Radiation Day 1

-
I had my first radiation treatment today. I was kind of nervous because I wasn’t sure what to expect but it was ok. I had the CT simulation last week and that’s when I got my radiation tattoos. I have six little dot tattoos on my chest which they use to line you up with the radiation machine. It didn’t hurt when they put them on and after getting two actual tattoos in the past, the dots were a piece of cake to get. You can barely even see them. The actual radiation treatment only takes about a minute. It takes longer just to get set up. I’m not looking forward to the side effects though. The main side effects the nurse went over with me today were fatigue and skin irritation. I still remember the fatigue from chemo and I just don’t want to feel that way again especially with a 7 year old. I also hope my skin doesn’t get too irritated but I have seen pictures and it doesn’t look pretty. It looks like a really bad sunburn.

I’m also not supposed to wear anything scented and I have to switch to a natural deodorant. I’m not thrilled about that because I know someone who used to wear Tom’s deodorant and I have to say that it didn’t work. I’m not a sweaty person so I’m hoping it won’t be too bad. I’m not supposed to shave (which to be honest I never had to in the first place because I never really grew armpit hair, weird right?) or rub my skin with a washcloth. I have to just let the water and soap wash over my breast after washing my hair. The worst part is that they told me to expect breast shrinkage. My right breast is already smaller than the left after the surgery so it sucks that my boobs may look even more asymmetrical. Hopefully it doesn’t happen but I guess I’ll know for sure after 6 weeks. That’s right, 6 weeks of radiation. I have to go 5 days a week for 6 weeks. A bonus is that I get to go bra shopping. Apparently I can’t wear underwire bras which is what I like wearing.

Radiation and bra shopping will at least provide me with some distraction. I’m not gonna lie; I have been having a really tough time since the breakup. I have to get myself out of this funk because it doesn’t do me any good but it’s definitely not easy. It was 11 years of love that doesn’t just go away. I just wish I had a better distraction than radiation. Keeping up with my son’s activities helps and I love having this time off to take care of him. I’ll have to plan something special for us before I go back to work.


Almost forgot to tell you that I had my brain MRI and there was no evidence of metastatic disease in my brain! Yay! I need to keep having positive things happen for me. I recently started doing acupuncture and I hope that helps me maintain a positive energy. So cheers to a clear brain MRI and positive thoughts!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Adventures with Blood Thinners

-
Image
About a year ago on September 12, 2012 I was diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism (PE) which is a blood clot in the lung. I had absolutely none of the classic symptoms of a PE. Instead my blood clot was found during one of my routine PET-CT scans to check on the progress of my cancer. For some reason people with cancer have a tendency to develop blood clots and I just happened to be one of the lucky ones that got one. I remember getting off the shuttle at the UCSF Parnassus campus and starting to walk to my sister’s flat when I noticed I had a voicemail. It was my nurse practitioner asking me to call her back because “it was kind of an emergency, but kind of not”. At this point I was really nervous thinking that maybe the cancer had spread instead of getting smaller so I called her back. She then told me that I had to go to the Emergency Room to start a regimen of blood thinners because I had a PE. My Lovenox Syringe So, I went to the ER where they gave me my first shot of Lo
Read more

Sticks and Stones

-
Image
Recently I’ve learned a lot of things about people in my life and I am trying to make an effort to keep away from negativity. Negativity stresses me out and stress is the last thing I need. Someone recently tried to say that karma is the reason I have cancer which left me kind of in shock. I’ll admit I’m not perfect but I definitely don’t think I or anyone deserves cancer. If that’s the way karma worked then why do so many great people get sick and die young, while many evil ones get to live well into old age? The comment made me very upset at the time but now I realize that I have to make an effort not to let negativity like that get me down. Life is too short to worry about what other people think. Maybe they didn’t mean for it to sound the way it did or at least that’s what I’m hoping, but the lesson here is to really think about your words before they come out of your mouth. Another example is talking about how you know someone that died of cancer to someone that has cancer. Altho
Read more

Hair Stylings

-
Image
Hair is important to many women and when you don’t have it; it can be pretty traumatic. I really miss having my long hair. I used to have long, curly hair. I could wear it curly or I could straighten it for a different look. People complimented me on my hair and it felt good. Unfortunately my hair fell out while I was on chemo. It fell out slowly. Every time I took a shower and combed my hair it would come out. It wasn’t noticeable but I didn’t want it to get to the point where I had bald spots and it was getting ridiculous trying to keep the shower from getting clogged so I decided to cut my hair short. I got a lovely short haircut from a friend but soon that wasn’t enough. Chemo was starting to make my head break out in a painful pimple-like rash and it hurt to wash my head. I then just had it shaved instead. I hated watching my hair fall out. Eventually I was bald without having to shave my head. The worst was when my eyebrows and eyelashes fell out. That really made me cry.
Read more