A longer break from radiation

No radiation this week. 

My short break from radiation did a lot to ease the pain but, in the meantime, my skin has begun sloughing off.  Like a super-peeling from a sunburn. 

My Radiation Oncologist has suspended treatment for this week and given me Domeboro and Silvadene to help the healing. 

Domeboro is an astringent to dry the skin. And the Silvadene is a silver-based antibiotic to prevent infection in the open wounds from the peeling.

It’ll be nice to not get zapped again until at least Monday, but I’m hoping to then be able to move forward and get this behind me.

 

 

 

Red Red Red

 

Actually, dark red with black undertones. And it’s very uncomfortable. 

Conventional wisdom is that radiation is much easier than chemo. I’m an exception to that.  My chemo side effects were irritating and annoying but not painful.  I guess I’m paying for that now.  Been taking Aleve as often as I can. 

I suspended treatment for Friday and Monday to give four days for my skin to heal a little.   Get back to it on Tuesday.

A Long Overdue Update

 

I’m four weeks into radiation therapy.  Only 13 more treatments to go. 

The radiation target is the chest wall where my right breast once was.  I’m red from my clavicle to the middle of my right side. When the doctor saw it on Thursday, his first comment was: “medium rare”.  That area is approaching the deep red of a Red Delicious apple. The good news is that I’m not blistering – yet. The other good news is that the area of the surgery is completely numb so that the only pain is in the surrounding skin. It feels like a severe sunburn; and with my fair skin, I’ve had my share of those.  A couple of Aleve capsules take care of that. 

I’m using Aloe, Miaderm, and Aquaphor on the skin.  I slather one of them on every few hours.  And I really lay it on thick.  I don’t know if that makes a difference to my skin, but I’d rather use too much than too little.   

The doctor says that if I do start to blister, we’ll suspend treatment for a few days to let some healing take place. 

My hair continues to grow slowly and somewhat unevenly.  In some places it is about ½ inch long.  I can pretty much smooth it down now so that I don’t have as much fuzz sticking out from my scalp.  The fuzz just looks silly. 

My eyebrows are back and are dark as they were before.  I hated not having eyebrows. 

Chemo brain is diminishing but apparently not completely gone yet. 

So in general, things continue to go well.  I credit my oncologists for taking good care of me. 

So here’s my cynical description of breast cancer treatment:   

First they fill you with enough poisons to make your hair fall out, your taste buds disappear, your skin dry out, your finger and toenails to flake, and your bones hurt.  Neuropathy of the hands and feet is an added feature. Surgery can occur either before or after the poisoning. Then they cook you until well done. In my case that’s 2.75 hours total (33 5-minute treatments) YMMV.  Everyone involved hopes this is adequate.  Sometimes it isn’t.

 

 

 

 

 

Radiation Therapy has begun.

 

On Monday, March 31, I began radiation therapy. I’ll have a total of 33 treatments over 6 ½ weeks.  Monday through Friday. 

The entire process takes 15 minutes or less.  The actual radiation takes 5 minutes.   

I lie down on the mold that was made during the planning session, and the technicians adjust my position so that my three little tattoo dots line up with the lasers.  Then the machine does a CT scan which takes a couple of minutes.  They review the scan image to make sure I’m properly positioned. Then they zap me for 5 minutes.  That’s all there is to it.

After only 3 treatments, there’s no visible effect on my skin yet.  I expect some sunburn-like reddening over time; and hope it gets no worse than that. 

Here’s a link to a Wikipedia article with a photo of the machine that zaps me. It’s a high tech wonder.

 

 

 

Radiation Treatment Planning

The process for planning radiation treatment is more complex than I’d ever imagined.  I finally Googled it today.  I’d called to let my radiation oncologist’s office know that I’m ready to begin – my temperature is back to normal and I’m feeling much better.   The technician promptly scheduled me to begin treatment today.  But then I got a call from her this morning saying that she’d jumped the gun and that my treatment plan was still in the physics department and was not yet complete.  

So what goes into a radiation treatment plan?  Here’s a brief explanation. Wow!

 My treatment starts on Monday, March 31. 

 

 

 

Radiation Planning Appointment

Today was my radiation planning appointment.  Very interesting. 

The object is to get you positioned so that the radiation gets to the right place – and to make sure that you’ll be in precisely that same position for every treatment. 

To do this, they make a mold also called a cradle. Here’s a link to one brand of cradle.

Radiation Cradle

Once I was in the basic position, it was a matter of fine tuning – lots of minor adjustments until the technician thought she had it correct.  Then she called in the physicist who took a look and gave his approval. Next was setting the mold – a little more pushing and shoving to make sure my position would remain stable. She made X marks where the lasers were hitting.  One on each side and one on my chest.

Then the radiation oncologist came in and put little stickers all over.  These will show up on the CT scan.  My head was positioned so that I couldn’t see any of this. 

Then came the CT scan.  Didn’t take more than a couple of minutes. 

Once the scan is done, the technician removes all the stickers and proceeds to the tattoos..  At the center of each X she put a drop of dye and then stuck it with a tiny needle.  These will be the targets for the lasers when I have each treatment. Not exactly body art, but probably the closest I’ll come. 

They had me scheduled to start treatment next week, but that’s been postponed because I’ve been feeling really crappy lately.  Running a slight temperature, not able to eat much, and just no energy at all.  Had some blood tests yesterday to see if anything shows up.  I wonder if I haven’t just got myself into a self-perpetuating downward spiral.   Not eating is not good and leads to lack of energy, and all the other problems, etc.  So I’m trying to get some good food and plenty of fluids inside me to see if that makes a difference.  Would be nice if it was a simple as that. 

In the meantime, my head fuzz continues to grow very slowly.  I can actually feel it moving when it is windy. 

Taste buds are still AWOL.

 

 

 

Chemo done- waiting for radiation

Nine days after my final chemo treatment, I see some small progress.  My brain isn’t as fuzzy as it was; and I have actual little bursts of energy.  I think that I’m a tiny bit less of a slug than I was a couple of weeks ago.  Bad news is that there’s NO progress with my taste buds.  

 

A timely query from a cousin gave me a jump start back in my genealogy projects.  I was very into that for a couple of days, but then ran out of energy.  But I’ve got a good start on resuming the things I was working on before all this cancer stuff started.

I had a good meeting with my radiation oncologist.  Side effects from that should be limited to fatigue and skin damage similar to severe sunburn.  I’m so fair that I’ve had more than my share of severe sunburns so I know what it’s like to have blisters & peeling.  Next meeting is a planning meeting on March 18 to set up preparation and schedule.  I’ll get zapped every day Monday through Friday for 6 ½ weeks.  At least it’s only a 10 minute drive from home.

Hair continues to regrow slowly. Very slowly. But at least it’s there. 

With any luck, my brain will continue to clear and I’ll find my energy level increasing.  Come on taste buds!!!!!!