Starting Radiation January 2020

[Deleted User]

Congratulations Ladies that are finishing. My last tx was 2/5 and things are a little better. Less redness but sure am itchy. Daughter and DIL had us for dinner yesterday. Surprised me with a "ta ta" cancer cake and balloons. They (the kids) think this all over and I'm keeping it that way til otherwise. Husband sick with a bad cough. Told him to cough in his elbow. He said "why should I"? UM cause I don't need to feel shitter. Going around the house with Clorox wipes. UGH men!

Kkukowski

I have never heard of any zaps the 2 weeks after. I thought I would just need to have the skin heal and then move on to a new chapter. The chapter where my hair grows back!! Lol.

mikamika

How do people traditionally celebrate the last radiation treatment at the hospital? Should I bring cakes/chocolate/fruits for techs and nurses?

kimmh012

MikaMika, I brought a tray of pink custard filled Cream Puffs with a thank you card, they just set them out in their break room for everyone to enjoy.

fac03

tomorrow will be my 30/30. Did anyone bring anything, say a cake or something, to the radiation center? I really like the tech.

Dreamer1

Congrats MikaMika and fac03! Iam seeing RO for one-month post rads follow up next week and appointment is at 9:00 am so I am planning to bring tray of bagels and cream cheese and leave out in staff areaand if I can get it together, maybe one of those boxes of Starbucks coffee that serves like 8-10 cups.

yesiamadragon

Two more days!

I have been really emotional lately, seems to be a side effect of the daily treatments. Perhaps the daily slog over there and reminder of the cancer plus the fatigue? At any rate, I have baked for the radiation therapists a couple of times to let them know it is not them (they are WONDERFUL, truly) and will send a fruit basket when done.

I will be so glad to get this over with, but then start Kadcyla and the hormonal therapy. It is such a long haul.

I hope everyone is well!

mikamika

Thanks everyone for your response! I brought cakes and sweets. Was too tired to deal with fruit baskets. But it's a really good idea!

britgirls

Kimmh, yes I do have the occasional “zap” feeling. It feels like nerve pain under my expander. RO said yes the nerves are likely irritated by the treatment and it should resolve. She prescribed Silvadene for the open areas. I bought chocolates and a thank you for the techs. They were fantastic.

Glad this part is over. Next up for me is oopherectomy/hysterectomy on 2/28. I start Anastrazole after that. Long old road, eh

yesiamadragon

I AM DONE!!!!

Realized that it is going to feel really odd in the morning to not get up and head to radiation oncology at dawn, as I have for the last 34 weekdays.

I will see if my husband can deliver a fruit basket to the crew there next week. They were really wonderful.

I have lost the 20 pounds I gained during chemo through the radiation, started out trying to watch what I was eating (and still exercising every day) but then the last month not being able to swallow has really accelerated the weight loss into an unhealthy rate. I am hoping that the swallowing improves fairly quickly.

The worst parts of the skin damage have started to slough, and I have started to use the silvadene.

Next week start the next adventure with Kadcyla.

I hope everyone is well!

Melmax

Raw spot under my arm and Radiologist said to use Domeboro. Found it - It costs $16 and it’s a “soak”. Wet a soft T-shirt and apply to the wound 2-3 times per day. Not buying it - notdoing it. Surely there’s something else I can use. 😡

Mouse57

last treatment was today! 33 total with 8 boosts at the end. I'm red and sore and itchy but no open wounds - the RO warned it might get a little worse for 5 days or so but then should get better. The rad techs all said my skin did better than average - I think they didn't want to jinx it because they didn't say that til the last day.

They were really sneaky - yesterday the rad tech asked me if I was going to go out to dinner to celebrate and I said I probably would in a couple weeks when a friend of mine is coming to town and staying with me. So he casually asked where I liked to go out and I mentioned this restaurant that I'd never been to but heard was good - so the last day they gave me a gift certificate for that restaurant!

Also they have a tradition where we are given little rounds of wood to decorate and then they drop them down behind a layer of plexiglass to form sort of a mosaic. I have my next appointment for March 9 so I'll have to bring that back plus think of a gift to give back. Since its March I may make my grandma's Irish soda bread recipe (she was born in Ireland). I have a modification - she put caraway seeds and raisins in hers - I make one with dried cranberries and anise seeds.

[Deleted User]

Congrats Mouse57! What a nice thing for that group to do.

yesiamadragon

Melmax: my rad onc prescribed silvadene, but before that on the recommendation of someone on one of these threads I got mepitel and that was really helping on the open spots. It is a film dressing. Not cheap but supposed to stay on for 3 days at a time.

Melmax

thanks for the tips yeslamadragon. 😊

I started applying Maalox as suggested by another member and it providedinstant relief. So grateful! I didn’t get permission from my radiologist so I’ll probably get a scolding tomorrow lol.

yesiamadragon

Wow, I had never heard of maalox to the skin! So glad it is helping!

