Today was my first day of radiation. Pretty uneventful. My appointment was at 8:45 AM, and I was accompanied by my loving copilot, Rusty. We got to the center around 8:35, and I was out of there by 9:05. The process is very simple:
- Check in at the front desk.
- Go to a changing room and put hospital gown on, put clothes in locker.
- Wait in waiting room (which I didn't even have to do today because they were a bit ahead of schedule!)
- Go to radiation room, where techs darken my tattoos with a sharpie then position and level my body.
- Sit there for 10 minutes as the machine moves all around and makes funny noises.
Once a week, I have to meet with either the doctor (The Zapper) or her nurse practitioner. Today happened to be that day. So, although it took a half hour, it won't always take that long.
A couple of hours after radiation I was sitting at my desk at work and I felt a bit of a subcutaneous itch on my left side. This was pretty weird because I can't really feel much on the left side of my chest. I tried to touch it or itch it, but I couldn't get it. I ignored it and it finally went away which is good because there was really no way for me to effectively scratch it.
Right now, my skin feels fine, but they definitely stressed that I should be putting stuff on it before it feels burned, which makes sense. However, there are SO many restrictions. I can't use anything with metals (no aluminum, titanium, or zinc). This means most sunscreens. I can't use anything with fragrance. And I've also seen it suggested elsewhere that I should avoid products with alcohol. So, that basically eliminates just about everything, but they did give some sample tubes of things I should be using. One is called "Jean's Cream", developed by a cancer patient who used a homemade concoction during radiation. It uses mostly natural ingredients and it's supposed to work pretty well. It's not cheap, but only the best for my boobs, you know. There's also this really goopy Eucerin cream that I should use at night. Tonight will be my first night using it.
And that's about it. Here's hoping I sail right through radiation :-)
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Radiation Tomorrow
Sorry, this will be a short post, but I figured it was better to have a few words than none at all. My radiation "dry run" went very well on Friday. I met with the nurse and she went over things I should use on my skin and things I should avoid. The main side effects I'll experience are tiredness and skin irritation. After a couple of weeks, I'll get a "sun burn", and it could result in blistering (but the idea is to take care of it *before* that happens).
Tomorrow is my first day of radiation at 8:45 in the morning. The appointment should only last about 15 minutes, and I will have to go 5 days a week for about 6 and a half weeks. Oh Joy! :-)
Tomorrow is my first day of radiation at 8:45 in the morning. The appointment should only last about 15 minutes, and I will have to go 5 days a week for about 6 and a half weeks. Oh Joy! :-)
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Career Woman
Back to work.
I went in on Monday for the first time in about a month. Ah, it was good to be back. So good, in fact, that I stayed for a looong day. I knew Rusty was going to bowling on Monday night, so there wasn't much of a reason for me to rush home. Plus, it's nice to spend some time off the couch. And I'm getting kind of sick of The Price is Right.
My manager/team lead at work is great. He's a little older than me, and he really likes beer. In fact, a lot of us at work like beer. Many people are appalled when I tell them this, but there's a pub nearby that we visit once every other week or so for lunch (and beer). The managers and even our director goes, too. At my last job my boss was a beer nazi at work. It was a different industry.
Anyway, to ease back into the week, my manager took me to lunch at the pub. Oh, it was so delicious. There was a yummy Belgian-style honey ale that is just the beer of my dreams. Aside from the beer, we also got to talk a lot about how to ease back in and feel more productive at work. It was a good lunch.
I've had no trouble with driving at all, and my muscles are feeling so good, and almost back to normal. I hope to start a post-mastectomy Pilates DVD soon. My Pilates instructor is getting it to me via a friend, so I don't have it, yet, but I'm excited about exercising again.
My dry-run for radiation is on Friday. The purpose of this appointment is to make sure that the radiation tattoos and the LAZERS line up so I'm in proper placement for the actual treatment. They'll also go over some of the skin problems I can expect and the products I can use to help.
One last thing... I realized I forgot to review the pathology report after surgery. The tumor was .8 centimeters and less around, and they got very good "clean margins" because they took so much tissue. Also, the skin that was removed was all clear. For the lymph nodes, they took 11. That number really surprised me because a lot of times I hear about 20 or so lymph nodes. Now, that could be because he only took the first "level" of nodes, or it could also be because I only had that many. Everyone has a different number of lymph nodes, and the radiation oncologist says that she likes to see anything over 10. Anyway, 3 of the 11 nodes were positive for cancer cells. Not too bad. We were really hoping for 0, but at least it wasn't 9 :-)
The pathology was a little disappointing, and I know my medical oncologist (Mr. Wizard) was also a little disappointed. It's possible that the amount of time between chemo and surgery accounted for some growth. It's also possible that it didn't shrink as much as we thought it did. Either way, it was still a good response, just not a great response. But really, .8 cm is pretty small.
