Showing posts with label radiation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label radiation. Show all posts
Last day of radiation!!
So just a quick note today. Today is my last radiation treatment! I would be more excited but I've been kinda feeling like crap yesterday and today. Today is not so bad, did take a lot to get out of bed this morning and even more to choke down oatmeal but I have to remind myself that I should be thankful I can get put of bed, that I can make myself breakfast.. As there are many worse off than myself!
So as much as I can, I'm going to celebrate my completion of radiation and look forward to my sore throat healing and the fatigue going away. My radiation tech said that radiation works in your body two weeks after the last treatment so it could be awhile until my throat feels normal.
Now my celebration is short lived because tomorrow at 930 is my first chemo dose. I'll go in and spend 15 min with the doc and doing bloodwork to make sure my white count is healthy enough, then they will give me about a half an hour of iv premeds for nausea etc and then it's two hours of the actual chemo. West is being a trooper and sitting with me and then when he goes to work I'm going to hang out with momo bc I'm just not sure what the chemo is going to do so I didn't want to be alone. All in all the chemo should last 3 hours so I should be home by 1.
In other news I saw dr lee yesterday who said my wound on my neck is healing slowly but should start to close after radiation. He also said I've got 6 more weeks in the god awful brace and that's if the radiation didn't slow down the healing but he doesn't want to do X-rays for a few more weeks. I go back and see him on the 23rd.
In other news I don't think I mentioned in any of my posts that I've lost 37lbs with all of this. Now trust me I had the pounds to lose but I don't recommend doing it in this fashion. The problem is, between my sore throat and all of my meds/radiation upsetting my stomach, I have zero appetite. I've been taking nausea meds but they just settle your stomach, they don't make you hungry. I'm drinking ensure, taking a multivitamin and trying to choke down breakfast at least so I can take my meds but if anyone has any ideas to stimulate appetite I'd like to hear them. I feel like I have the stomach flu and the sight of food makes me want to throw up...
Well off to my final radiation! I hope the side effects this afternoon are better than yesterday bc yesterday I came home and pretty much napped from 3pm on...
So as much as I can, I'm going to celebrate my completion of radiation and look forward to my sore throat healing and the fatigue going away. My radiation tech said that radiation works in your body two weeks after the last treatment so it could be awhile until my throat feels normal.
Now my celebration is short lived because tomorrow at 930 is my first chemo dose. I'll go in and spend 15 min with the doc and doing bloodwork to make sure my white count is healthy enough, then they will give me about a half an hour of iv premeds for nausea etc and then it's two hours of the actual chemo. West is being a trooper and sitting with me and then when he goes to work I'm going to hang out with momo bc I'm just not sure what the chemo is going to do so I didn't want to be alone. All in all the chemo should last 3 hours so I should be home by 1.
In other news I saw dr lee yesterday who said my wound on my neck is healing slowly but should start to close after radiation. He also said I've got 6 more weeks in the god awful brace and that's if the radiation didn't slow down the healing but he doesn't want to do X-rays for a few more weeks. I go back and see him on the 23rd.
In other news I don't think I mentioned in any of my posts that I've lost 37lbs with all of this. Now trust me I had the pounds to lose but I don't recommend doing it in this fashion. The problem is, between my sore throat and all of my meds/radiation upsetting my stomach, I have zero appetite. I've been taking nausea meds but they just settle your stomach, they don't make you hungry. I'm drinking ensure, taking a multivitamin and trying to choke down breakfast at least so I can take my meds but if anyone has any ideas to stimulate appetite I'd like to hear them. I feel like I have the stomach flu and the sight of food makes me want to throw up...
Well off to my final radiation! I hope the side effects this afternoon are better than yesterday bc yesterday I came home and pretty much napped from 3pm on...
Radiation, Bactrim, Tamoxifen and incisions don't mix.
