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 :-)
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1 comment:
Just don't go around asking, "Hey do you want to check out my radiation tan?"
Hopefully when they said to avoid products with alcohol this was limited to topical products and not food and beverage!
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