HATE the sports bras I had to wear after surgery. On my side there's a tattoo with what I thought was a burn mark. But it's only an aligning tattoo, not used for rads, so it's a skin reaction. No itching, just a tiny bit of discoloration.
The really good news is that today I performed at a benefit for a Lower East Side cultural center. I haven't been onstage for several years, a combination of illness and overwhelming stage fright. It was a low-key event. I read a monologue from my recently published book of plays. It went over so well I decided to wing it with another unrehearsed monologue. Most of the other participants were activist poets so it was a strange mix.
0 -
Cuddy, congrats for getting back in the saddle performance-wise!
0 -
Cuddy: my apologies! Weak joke. I'm glad that you've found the list, and glad that you're willing to participate....but wish (as I do for all of us!) that you need to be here. None of us want cancer.
0 -
Cuddy, Sorry you are hear. Don't be so hard on your self. This is a stressful time. Congratulations on performing. Surgery and radiation are hard on the body and then through in the stress of the diagnosis can really run you down. Is the dizziness from the rads or something else? I did the accelerated radiation. I hit the fatigue wall at week 3 and I hit it hard. I had dizziness from day 2 of rads. I had an RO who was new to the practice and he told me some people benefit from taking ibuprofen about an hour before their treatment. For me it was an amazing fix for the dizziness. Nothing helped the fatigue which was debilitating. That finally lifted about 3 week after I finished rads. I even had trouble remembering simple things while I felt fatigued.
0 -
Jane, this is a safe place where you can complain. None of us like doing that. But you can talk about all of these maddening side effects here and no one will think any the less of you. We get it. I know I certainly do that in an effort to not overload my darling family. More than I do already, at any rate.
Cuddy, good job getting back onstage!
ChiSandy, that's an interesting question about whether those of us who had chemo first are more susceptible to nausea during rads. I was 9 weeks out from chemo when I started rads. But my skin certainly hasn't completely recovered--it's maddeningly dry--so it's possible that the gastric ecosystem is still getting back to normal. Or it's possible that the rads field includes the esophagus for some of us. If I remember, I'll ask the RO when I see her.
0 -
Hi ladies - just wanted to pop in and say I also have been having a 'off tummy" but nothing that really keeps me from doing things. I just haven't felt 100% at times. I have been very tired but not sure if it is due to radiation or just my life. I know I have said this before but it is hard to pinpoint the cause. I am only 12 sessions in and my RO say fatigue usually comes later. I am trying to keep up with the exercise as that really does help with my fatigue. I am just looking to get this whole thing behind me. Soon!!! Keep on chugging people. We are all fighters and heroes in my eyes!
0 -
Cuddy, it's okay not to be super woman right now. Congratulations on getting onstage again.
0 -
I always feel funny complaining too. They ask how was your weekend and I say not great. They act like what could possibly be the problem? Well, I have a huge red, painful, peeling, itching part of my body that I know won't go away for at least another couple of weeks. The fatigue has yet to hit but today is the first day I didn't work out. Just can't deal with the whole thing and it is COLD here now.
Congrats on being done, JCtreehugger!
0 -
Hugs Trvlr!
24 down today! 4 more of the large radiation field and then 5 boosts. I am really looking forward to the boosts. My skin is angry red but still intact. My underarm hurts but not too bad. I am tired but still managed to pull off early Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. 0 -
rannyc and chisandy --I had chemo but not the nausea in rads. As a matter of fact, I didn't even have nausea in chemo.
Jane- complain away. Unless they've been through this, they "really" don't know what it's like!
JCtreehugger-YAY! You're finished! Thanks for posting that about the boosts. I have 5 boosts to go, and I wasn't really sure waht to expect.
0 -
Congratulations, JCT, for finishing!!!!
Woot, Cuddy, for performing AND for being published!!!0 -
I never had nausea during chemo or rads. I think people who have one are more likely to have the other. They are the same people who get seasick. That's my theory, anyway. I never got seasick either.
Thanks for the hugs, Molly. This weekend has been one of the hardest for me since starting treatment. I know I am close to being done with treatment but then I have to face what life will be like post treatment. I think that can be a hard thing to face…what you are left with at the end with all the scars and everything. I want to embrace gratitude and all, but I guess it will be easier once i know what I am dealing with.
0 -
Ladies- anyone have hot flashes?
0