So I haven't posted in awhile which makes everyone worry lol so I'll post an update :) I haven't been posting because well, the radiation is actually making me lazy. I'm not going to say tired because its not a nodding off need a nap tired its a OMG I have to find my laptop, plug it in, sit in the office, find a pillow for the chair and then attempt to type - oh hell no do I feel like getting out of this chair feeling :)I have 4 treatments left. Thu/Fri/Mon/Tue. They were going to do 15 but after seeing Dr. Nyamuswa (chemo) last Wednesday, he spoke with Dr. Dean (radiation) and decided the important thing was getting me to chemo ASAP and 12 treatments would do.
Thank goodness because I have a wicked sore throat. They told me I'd get one but man its worse than strep. You never know how much saliva your mouth produces until you can't swallow! My teeth are sensitive too. At night my eyes burn like allergies and my skin gets super hot. I've been sleeping with a refrigerated ice pack on my forehead and eyes (or at least falling asleep that way) which does help. If this is the worse of it, well I'll take it. It can always be worse!
The other thing thats not helping is I'm back on Bactrim (antibiotic). Last Tuesday West noticed the incision on the back of my neck was starting to open up. Wednesday at my chemo appointment the doctor put me on Bactrim to prevent infection and the stuff is hard on your stomach and gives you a nasty taste in your mouth. My appetite has decreased a lot since I've been on it so its kinda like being sick to your stomach, hot, and have a sore throat all at the same time. Thank goodness today is my last dose! I missed radiation on Friday because they didn't want to radiate an open wound so I went to see Dr. Lee (surgeon) on Monday who said to treat it with a wet/dry dressing and continue radiation, eventhough radiation was the cause of the wound breaking open. He insisted that most important thing was getting to chemo which means getting through radiation ASAP and said he doesn't mind wound care just don't skip radiation, even if it makes the wound worse.
Speaking of my appointment last Wed, Dr. Nyamuswa set me up with a treatment plan. They took a CBC to check my white blood cell count and flushed my port. Did I mention in all the madness I had a port surgically inserted underneath the skin of my right arm? Theres more info on what a port is here: http://powerportadvantage.com/about.html but basically instead of having to poke you with a needle every time they need to take blood or admin chemo, they use whats called a port. Its a plastic implant that is hooked to a catheter that leads into the major vein near my heart. When they need to draw blood or give me something through IV they stick a needle into the port and its instant access. It came in really handy in the hospitals because I didn't (usually) need to get stuck for lab work and it made admin morphine really quick! Anyway, for some reason at the docs office my port would take meds but wouldnt release blood for blood work so they had to do it the old fashioned way. The nurse said sometimes that just happens and the next time they try it could work perfect- that its real positional. My CBC came back really good, or at least thats what the doc said. Not sure if thats really good for a cancer patient or really good for a healthy patient but if he's pleased, I'm pleased.
The doc said we can't start chemo during radiation, that with me healing from spinal surgery, it would just be too much on the bone marrow so we have to wait. In the meantime he put me on Tamoxifen, a drug that stops estrogen production which is the chemical that is feeding my cancer. It mimics menopause so I'm having heat flashes, mood swings, sick to my stomach, sore throat, hot skin, an incision that won't heal..all at the same time. Yuck! Again, though...if this is the worse of radiation, I can handle this...this isn't so bad. I start chemo next week. Next Wed at 9:30 if I remember right. They said it will be about a 3 hour process, an hour for blood tests and premeds and 2 hours to administer the chemo. I can't remember the names of the chemo drugs right now but its pretty strong stuff. Its the hard hitting make you lose your hair and feel crappy kind but if it kills cancer, I'm on board. I'll do that every three weeks for 4 treatments and then they'll assess how that's working and then go into a weekly chemo regimen with a drug that's not as strong.
So, all in all I'm hanging in there. The mornings are good. The evenings, around 7 and later are the I'm tired and started to feel crappy times but I'm pushing through and am looking forward to being done with this radiation!
First radiation treatment!