I went in on Monday for the first time in about a month. Ah, it was good to be back. So good, in fact, that I stayed for a looong day. I knew Rusty was going to bowling on Monday night, so there wasn't much of a reason for me to rush home. Plus, it's nice to spend some time off the couch. And I'm getting kind of sick of The Price is Right.
My manager/team lead at work is great. He's a little older than me, and he really likes beer. In fact, a lot of us at work like beer. Many people are appalled when I tell them this, but there's a pub nearby that we visit once every other week or so for lunch (and beer). The managers and even our director goes, too. At my last job my boss was a beer nazi at work. It was a different industry.
Anyway, to ease back into the week, my manager took me to lunch at the pub. Oh, it was so delicious. There was a yummy Belgian-style honey ale that is just the beer of my dreams. Aside from the beer, we also got to talk a lot about how to ease back in and feel more productive at work. It was a good lunch.
I've had no trouble with driving at all, and my muscles are feeling so good, and almost back to normal. I hope to start a post-mastectomy Pilates DVD soon. My Pilates instructor is getting it to me via a friend, so I don't have it, yet, but I'm excited about exercising again.
My dry-run for radiation is on Friday. The purpose of this appointment is to make sure that the radiation tattoos and the LAZERS line up so I'm in proper placement for the actual treatment. They'll also go over some of the skin problems I can expect and the products I can use to help.
One last thing... I realized I forgot to review the pathology report after surgery. The tumor was .8 centimeters and less around, and they got very good "clean margins" because they took so much tissue. Also, the skin that was removed was all clear. For the lymph nodes, they took 11. That number really surprised me because a lot of times I hear about 20 or so lymph nodes. Now, that could be because he only took the first "level" of nodes, or it could also be because I only had that many. Everyone has a different number of lymph nodes, and the radiation oncologist says that she likes to see anything over 10. Anyway, 3 of the 11 nodes were positive for cancer cells. Not too bad. We were really hoping for 0, but at least it wasn't 9 :-)
The pathology was a little disappointing, and I know my medical oncologist (Mr. Wizard) was also a little disappointed. It's possible that the amount of time between chemo and surgery accounted for some growth. It's also possible that it didn't shrink as much as we thought it did. Either way, it was still a good response, just not a great response. But really, .8 cm is pretty small.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
And the Winner Is...
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale!!! If you know me and my beer, that shouldn't be much of a surprise. It's my favorite beer of all time.
On Monday evening, I did a little googling. I figured, since I already decided to have my first beer the next day, let's look up why I shouldn't have had it in the first place. Big mistake.
Now, before you call me a square, know that this isn't one of those "alcohol should be avoided" types of medications. I was taking metronidazole (Flagyl), and when they say not to drink alcohol they're not joking. I read that you should even avoid things like mouthwash.
So, in my googling, I read that after you finish the antibiotics you should wait 3 days before drinking alcohol. THREE DAYS! What's a girl to do when she's been pining for beer for so long? Well, I looked up the side-effects and determined on my own that the way to approach this was to pretend I hadn't googled the information, drink lots of water, and have half a beer yesterday evening (over 24 hours after my last dose) and see if I had a problem. I did not, so I had the other half. Phew.
In non-alcohol-related news, I'm kind of happy about the early radiation thing now. I like that my incisions will get a chance to heal before we go expanding too much, and I'm also happy that I'm not having to deal with the discomfort of healing from surgery and the discomfort of expanding the tissue all at once. Of course, I'll look weird for much longer, but I guess I'll feel a lot better.
One more thing - Phish is coming back in March!!! The joke around the house is that I'd give my left boob to see Phish again. :-)
On Monday evening, I did a little googling. I figured, since I already decided to have my first beer the next day, let's look up why I shouldn't have had it in the first place. Big mistake.
Now, before you call me a square, know that this isn't one of those "alcohol should be avoided" types of medications. I was taking metronidazole (Flagyl), and when they say not to drink alcohol they're not joking. I read that you should even avoid things like mouthwash.
So, in my googling, I read that after you finish the antibiotics you should wait 3 days before drinking alcohol. THREE DAYS! What's a girl to do when she's been pining for beer for so long? Well, I looked up the side-effects and determined on my own that the way to approach this was to pretend I hadn't googled the information, drink lots of water, and have half a beer yesterday evening (over 24 hours after my last dose) and see if I had a problem. I did not, so I had the other half. Phew.
In non-alcohol-related news, I'm kind of happy about the early radiation thing now. I like that my incisions will get a chance to heal before we go expanding too much, and I'm also happy that I'm not having to deal with the discomfort of healing from surgery and the discomfort of expanding the tissue all at once. Of course, I'll look weird for much longer, but I guess I'll feel a lot better.
One more thing - Phish is coming back in March!!! The joke around the house is that I'd give my left boob to see Phish again. :-)
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