Hi miscally I didnt feel anything when they did the tattoos must have been lucky, I hope your treatment goes well, we are having it at the same time will be interesting to compare notes as we go,all the best,
Celia,x
Hi celia and everyone ive had 13 Rads and had my booster planning this am didnt have anymore tatoos but had a green square penned all over my boob and a tracing on acetate incase it rubs off with cream and a photo of markings taken ( i was doing my Cheryl cole pose with 1 arm above head,hope im not in page 3 tomorrow ha ha )ive got 7 more to go and then fifnished x ps i finishe the day you start yours Good luck x ive only used aqueous cream and skin up to now fine
Im going 4 my planning tommorow having scan and tattos bit nervous sure ill be ok have to have 15 sessions how long after planning do you start im at clatterbridge
Hi Elaine I am starting mine on the 2nd November which is a fortnight after the planning ( this morning) I was nervous as well but honestly there is nothing to worry about the scan is very quick and I never felt the tatoos,and the whole thing only took about 30mins, hope all goes well for you let us know how you get on,
love Celia.x
Hi,
Everyone’s radiotherapy plan is different but mine was 15 rads and only 10 seconds each side. Wasn’t given any creams.
Finished yesterday but feeling very strange now, no rads, no appointments until mid January, it’s weird!
I wish someone could tell me now that it’s all gone but I know the radiotherapy continues working for weeks/months so I will just have to grin and bear it. January seems ages away. After being through so much in the past 6 months and everyone being so kind, it seems like I am very much on my own to get on with it now.
Has anyone else felt the same?
Lorraine xxx
im the same Lorraine i finish mine on thursday and although ive wished for this day im beginning to think right thats it go away and get on with it, and after going everyday for 4 weeks im kinda wierdly going miss my daily natter to all the lovely people ive met there we’ve become a little support group for each other xx take care Julie
Hi curlylol
Congrats on finishing your treatment! But isn’t it strange when you just wander out of the hospital after the last one? I really think someone should organise a certificate or a bunch of flowers or something for when you finish! It feels like such an anticlimax. It’s a bit like reaching the end of your exams, you expect to feel elated that it’s all over and want to go out and party, but you’ve been focussed on the exams (or treatment) for so long that you can’t just switch off.
Sarah x
Hi, thanks so much for your posts Julie and Sarah, I am so pleased it isn’t just me feeling sorry for myself/being self-indulgent.
This is a really weird “no-mans land”, I am still “cooking” but no more hospital trips/people to talk to/swap notes with. I too got friendly with several ladies, who were all so inspiring, it really is like a little support group.
Keep in touch girlies and we have all been through so much, it’s not surprising, I suppose, that we all feel a bit “lost” when the rads finish. My next appointment seems ages away, I think I may go mad between now and then, I just want to know whether it’s all gone but I know I have to wait and try and be patient! We have booked our family trip of a lifetime to Sydney to see our rellies, go next Sunday, can’t wait (hoping the hot boob settles down in time for the flight), then it will be Christmas preparations so January will be here before I know it. When are your follow-up appointments?
Keep posting girls and take care of yourselves, we are all troupers
Lorraine x
Hi Lorraine
Know what you mean about the still cooking as well. My boob continued to get more tanned for several weeks and my first experience of cording occurred only yesterday. Fought it off with exercise and massage but it made me feel huge sympathy for those poor souls who get cording badly, it must be soooo painful, going by what I felt with only one little bit.
My follow up appointment with the onc is in Feb, 6 months after the end of rads. But I’ll be seeing plenty of my breast consultant before then since I’m having my other boob reduced and lifted to match the BC one on 26th Oct - this Tuesday. I wanted to get it over and done with before returning to work so I was extremely persistent in requesting the operation ASAP and eventually they gave in just to shut me up! They’d originally said I had to wait 3 or 4 months after rads.
Sarah x
Hi Sarah, only just seen your post as haven’t logged in for a few days (feeling bit under the weather), hope it went well today and good for you persisting with your request - girl power!
Will be off-line for a few weeks so take care brave girls, be thinking of you all
Lorraine x
Hi Lorraine
Hope you’re now feeling better and enjoyed whatever trip you’ve been away on, sounds like you deserved a break.
Could be a case of I should have been careful what I wished for! Had my op on the other boob on 26th Oct, seemed to go OK then within hours it all started swelling up madly with a haematoma, so later the same day (midnight!) had another operation to sort that out. Still a bit swollen and very sore, lasting longer than the BC side did. BUT I now have a (nearly) matching pair, I’m happier and more confident, and I’m already wearing clothes that I hadn’t touched for months because I was too self-conscious of the mis-match. I was so unhappy with a D cup on one side and an A on the other. So the pain etc will have been worth it!
Sarah x
Hi all,
Sue 1/2 way through chemo now all the fec ‘done’ just wondering about the follow up rads early in new year. (Christie’s again :/)
Sue will be having chest wall and full axilla even though had a level 3 clearance after mastectomy, i know everyone’s treatment is different but does anyone know if having the ‘Full Axilla’ done as well means possibly more or extra visits than the ‘standardish’ 15 rad blasts, does it take much longer than the ‘standard’ chest area and is it done on/in a different machine?