First day of radiation! Piece of cake. My appointment was at 1 and I was home by 2:30. Didn't feel a thing just had to hold extremely still. They put you on a table and make a 3D image map of your body in the computer and then digitally pin point the radiation to the centimeter. If you move, even a little bit, they have to restart the whole process. It takes longer to get you all lined up on the table in the exact same spot as the day before than it does to actually put the radiation into your body.
I wont say the process isn't a little intimidating. The radiation room smells funny, like chemicals and the big vault like door on the outside with the big yellow radiation warning label isnt comforting but it truly is painless. Its more of a mind thing for me. I know its life saving radiation, but its also poison in a way and if you think about that as these lasers pass over you, it can really mess with your mind lol I'll have to work on imagining it as medicine instead of things that are destroying my cells.
When I get home I just felt the need to drink a ton of water like I needed to flush it all out, and ate a good lunch like I imagine the tiny warriors in my body need energy to rebuild the cells...well 1 treatment down, 14 to go...
In other news, West and I went on a date night. We went to see Immortals in 3D and I successfully made it in public in the suit of armor, sat in a movie chair and even used a public restroom without getting stuck....ahhh the small victories in life :)
I wont say the process isn't a little intimidating. The radiation room smells funny, like chemicals and the big vault like door on the outside with the big yellow radiation warning label isnt comforting but it truly is painless. Its more of a mind thing for me. I know its life saving radiation, but its also poison in a way and if you think about that as these lasers pass over you, it can really mess with your mind lol I'll have to work on imagining it as medicine instead of things that are destroying my cells.
When I get home I just felt the need to drink a ton of water like I needed to flush it all out, and ate a good lunch like I imagine the tiny warriors in my body need energy to rebuild the cells...well 1 treatment down, 14 to go...
In other news, West and I went on a date night. We went to see Immortals in 3D and I successfully made it in public in the suit of armor, sat in a movie chair and even used a public restroom without getting stuck....ahhh the small victories in life :)
Setting up for radiation!
Hello world! :) Day 3 at home and I'm feeling pretty accomplished! I have a doctors appointment every day this week which means getting up and getting for the world each day. I have succumb to the fact that for the next 8 weeks I will be living in skirts. I hate skirts. *sigh* but this stupid brace covers my pants line which means if I wear jeans, button them, get into my suit of armor on theres no way to unbutton the jeans to go to the bathroom. I tried yoga pants and on special days, when I just cant find the stomach to wear another skirt, I suppose they'll work but it takes ten minutes to get back under the brace at the right pants line so they don't fall off my ass :)
I'm so thankful for so many things right now. Today mom and momo took me to payless to buy some flats. Here in Vegas, in the 100 degree plus heat I've been living in flip flops and what a difference a few months in the hospital makes because now I'm out and about I am the crazy girl wearing skirts and flip flops in Vegas winter (not that its cold lol but you still get weird looks) and my love for heels has back fired. I discovered I didn't have a single pair of closed toed flats!! My momo Betty Stafford bought me three pairs of beautiful shoes that I can actually walk in ♥.
After that we went to Fashion Bug where mom (@Kim Fletcher) bought me a new skirt and THEN we went to SuperCuts and got my hair cut. I don't want to post pics yet because I think I can style it better than the hairdresser did but its an a line bob really short in the back and long in the front. Pics coming soon!
Did I mention this was all done after two doctor appointments? I got marked for radiation today. The people were so nice and gentle. The appointment was easy, I just laid on a cat scan table while they took pics and they marked my body for the machine with a sharpie and covered the marks with waterproof stickers. There was one semi-tattoo mark that they stabbed me in the chest with a needle but that was it. My first radiation treatment is tomorrow at 1. They are radiating from the top of my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades not only to prevent the tumor from coming back but also because they couldn't find clean bone in my hip to replace in my neck bone so they want to kill the cancer in the new bone graphs. I will go to radiation every day for 3 weeks. The side effects will include fatigue, sunburn, sore throat, and of course ya know, poisoning my body lol but the cancer won't come back in that spot and thats all that matters. I'm prepared to fight! I am a little discouraged it might slow down my voice coming back - which it still hasn't done yet but I'm trying to be patient.
