My Cancer Journey

I received radiation treatments Monday through Friday for four weeks. The first one was on Wednesday, March 20. After the second treatment on Thursday, my skin felt like I had a bad sunburn. It happened faster than I had thought it would, and I was concerned.    My skin had gotten drier with age, and even more so because of the chemotherapy. The days before radiation I had been rushed and not put lotion on. I asked the radiation oncologist if that could be the reason for my skin to burn so quickly, and he said that was very likely. So, if you need radiation, make sure your skin is not too dry, but do not have lotion on the affected area when going in for treatment.   After applying lotion on the area, it felt better. I got into a routine -  When I got up in the morning, I slathered lotion on the area that would be treated. Before leaving for the hospital, I showered to make sure all the lotion was gone from my breast and armpit. When I got to the hospital at 1:15pm, ...

On Thursday, February 22, I had a consultation with the radiation oncologist to discuss what to expect for the radiation treatments. Then Thursday, March 7, I went for radiation set-up. This was done in a different room from where the actual radiation is done. There they made sure I was positioned correctly on the couch (the hard table you lie on during the treatments) so that the treatments would work on the correct area each time. The technicians do this by creating a personal “pillow” for you to keep you from moving your upper body during the treatments. During this appointment they created a mold for this headrest.   They were able to make it a little elevated, and I was also allowed to keep my head sideways, so my vertigo would not get triggered. It helped, and I did not have any vertigo attacks during any of the treatments.   One technician tattooed three small dots on my midsection - one on my left side, one on the right, and one halfway between the two. They were posit...

Friday, February 9, the surgeon placed a magseed next to the largest tumor. It is helpful for tumors like mine, that you cannot feel when palpating the breast. It is 5mm (less than .2 inches) and made of surgical grade stainless steel. The doctor places it with a needle after he numbs the area where he will insert the needle. When it is time for the lumpectomy, the surgeon then uses a special probe that makes different sounds depending on how close the surgeon is to the magseed. He uses this together with a sonogram machine to make sure he can also see where the tumor is.   Wednesday, February 14, I was not allowed to eat any solid foods after 9:30pm as I was going to be completely under for this surgery. No liquids after 7:30am on Thursday. I had to be at the hospital two hours prior to the surgery. Sitting around doing nothing is not easy for me, but Craig was there to entertain me :)   The nurse was able to access my port so that I did not need a needle in my arm when they ...

Friday, February 2, I had a pre surgery check to make sure I was healthy enough for the upcoming surgery. They take your vitals and blood. The port-a-cath is very convenient in that the person drawing your blood does not need to find a good vein. That day I found out that phlebotomists are not trained to access a vein through a port, so she needed to draw my blood through a vein in my arm. All the tests looked good, so I got the okay for the lumpectomy (partial mastectomy).   The following day I was able to start using adult toothpaste. My mouth was no longer sensitive! More news - I was excited to have hair growing on my head again, but that was not the only place it had started growing. There was still no hair on my legs or armpits. That was fantastic! However, a few hairs that had been growing in a couple of moles on my face were back. Even though I had the moles removed many years ago :( I would have preferred my eyelashes and brows were back instead :/   Thursday, Februar...

On Thursday, January 10, I had two tests, an echocardiogram to make sure my heart had not been affected adversely by the Herceptin, and an MRI to see how well the tumors had reacted to the chemotherapy.    My heart looked good. It did not seem it was affected at all. Great news! I was, however, concerned about the MRI. The contrast (color) they put into my system to get a better picture, made me nauseous last time. Not to the point where I vomited, but I did not want to take a chance that would happen.    First, I thought to put Vick’s Mentholatum in my nostrils as the nausea was brought on by a chemical “smell,” but the smell did not enter through the nose, but from inside my body. Therefore, I did not think it would be possible to block the smell. Instead, I brought one of my anti-nausea pills, the sublingual (melt-in-your-mouth) Zofran. I took that right before the MRI and it worked great. No nausea!   The other concern was that the tumors had not shrunk enou...

I brought my list of side effects when I saw the doctor the week after my first infusion on September 22. That was very helpful as now we had a better idea of what my particular side effects looked like. For example, where some get diarrhea, I was constipated, so needed different treatment. It took a while to figure things out, but this is what worked for me -  Chemo belly (bloated and gassy) -  Every morning with my supplements - the maximum amount of stool softeners With each meal - TUMS (I used Equate brand Antacid Chews) and Gas-X (I used Equate brand Gas Relief) Heartburn / GERD -  With lunch and after dinner / before bedtime - Acid Controller Constipation -  Every morning - MiraLax (I used Equate brand ClearLax) in 6-8 ounces of pineapple juice as it tastes better than putting it in water, and pineapple juice is also helpful for constipation Drink as much water as my body could handle. This also helps flush the chemo drugs out of your system more quickly s...