Radiation Visit

Yesterday I met with the Radiation oncologist to get my mapping and tattoos done. I first met with the doctor to go over what to expect and side effects of radiation. My radiation appointments will be every week day at the same time. I will see the doctor only once a week to go over how I'm feeling and to see if we need to make adjustments in my treatment. Each radiation appointment will last about 20 minutes. Getting radiation is only about 7-8 minutes, and the rest of the time is spent getting lined up on the table and having several people (dr. and nurses) make sure I'm lined up correctly before they begin radiation. For the first 3 weeks I may not feel much different, but by the end of the 3rd week I may start feeling sunburned and tired. Once the redness begins it will only increase and get worse. I can use aloe vera gel, burts bees aloe after sun cream or a special radiation lotion. These lotions will only help relieve the burning feeling. I need to drink LOTS of water while going through radiation, as that will help with the burning and redness too.
I will have 25 radiation appointments, which is better than the original 30 that they had planned. That was good news!
Yesterday I had my mapping done so that the computer knows my body contours. I also received my tattoos, there are 4 in all, one under each arm pit by my side and two down the middle of my chest. The tattoos are little black dots and they're not very noticeable.


Side effects of radiation:
*Scarring of the muscles in the radiated area. For the rest of my life I'll have to do stretches to keep my muscles limber in that area.
*Lymphedema is increase by 1-2% (with surgery alone I have a 25% chance)
*I need to use hot pads when taking food out of the oven so I don't get a burn. Healing is harder on the radiated side after radiation.
*Carry less weight on the cancer/radiated side. Example- don't carry all my grocery bags in all at once in my arms, take multiple trips in instead.
*Wear gloves when gardening or working in the dirt so as to avoid a cut and infection on the cancer/radiated side.
*Treats cuts more seriously as healing will be harder.
There is a small chance of heart disease because of radiation. To try and prevent this they will have me take a deep breath during radiation and hold it for 20 seconds so that the distance between my chest tissue and heart are farther apart. While holding my breath they'll do the radiation.
*Radiation will make my skin very tight and brittle. Because of that there is a 25% chance that my reconstruction surgery may fail on the radiated side. There are some procedures that can be done to minimize this, but there's always a chance that my next surgery may not be a success.

My first radiation appointment is this coming Monday, November 24th. The plan is to do a dry run before they do the real radiation, so next weeks appointment will be both a dry run and a real radiation appointment. Next week I'll have radiation on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. They are closed on Thursday and Friday so I won't have another radiation until the following Monday, December 1st, which is also a herceptin chemo. If all goes as it should I'll get my final radiation on December 31st.

With each change in my treatment plan I get nervous. I've been told that radiation is easier than chemo, but I'm nervous none-the-less. Please keep praying for me! Pray that I can have the strength I need and that I will stay healthy! Thanks!