Hi Ladies
Start my rad on Tuesday 10th. I am just reading some of your comments about the things you have been told not to use i.e Shower Gels and Deodrants. I havnt been told any of this and wonder if it is the norm, as i live in Spain i wonder whether they dont follow the same practice as they do in England.
Does anyone no if you can swim while having rads or is the chlorine bad for the skin. That will be such a bummer as we have just moved to a place with a pool as my OH thought it would be good for me.
Am having 20 doses and have to be at the hospital at 9.30 every day, already starting to panick about how im going to get the kids to school every day as the hospital is an hours drive from where i live and school is a 20 minute drive in the opposite direction!!!
Lynne x
Hi Lynne
I have just been for my planning session
I have been advised not to go swimming because chlorine dried the skin which would be bad, you may burn and therefore you will need to keep the skin dry.
I have been told to use plenty of acqueous cream throughout rads to keep the skin moisturised
Dont use any perfumed sops just use the simple body wash stuff
Dont imerse in the bath have showers
Pat dry yourself and do not rub dry
do not wear tight futting bras, it is best to wear cotton crop tops or vests, if you do have to wear a bra then put a clean cotton handkerchief inside your bra and keep the elastic off your skin
I would ask if you could change your appts and explain why hopefully they will be helpful, its stressful enough going through this without all the other worries
hope this helps
best wishes
Linda
I was initially told by my onc not to swim until after rads (I was told this right at the start of chemo). However, when I turned up for my first rad appointment & mentioned this to the nurses, as I was desperate to get back into the pool after six months away with chemo, they told me it was OK to swim until my skin started to get sore. They thought I would be OK to swim for the first couple of weeks. As it turned out my skin never got sore so I swam all through rads. I made a point of washing the chlorine off as soon as I got out of the pool, and never had any problems.
I used 99.9% aloe vera gel throughout rads, instead of aqueous cream. I don’t know if this accounted for me not having sore skin. If you use aloe vera, it is important that you use at least 99%, as any less will have impurities in that could irritate your skin.
Hi Lynne
I finished rads 3 weeks ago. If you just think of your skin and how you would treat it if it were sunburnt, you will be on the right lines. Perfumed soaps will irritate delicate skin, so will vigourous drying with a towel and soaking in a hot bath or having the shower too hot. Deodorant and shaving underarms will also irritate. What the radiographres don’t want to happen is your skin to start blistering as you may have to postpone rads. If you are careful, this shouldn’t happen. I used Boots own aqueous cream which was a lot cheaper than E45, no deodorant, no shaving and Simple shower gel (Tesco’s own version which is 99p and I like so much I have carried on with it). Not sure about the swimming, but would guess like RoadRunners said, should be ok if you rinse off well after swimming. You will soon know as the skin will tingle if you irritate it.
Just going to add that I wish you luck with your sessions. I hope you sort out something with the children as you dont want to be racing around. Would the hospital not let you come in a bit later?
Cathy
x