Also will they be able to use the ‘CT’ scans they did a couple of months ago at a different hospital or will they also have to redo they’re own? Sue is totally fed up of being rolled in and out of scanning machines :(.
Hi there ive just finished 20 rads but the extra 5 were boosters to the actual lumpectomy cavity only. I had chest and axilla and full breast area but it just entailed the machine moving round me to a different angle to treat the other area ( not more sessions)They may send your ct results over to the other hospital if its already been done but you might have to have extra planning if it didnt include all the areas to be treated.hope this helps Julie,PS it was all done quite quick i was only on the table about 5 mins i spent more time travelling there x Julie
Hi Sarah
Just back from trip of a lifetime to Sydney to visit sister and brother in law, had a great trip but absolutely exhausted as it was too close to rads finishing really, struggling with the jet lag (hence the reason for being on forum in early hours of the morning). The flight was very long and boob reacted with the cabin pressure. Had to be extremely careful with the sun as I did have a bit of a reaction, even though the sun was only out a few days but is very powerful when it is out and goes through your clothes. Wouldn’t recommend a long flight after rads or sun exposure (even though I used factor 50 and covered up, or so I thought!). Was told not to swim and glad I didn’t as boob still “cooking”. The surface of my nipple has peeled and split so am still applying aqueous and aloe vera when it gets hot. Not sure how much longer this will go on for - next rads app. not till mid January so will have to wait and see.
Sounds like you have had a terrible experience with your surgery but you were right to persevere with it as it needed to be done and will be worth it in the end. I do hope you are recovering well and resting as much as you can.
Hope the rest of you are doing ok too
Lorraine x
Hi Lorraine
Sounds like you had a great holiday, despite the rads and everything else. A useful warning about going out in the sun, we’re thinking of a winter sun holiday once I’ve recovered enough from the last operation. You said you were still cooking, is that still increasing after finishing rads? I think you finished rads about 3 weeks after I did (I finished 27th Sept) and for the last couple of weeks I’ve found it’s all settling down. The tanned square patch is fading, the stiffness is easing, although I still need to exercise several times a day to get rid of it, my nipple has just about stopped peeling and it’s all back to a normal temperature. So hang in there, it should be a lot more comfortable soon!
Sarah x
Hi Sarah
I finished rads about 4 weeks ago and am still tired and emotionally exhausted but glad I went on the trip, even though it was a very long way and busy. I think 2 weeks on a sunbed in the shade (maybe Tenerife), would be ideal. My nipple is peeling again (third time) and my joints are very sore indeed but that may just be a coincidence as it has turned very cold and I get osteoarthritis.
When I get up in the morning my boob is painful and am getting quite a few “electric shock” type pains, not sure how long that lasts, was told 2-3 weeks but I suppose everyone is different.
Thanks for sharing your experience, by BCC nurse isn’t very forthcoming and, to be honest, she hasn’t been through it so what was she know! You girls are a mine of information, keep posting!
(I sound a bit like Bruce and Tess!)
Lorraine xxx
I just read through this thread as waiting for daye for rads to start. Did any of you find a source of the Pommade au Calendula par Digestion calendula extract ointment online or did you use a different calendula cream? I have sensitive skin, get eczema and peel/go red if someone even says the word sun. So feel that doesn’t bode well for the rads!
Hi Gwendolyn
I too have sensitive skin, with eczema and I sunburn easily, but didn’t get anything more than a good tan from the rads, so it doesn’t seem to follow any logical pattern. I just used aqueous cream very frequently and that felt nice and soothing. It’s also worth starting to use it for several days before you start rads so that you start out with well moisturised skin (a tip I got from here!)
Sarah x
Hi Gwendolyn
I tried the Calendula from Boots (homeopathic remedy) but it was far too perfumed. I stuck with aqueous cream mornings and evenings (superdrug £2.99) and Holland and Barrett 99% Aloe Vera Gel after the rads treatment and anytime during the day it got a bit hot!
My nipple has peeled a few times since finishing rads so I have used E45. They have all been a big help.
I have also found Tesco’s sports bras the best and put a cotton hanky underneath my boob to stop it rubbing too much. After rads I went home without a bra, very liberating and in bed I am wearing a secret support top now but during treatment wore a cotton sleep type bra from Asda.
I hope it all goes well for you, it really isn’t as bad as you may think, the journey is the worst and you get tired as the treatment goes on, but the radiotherapists are all so kind and lovely, you almost miss them when you are finished!
Keep us posted
Lorraine x
Lorraine xxx
Hi, ladies! I would like to know something about BC treatment with radiotheraphy. I had BC and mastectomy on 23 of august. Now I doing chemotheraphy and after will be radiation, but doctors can not to decide for this (one doctor sed -I must do radiation,other one sed - I can to get by radiation.) My lump was 2 cm and metas were in 2 lymphatic nodes (2/11). Anybody had radiation on the same stage? Thanks for reply.