After the markings we went to another office to consult with the radio-oncologist himself. My mom and momo had never met him and we had questions about radiation, nutrition, side effects, prognosis, etc. Dr. Dean spent 45 min with us and answered every question and every side effect and was matter a fact. The last time I talked to this man I was extremely depressed at his attitude. I was emotional and alone in the hospital room and he came off to me as if he was there to tell me that statistics are I have two years to live and his job is to make me comfortable and prevent bone tumors in what little time I have left. That his job wasnt to save my life just make it more comfortable. I was devastated. Today he re-explained. He said what he meant was that radiation can't cure cancer. His job can't save my life. His job is to get in there, stabilize the horrible things the cancer has already done and then get the hell out of the way so that the chemo doc, the guy that can save my life, can get in there and do its job and softly said he was there to remind us that the statistics are metastatic breast cancer patients have a two year life span, thats the rule but there are plenty exceptions...but as a doctor he has to state the rules, not the exceptions blah blah. Realistic but....
Anyway for 3 days out of the hospital I feel like things are quickly going toward normal....and I'll report on my first day of radiation tomorrow! ♥
I'm so thankful for so many things right now. Today mom and momo took me to payless to buy some flats. Here in Vegas, in the 100 degree plus heat I've been living in flip flops and what a difference a few months in the hospital makes because now I'm out and about I am the crazy girl wearing skirts and flip flops in Vegas winter (not that its cold lol but you still get weird looks) and my love for heels has back fired. I discovered I didn't have a single pair of closed toed flats!! My momo Betty Stafford bought me three pairs of beautiful shoes that I can actually walk in ♥.
After that we went to Fashion Bug where mom (@Kim Fletcher) bought me a new skirt and THEN we went to SuperCuts and got my hair cut. I don't want to post pics yet because I think I can style it better than the hairdresser did but its an a line bob really short in the back and long in the front. Pics coming soon!
Did I mention this was all done after two doctor appointments? I got marked for radiation today. The people were so nice and gentle. The appointment was easy, I just laid on a cat scan table while they took pics and they marked my body for the machine with a sharpie and covered the marks with waterproof stickers. There was one semi-tattoo mark that they stabbed me in the chest with a needle but that was it. My first radiation treatment is tomorrow at 1. They are radiating from the top of my neck to the middle of my shoulder blades not only to prevent the tumor from coming back but also because they couldn't find clean bone in my hip to replace in my neck bone so they want to kill the cancer in the new bone graphs. I will go to radiation every day for 3 weeks. The side effects will include fatigue, sunburn, sore throat, and of course ya know, poisoning my body lol but the cancer won't come back in that spot and thats all that matters. I'm prepared to fight! I am a little discouraged it might slow down my voice coming back - which it still hasn't done yet but I'm trying to be patient.
After the markings we went to another office to consult with the radio-oncologist himself. My mom and momo had never met him and we had questions about radiation, nutrition, side effects, prognosis, etc. Dr. Dean spent 45 min with us and answered every question and every side effect and was matter a fact. The last time I talked to this man I was extremely depressed at his attitude. I was emotional and alone in the hospital room and he came off to me as if he was there to tell me that statistics are I have two years to live and his job is to make me comfortable and prevent bone tumors in what little time I have left. That his job wasnt to save my life just make it more comfortable. I was devastated. Today he re-explained. He said what he meant was that radiation can't cure cancer. His job can't save my life. His job is to get in there, stabilize the horrible things the cancer has already done and then get the hell out of the way so that the chemo doc, the guy that can save my life, can get in there and do its job and softly said he was there to remind us that the statistics are metastatic breast cancer patients have a two year life span, thats the rule but there are plenty exceptions...but as a doctor he has to state the rules, not the exceptions blah blah. Realistic but....
Anyway for 3 days out of the hospital I feel like things are quickly going toward normal....and I'll report on my first day of radiation tomorrow! ♥
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