I just had my last boost Thursday and I am amazed at how quickly my skin is healing! Even the worst sloughing parts are now pink and just look (and feel!) like superficial abrasions My nipple and aureola were quite dusky purple/black but now that has peeled off to reveal much more normal looking tissue under. And the skin all over is less tender, though on my back it is still quite itchy.

My sore throat is improving a lot as well.

I am pretty depressed still, but my mood has improved a surprising amount since my last radiation. Still apprehensive about the next phase (kadcyla and hormonal therapy), and honestly discouraged about prognosis -- I don't want to hear about 3-year disease-free survival, how about 40 year!!!???? Sigh. I know, all these treatments haven't been around nearly that long, but it is all quite discouraging.

kimmh012

yeslamadragon, but there is 40 year survival !!I am in the TPBC, Triple poisitve, group and thanks to Herceptin and now Herceptin on Steriods called Kadcyla, there are 25 year thrives in that group.

I finished 20 rounds on the 7th, with only small redness... at 1.5 week post Rads is when things went down hill, I have open sores in crease under my breast. Not much has helped, I have been applying silverdene and then outline that with me lidocaine cream they gave me for my Hill, spray it all down with Aquaphor and cover it. It finally cut has the sharp burning pain. My RO said "it's not that bad" which I understand some women have had it worse, still this is pretty bad for me, comparable to the bone pain from Neulasta shot. However, I am at my 2 weeks post Rads so things should be getting better now.

I am supposed to start Anastrozole soon, witing on DEXA bine scan first. Tuesday is #7/18 Herceptin. I was in bot Herceptin and Perjecta, but I have every side effect so after 5 Perjeta, i stopped it. Quality of life has improved, still super tired from Rads i think. Things get better each day.

Here's to us rooting on newbies in 40 years!!

yesiamadragon

Yes, I got TCHP as well (though even on the perjata I had horrible, horrible constipation leading to painful hemorrhoids and a fissure, sigh. hope I don't get that on the kadcyla!). My MO stopped the perjata after surgery though, since I will be starting the kadcyla. I do not understand the logic of that, or why I had to wait until after rads to do kadcyla, but I will start this week. For some reason I got more and more depressed as I went through radiation. I suspect at least part of it was the daily slog to the cancer center then to work. Plus the fatigue.

I have a colleague who had stage 3c triple positive (with 16 positive nodes!) 16 years ago, she was among the first to get herceptin outside of the studies. She is doing well now, not even lymphedema. It is just the uncertainty that is so hard...

For my broken down skin I am just putting the silvadene on it then they just gave me mepilex which I cut to size and fit over it. It is doing really well for me, I hope you get healing soon! I am using Aquaphor on the skin that is just red. Do you wear a bra? I am lucky (HA! tell that to my teenaged self!) to be pretty small boobed so I went to camisoles as soon as my skin started to get irritated. If you are larger there probably isn't a great solution . I was extra sore/red under my boob though because of long-ago lung surgery with a long scar that runs right under there and sticks up just enough to seem to have "caught" the radiation.

May you heal quickly and well!

yesiamadragon

Sorry I was so cranky last night.

Really worried about hormonal therapy given how moody I was from radiation!

Melmax

MyRadiologist said not to use Maalox until my treatments are complete. He said it does work but because it contains aluminum he said to wait. So now I was told to use a specific brand of liquid bandaid for the raw spots only and not to apply right before treatment. I don't think they know what they're doing.

Mouse57

I finished radiation last friday - The one thing I didn't understand was why one spot on my clavicle (I am getting clavicle radiation) was getting so red - the Rad Tech I had a skin fold - I wouldn't have ;t see it - until I was drying my hair and then I saw when I raised my arm there was a skin fold! Also when I sleep on my side I put a pillow under my arm and have it raised near my head (done that previous to cancer because of carpal tunnel syndrome)

So anyway - what they say about skin-to-skin contact needs to be avoided is true! Just didn't realize where it was happening.

Also am big boobed - have avoided skin to skin contact underboob (which my RO warned me about) by wearing tee-shits with a loose old stretchy bra over them - and even stuffed cotten gause between boobs - fortunately live in winter climate where I can wear thick clothes

Dreamer1

Congrats on finishing rads YeslamaDragon, britgirls, Mouse57, Kimmh012, and anyone else I may have missed. Hope everyone is healing and looking forward to regaining so many hours in the week.

I finished Jan 30 and started Anastrazole on Feb 10. So far so good. My MO said plan on taking it for 5 years; it's unclear whether she will recommend extending after that, she said by that time more research results should be in.

