Starting Radiation in July 2019
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My rad techs we AMAZING. All ages, all races, both sexes.... a well oiled machine of precision, caring, gentleness, and humor. I brought them a case of wine on my last day.
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25/25 today, all done, I hit the gong today! Last week wasn't fun, I had bad headaches for a few days in a row, but it's getting better now. My skin was holding up nicely and then started hurting and turned red in literally last 3-4 days, with blisters at the armpit area. I am glad my daily trips to the hospital are over, and I am looking forward to finally waking up, so tired of being tired.
Kber - so sorry about your clavicle, maybe the nurse meant next and not past weekend?..
Ladies, I want to thank you all for your support, so glad I was a part of this group, you made my life so much easier. Hope you all get better soon.
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YAY JulieSim!! Congratulations! Are you done with active treatment now? Still more surgery to go?
How will you celebrate?
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Congratulations Julie!!! Get some rest and keep up with your moisturizers. Any skin problems, call back right away!
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Julie - congratulations - keep taking care of your skin as if you are still doing rads. Sleep nap and then party. Best of luck the tired feeling will pass.
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Yay Julie!!! Congrats on being done. Sorry the skin rebelled at the end.
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MountainMia, kber, Giddyupgirl, loiswb- thank you all!
MountainMia - I will need another surgery to replace the existing expander with implant, but the treatment is over. My husband took a day off work yesterday, and we went for a walk and lunch in a nice restaurant to celebrate.
I've been doing radiation therapy for unclear margins, and that's exactly how it looks, the breast is okay but everything around the breast is crispy brown and getting worse. I was told it's normal at this stage, I keep doing saline soaks and moisturizing even more than before, looking forward for some improvement.
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congrats Julie!! glad you took a moment. and oy -- may everyone's skin start to heal asap...
some of my darkest crinkliest tan around nipple is now peeling but skin underneath looks good. i think i will have a permanent tan in the area where my skin is often exposed to sun if not everywhere, but we'll see.
hugs to you all on your various journeys...
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2 weeks and 2 days out, my skin has finally healed over the burn I had. It's much less painful now, but it does itch quite a bit - another sign of healing I guess! there is still a substantial red patch of skin and it is tender to the touch, but nothing like it was before.
Now that it's no longer open, my pharmacist recommended a silicon based scar cream - I'll have to look up the name, sorry! However, there are several over the counter versions. The key is that they contain a silicon based gel that creates a virtual liquid bandage. I checked with my RO's office and they signed off on it. They also said I could use over the counter cortisone cream and Benadryl for the itching. I can't take Benadryl during the day, but I'll try some tonight if it's bothering me.
I pretty much napped every day this holiday weekend - I was much more tired. But yesterday I was better and I'm feeling OK today. I feel like I'm finally turning a corner here!
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Woohoo kber, glad you are healing up and more energetic. I am still waiting for my skin to really start in. I can see slight darkening in places and pink in places but that's about it. Will get # 14/30 today.
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I finished today! In case someone else didn't catch this either, even if your nodes are clear, your armpit will receive some radiation because the breast wall goes into the armpit. I didn't realize that until I asked why my armpit was peeling and blistered and painful
So moisturize the armpit too. I absolutely trust I was told this, but it must've fallen out of my head with all the info overload during this process. However the past few days I've had a super heavy period, haven't even even had a period In at least 3 years. I didn't get chemo And the radiation doctor said it wasn't due to radiation so tests on that monday. Sigh0 -
Kber so glad to hear your skin has healed up. I use Aveeno for eczema (with colloidial oatmeal for the itching).
Togethertolearn - congratulations getting to the finish line. Sorry to hear another problem has shown up but fingers crossed its nothing to worry about. Good Luck
Lois - hope your skin continues to do well and stays intact. Just keep lubing the boob.
Julie - hope your crispy brown disappears soon and is replaced with nice soft healthy looking skin.
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Hi all,
Togethertolearn - congratulations!! I don't know what to say about 'not related' anymore, my mysterious not related headache dissapeared 24 hours after last radiation therapy treatment. Related or not - hopefully you will be back to normal next month.
Kber - I am glad you're getting better and your skin is healing.
Giddyupgirl- thank you, how's your skin doing? Hope it's getting better as well.
