Before I start I hope I have indicated that I feel rotten as opposed to having head lice - my spelling isn’t too good.
My appointment was at 8.30 and 5 minutes after I got off the machine I knew I was not right. It has been getting worse - not better. I feel very very nauseous, incredibly tired and generally debilitated.
I am hoping this is some bizarre co-incidence (I do have an abcess under my tooth - found Saturday) but have the feeling that it isn’t.
I have 28 of these (1 down 27 to go - or about 4% done - over 10% by Monday).
If anyone else felt like this after number 1 then please let me know.
I have some news on skin which they do over here which you don’t do - I’m going to put it on a separate thread.
By the way - whoever started the rumour that radiotherapy is very easy for those who have done chemo may have been a few bricks short of a full load if you get my drift
Rads is not a walk in the park or necessarily easy after chemo.
The advice I was given by my BCN was two rests of at least half an hour a day preferably lying down 'cos as Lilacblushes described it i felt like I’d been hit by a spade. This made rads manageable (I was also trying to do 4 hours work a day)as did getting someone to drive me through to treatment some days
So be kind to yourself and think that if you’re feeling tired that’s nothing to what the cancer cells must be feeling!!
Hi Fizbix,
I have just finished last Fri 25 and 5 boosters and I am knackered there is no other word for it, they said it is cumulative and continues for 2 weeks after rads have finished, I have I think they call it fatigue, oncologist checked iron levels to see if I was anaemic, but they were ok, then he and breast surgeon said probably due to having 8 chemo and 3 ops first, it has been a long slog since July last year, breast nurse said it very usual. But yipee I have finished and only on Tamoxifen now.
I am hoping that this fatigue will fade away , I am trying to rest abit to but I find that quite hard, I am not really a resting person, if you know what I mean.
Think we have to realise that our bodies have been through a lot and though we want to get on with things (I tried to start running again in the gap between Chemo and rads, as well as sort out other things that had been on hold) that the body will heal in its own time.
Did find that regular rests helped.
Dawn three months post rads I can say that the fatigue does fade away but I think the overwhelming message is listen to your body, pace yourself and maybe this is life trying to show you how to rest at times. ( I’ve just started picking up reading novels again as a way of taking some time out)
I have just done my 4th session of rads (16 more to go) and feel okish - just a little tired. I have felt slightly ‘glandy’ around the neck area (almost as if I have a goitre??) for about a week but this was prior to starting rads. I am off to the docs this pm for my sick note and to tell him of my symptoms.
After chemo 5 I was pretty poorly and was in hospital for 5 nights, chemo 6 was administered (29th July) but due to an oncologist mix up (mine has gone on mat leave) I wasn’t given the neulasta injection and therefore maybe have taken a bit longer to get over it. My body feels like it is verging on an ear/throat infection and is just about fencing it off. It isn’t getting any worse but it isn’t getting any better, and the head sweats I keep getting are terrible.
FB - I hope it gets better for you and that the remaining sessions go fast!
Dawn and Crispy - hope your recovery is speedy and that you get back to normal (whatever that is now) as soon as poss
The good news is that I treated today’s session with a lot more respect and not like a sunbed session with the result that i felt much better. Now have 2 days off (as we all do) and am far less worried about next week - but not exactly looking forward to it though. YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT CRISPY I am pacing myself - but it’s a ver sloooooooow pace - I could be ovetaken buy a geriatric (apologies in advance to senior citizens - especially sprightly ones)
The less good news is that I have 33 sessions!!! Seems a bit extreme to me - am going to do a surveyon everyone else - it may be as I’m a triple negger - it was 28 sessions + 5 boosters. That means my October “whooppee it’s all finished trip” will have to be delayed until it’s all finished. That was a bit upsetting.
Sorry to hear you are not well Anita - things like that are OK when you’re not pooped but big events for the likes of us. Really hope it goes well - make sure you have enough rest.
This is an interesting thread. I due to start my rads soon - get marked up next week anyway how come your having so many - i’m due to have 17 i dont understand - am i getting the full benefit of rads ??