Mouse57

It is 8 days after radiation - I was really lucky to get no severe skin reactions (lots of color including grayish which didn't really like!) - the first peeling under by boob I noticed today - under it was clear but tender skin - treated it with neosporin (generic equivalent) and used a non-stick pad under my bra where it was (my RO had given me some so he expected this). I asked the RO about neosporin (actually generic store brand - called triple antibiotic ointment ) because it was my go-to in the past when I had red rash under my boobs due to heat and sweat - being large boobed and living then in Oklahoma and he okayed it) My next RO appointment is March 9 .

yesiamadragon

I had PT early Friday morning, so Monday was my first day going straight to work in the morning in SEVEN WEEKS.

My husband suggested I could ease the transition by going in to work at 7 am, taking off my shirt, and lying on a cold hard table.

I added "and invite 3 or 4 strangers in to play push-me-pull-me with my body"

My skin is healing fast, but I still have pain in my armpit. But my PT gave me the green light to join a women cancer surviver's rowing team, so I went last night and may have overdone it a bit (though really I was just trying to get the rhythm down. Never rowed before) Hopefully a lazy weekend ahead.

Mouse -- may your skin also heal quickly!

Mouse57

Its now almost 2 weeks post-rad and my skin is doing pretty well - I've kept up the Aquaphor routine and wearing loose cotton bras and taking lukewarm showers and not scrubbing the radiated areas. I'm gradually peeling underboob and under my arms but its just new skin under it - not red or wet.. I am resisting any temptation to try and speed up the process but its nice to see the ugly grayish color gradually being replaced by new skin.

All this week I've been thinking I've been coming down with something - just feeling really low energy and not wanting to do anything complicated - just now the lightbulb turned on "Oh - this is what they call "fatigue" and I remember reading here it can be worse the couple weeks after rads than during rads when I didn't feel particularly tired!" We've also had one winter storm after another so wasn't getting much exercise but this week is just feeling really weighted down even though I'm getting enough sleep etc. When the lightbulb realization came I felt a lot better because I was not just being lazy! I have a friend coming to town to viist next week though so I need to get my act together to get the house cleaned!

My follow-up visit with the RO is Monday. One thing to ask about is how paranoid I should be about the corona virus. I didn't have chemo and no one suggested testing my white blood cell count or anything. While I was waiting for my surgery appointment back in Sept I filled time by shopping for stuff and stocked up on hand sanitizer and wipes but in the end didn't have chemo so haven't used them much - lucky because now the shelves are empty for those!

My MO is in Seattle - she prescribed the anastrozole but said not to start taking it til 4 weeks after radiation. We made an appointment for me to go to see her at Virginia Mason in Seattle in May for the 6 month followup because I wanted to be sure to get a complete followup plan. I will see the BS too - I have a big dent in my boob where the scar is plus some thickening and lumpy edema - not thinking of getting any cosmetic surgery but want to know what to expect. Could be a lot better cosmetically but it would also look a lot better if I was 40 years younger. Probably will not go to VM for every followup but I wanted to the 1st time because they have a survivorship program and I want to keep plugged in with that.

I also get to have a colonoscopy a week from Monday - its about 6 months when I had my first - the same week I had my mammogram which was BIRADS 5 then biopsy so by the time I got the colonoscopy results (6 polyps, 2 large - all precancerous which is why there is a 6 month followup) my reaction was "pre cancerous! - pre is great!)

Melmax

Last radiation treatment today! 🙌🙌

My boob looks like a shriveled up prune, still have one raw spot under my arm, and red all over but I'm hoping the Aquaphor and Maalox clears it up soon.

I don’t go back for follow up until June.

[Deleted User]

Congrats Melmax! My last tx was 2/5 and my skin is good, just a little roughness. But breast has a hard lump around surgical area & kind of numb. See BS in 2 wks for follow up. I have a feeling I might have to just put up with it.

yesiamadragon

Hi Folks!

I hope everyone is well!

I had my almost-one-year follow up with the radiation oncologist, and she wants to see me again in 6 months. Since I see my medical oncologist and surgical oncologist, this seems like overkill. I could see once a year? What schedules have other people been given?

Dreamer1

Hi, @YeslamaDragon, I hope you are well, too. It's been a crazy year, that's for sure. I'm so glad I completed treatment before the pandemic shutdown.

My Rad Onc scheduled follow up visits for 1 month and 4 months out. The 4 month f/u was an extended "survivorship" discussion. He does not schedule out beyond that but, because I trust him a lot, I have made a couple of appointment to chat with him about general treatment matters since then.

Kkukowski

Hello, I too passed my one year anniversary of completing radiation. Now made it to one year of being on anastrozole. I see my oncologist every 3 months. Breast mri every 6 months. Hair grew back so thick and curly( previously was stick straight). I agree finishing tx before the pandemic was a blessing!