My armpit was red, swollen and skin started to open up, I caught it on Friday evening, just at the beginning of long weekend of course. I ended up going to the walk in doctor and asking for Silvadene prescription, and then went to medical supplies store and build my own armpit bandage (I was out and about on weekend and it took me a fortune to keep the armpit bandage with cream in place). I was planning to see the nurses in the hospital clinic after long weekend but I skipped the trip since my skin started improving. The blisters are almost gone, I keep using Silvadene on the wounds, baby oil with aloe vera on new pink skin around and moisturizer on my brown boob
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Congrats Togethertolearn! Keep on top of your skin! Call the office if it becomes more painful or worrisome.
Looks like more of our class is "graduating"!
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Julie - sorry your skin decided to be rude. But glad its healing. My skin is doing better the collarbone healed without a mark, my tan is fading, the only thing left is my scar which is quite dark and aching but better than it was. By the way anyone needing to keep a bandage in an awkward place should get Vetwrap from a horse store or feed store. Seriously it sticks to itself but not to skin and it breathes so you can wrap it around anything. Also comes in lots of great colours.
Kber - our class is graduating but where are our caps and gowns cause this was way harder than college and a whole lot less fun.
Wishing our graduating class the best of everything and check in every so often so we know how everybody is doing going forward.
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By the way Julie if you ever want to try riding a pony PM me - I have lots of them and I am a relatively short distance outside the city.
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Giddyupgirl - wow that's so cool, sounds like fun!! Thank you, I am coming as soon as my expander comes out! I booked appointment with PS to see if there's any way to make it happen sooner, six months sound unrealistic to me.
Again - speedy recovery to everyone!
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Julie you will be more than welcome - just let me know when and we can saddle up. Hope you can get your exchange sooner.
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summation of my radiation experience - 3 weeks then week of boosts. I used Cetaphil at night heavy and then covered the goo with plastic wrap to hold it on, also right after radiation last week and a half. Never had any issues with skin doing it that way. Didn't know armpit was radiated cause my nodes were clean so that got extremely painful and red, of course! I couldn't even lotion it, once I realized, because anything touching burned. I had a 35 minute drive each way but had friends drive some which helped my stress. I was great and had no issues, thought I breezed radiation (minus armpit) but then suddenfatigue last 2 days, wow. Two days after as well. But then just a blistered armpit and felt normal! I hope everyone to follow has an even better experience!
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Togethertolearn, congrats on being done, and it sounds like it went pretty well.
I finished yesterday. It's been fine for me, too. My armpit is very red. By my understanding, that is from scatter from the boosts and not because of directed beam to it. On the breast side there is more tissue for it to scatter in, but on the armpit side, there's not much! I think that's why it gets affected so much. Also my breast is pink and speckled. I've been short of breath on walks and going upstairs for the last couple of weeks. And yes now I'm very tired. I'm not sure how much of that is physical and how much is mental, but I'll just go with it and assume that in a few days I'll feel much better.
Thanks to everyone in this group. My initial plan was to start in July but ultimately I started in August. Since you all had a head start, I learned so much. I wish you all many blessings and a healthy future.
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I finished the month before you guys, at the end of June. I'll share that my RO did say the fatigue can take four to six months to resolve. I scoffed but unfortunately she was correct. Here I am coming up on three months out and it still bites me in the butt. It's different from the tiredness I get from exercise, it's more that I'm out of gas.
Also--in case anyone else has this--my BC incision decided to scab up again about 6 weeks out of radiation. No big deal but not what I expected. Oh and I got the same sort of scatter rash that I had on my breast also on the skin of my shoulder blade (thankfully minus all the redness). I suspect its from radiation scatter.
Cheers to you guys all graduating!
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Thanks to the "alumni" for checking in. It's always helpful to know what to expect and what is in the "normal" range of reactions.
I'll be one month out tomorrow. My skin is 95% healed. My breast still has speckles - skin that needs to shed. My open wound on my clavicle is healed over, but still a tiny bit pink and, if you press on it, sensitive. I think it may actually be the bone underneath that is sensitive - it feels slightly bruised.
I had some pretty intense exhaustion the first 2 weeks post treatment, but I feel better now. In fact, after 5 months of chemo, surgery and then radiation, I feel more energetic and focused than I have in almost a year!
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edj3 - thank you for posting about the scabbing - weirdess thing was today a small spot on my incision had a scab on it and sort of freaked me out. I see my RO for follow up next week. Now I can relax a little about it. I hope everyone is doing well.
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I have my scar, of course. I also have moles ALL OVER my chest, including along my scar line. I asked for a dermatology referral so someone can make sure the treatment hasn't damaged my damage. No one has called yet to set up my appt. Hopefully that will happen this week.
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