Hope your doing okay FB, I have been thinking about u recently as we were going through chemo 2getherish
From what I can gather the oncologists at my centre tended to go for 15 + 2-5 boosters or 25 +2-5 boosters. Don’t know why the difference. I had 25+5 but I’m not triple neg and I was frustrated at the number of sessions.
Hope you dont mind me joining…Just finished mine this week. I had 25 and 5 boosters and I’m ER+ I dont know how they decide who has to endure the longer course. I feel much more tired now I have finished than I did during the treatment.
Doc has given me some 500mg anti biotics to see if that shifts the feeling I have around my neck and ears. He didn’t examine me (never does) and said if I didn’t feel any better after this lot of pills to go back. The head sweats can be a side effect of rads and the menopause and chemo - take your pick! Since the sweats came before rads its either an after effect of finishing chemo or its the dreaded menopause…we shall see!
Julie - both FB and me are triple neggers and I am having 20 sessions altogether but not sure of how many boosters are in that. I know I am having them as I have been told that I have to be marked up againfor them. I was also grade 3 too with a 15mm tumour. Maybe the size of the tumour has something to do with it???
Crispy - number of sessions differ from Health Auth to Health Auth - same as the different types of chemo we get. I had FEC and TAX and others get a different regime - makes you wonder why - could be the same with rads???
Sukes - congrats of finishing chemo - it’s a good feeling knowing that it is over and no more feeling cr*p! Marking up session is ok and the tattoos aren’t too bad, (my own opinion but others differ - see thread) and the actual rads sessions are not too bad (up to now - had 4) just keep slapping on the cream!
I hope everyone has a jolly good bank holiday weekend - sorry FB we all get an extra day off!!!
Weather looking a bit better up to now but that depends on where you live!
Finished rads 14th Aug - 15 + 5 boosts. WLE/SNB April 08, ER/PR ++, HER neg, Grade 2, no node involvement, no chemo. Was very tired towards end of treatment - had to either sit or lay down at some point during the day and after half an hour or so the tiredness would pass. Sometimes I would sleep but more often than not I couldn’t, even though I felt sooo tired. The tiredness would hit at different times of the day too - sometimes a couple of hours after getting up in the morning. The tiredness is starting to lessen now, but I had a busy day on Thursday and pushed myself through it - by 7 pm I had to lie down as the tiredness was so overwhelming. I’ve learnt to listen to my body - when I’m feeling energetic I get on with jobs that need doing knowing full well that later on I’ll need to rest. I’m tired now and it’s only 11 am (that’s why I’m on the computer lol) but I know that later I’ll be full of beans (well sort of). I’ve stopped stressing out about it now.
Hi!
I was told by my onc that the number of rads sessions depends on your bra size! Bust size 32 and 34 are 3 weeks. Size 36,38 and sometimes 40 are 4 weeks and 42 and 44 are 5 weeks. Don’t know what happens if you are any bigger than that - perhaps you go for years!!! I queried everything my onc told me, not because I thought he didn’t know what he was doing, but because I wanted everything explained and to be told exactly what was happening. I also spent a lot of time on Google finding out the latest info on dx and WLE and rads so I could ask the right questions. I’ve just finished 4th week of 5 weeks of rads and using emu oil to stop the burning (given to rads patients in Australia) and it seems to be working well. I’m taking Co-enzyme Q10 to stop the tiredness and that seems to be brilliant. There are trials of this going on in some areas to see if it will help with radiation fatigue.
Hi redders
Really interesting about the rads relating to breast size - I did wonder how it was worked out. I suspect therefore that a mastectomy, which I had , falls into the classification of 32 - 34 as I had 15 sessions over 3 weeks.
Thats one of the reasons I love this site - always something new to learn
If anyone is interested … that would explain mine … I’m a 33 sessions of rads and am probably now at least 44 but I have always had very deep ribs and a broad back
so they are quite big in circumference but don’t stick out that far from the body …
… can you imagine men trying to explain their bits ??? … love FB xx
