Just completed 2nd treatment- all well, pleasant - I am waiting for something to feel different
X
Hi Annie. You want feel much at all hopefully. I felt nothing until 12 days after I had finished and it all peaked . Had slight colouring but of skin break down but that’s all. Just keep drinking plenty
Annieapple, I finished my last of 15 radiotherapy sessions on Wed 18 July. By that time, the breast treated had darkened in colour and the nipple was very dark, but I hadn’t had any noticeable side effects other than fatigue for the last week, and some depression. However kind the radiographers are, it is somewhat humiliatiing to lie for 10 to 15 minutes on a ridged couch with your front exposed and your arms bent above your head. Being rational doesn’t matter - it’s a very vulnerable state to be in.
After my least session the radiographers advised that the effects of the Xrays would continue to build up, so skin reactions and fatigue might develop further over about three weeks. It is most important to keep drinking plenty of non-alcoholic fluids, take modest exercise frequently, not to smoke at all, and to massage a suitable cream into the affected area two or three times a day. I use Aveeno cream.
Everyone is an individual. The prescription for the actual treatment wil vary from one patient to another, so different people will have different levels of reaction. I have osteoarthritis in most of my joints, so by the last session my arms were very stiff, especially the side from which lymph nodes were removed.
The early sessions seemed to drag and I wondered how I was going to keep going. Then, suddenly, I was at the end of the three weeks and allowed to ring the bell on my way out! (In my hospital, there is a large bell in the waiting area which patients are invited to ring three times after their last treatment, to mark that they are on their way. Everyone waiting claps, so you are a celebrity for about 30 seconds.)
All the very best
I have now done 7 and have found the week tiring- just getting there,quick session which has been done efficiently and on time every session except 1.
My body feels fine after feeling quite heated at the beginnings no of the week.
Just crossing off each session everyday and now looking forward to the weekend with no treatment
X
Have a good rest over the weekend Annie x
Keep drinking and slapping on the moisturiser and you’ll bake well.
Good luck going in to next week.
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I am going for my last session this morning- in some ways it’s passed quickly and in other ways it’s been all summer long. I suppose due to summer I have never had the same people, I have had one or 2 of them a couple of times but haven’t built up a relationship with any,it’s a process I have to go through. They are all v pleasant.
I haven’t had any side effects- so far but have read on here that they may come after treatment. I met R2D2 at the hospital yesterday- a highlight of my sessions!!
Good luck everyone xx
Well done Annieapple, you got there !!
Feel proud of yourself, you deserve to…
Wow, R2D2 ??
Thistle x
Well done I will be joining you tomorrow just this afternoon and tommorow to go xx
Great to hear you have finished rads Annie xxxxxx take it easy for the next few weeks and keep going with the moisturiser.
And good luck tomorrow Mcnulcc. Onwards and upwards xx
I wanted to get rid of my marker tats but now look upon them as markers of significant events in my life. Even my best friends think that the end of sessions is an end of ‘it’. -to me Just a next step.
Im sure I will stop thinking of cancer as much as I do now, I need time to heal emotionally- any tips?
X
Im trying to find tips myself!
Right now I too feel like that because my active treatment is finished its kind of thought that thats it and life goes back to normal.
But I still don’t think that I’ve fully grasped whats happened.
Although I finished rads 6 weeks ago I actually look back and feel like the whole thing was an out of body experience.
Silly old brain.