Radiation Begins

I started radiation on Tuesday, June 6. I will do 30 total treatments. They are every week day until completed. So, as I type this I have four down, 26 to go. Factoring in the 4th of July holiday, I'll be done July 18.

So far, so good with radiation. It is pretty quick--I usually do it over my lunch hour. I can make it there and back in less than an hour. It doesn't hurt when they do it and, so far, the only side effects I've had was that my skin got a little pink. Based on everything I've read, it usually takes a week or so to start having side effects. The main side effects are fatigue and burned skin that will some times blister.

The doctors instructed me to use Miaderm cream so I put it on in the morning, right after the procedure and in the evening. I'm hopeful that this will help. I do have rather sensitive skin.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good. I'm back at work full time and back to the gym. I can't do everything that I used to be able to do but I can get in a good workout nonetheless.

My hair is coming back. In a few weeks, I hope to look like one of those edgy hipsters with the cropped hair. My nails are growing out a bit now so I'm hopeful that I won't actually lose any nails. The worst holdover from chemo is that I have a bit or neuropathy in my fingers. I'm hoping that will go away.

I'm ready for week 2 of radiation!

Pump Up the Jam!

Following my mastectomy surgery, I had a drain in that collected the excess fluid caused by the removal of all that tissue and skin. My dear mother and saintly husband had to pour the contents of my drain into a measuring cup and record how much fluid I was draining in a 24 hour period. Truly sexy time.

When my fluid output was low enough, the drain was removed. Most of that area was numb after surgery so pulling that tube that you see out of a little hole in my skin was not bad. Thereafter I visited my plastic surgeon twice per week to have my dressings changed. And after I'd healed enough, the tissue expansion process started.

A Tissue expander -- filled

B Port

C Catheter

D Syringe

E Ribs

F Pectoralis major muscle

G Other muscles of the chest wall

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/reconstruction/types/implants/what-to-expect

Once per week, I went to the plastic surgeon's office and got pumped up. The first few were not bad. I just took some Valium after the procedure and I was fine. The fourth one did not go so well. It was a little painful when my doctor put in the last 20 ccs but not too bad. I drove home and ate dinner. About an hour after the procedure, the intense pain started. It ached and was accompanied by shooting pains near my armpit. I took Valium. It didn't help. I took Percocet. It hardly helped. I tried stretching based on some diagrams I found on the internet. Nothing helped. I tried to sleep but other than some restless stretches, I was in too much pain. This was worse than the mastectomy!

I had promised to speak on one of our regional underwriting calls at 8:30 am and I had a continuing legal education class that I had registered for at 10 am. (I have to report my credits this year to keep my law license so I didn't want to miss the class with my May 31 deadline looming.) So, in the morning I showered and threw some clothes on and drove to work. I could barely get the car in reverse. Stupid me and my insistence on a manual transmission. I got through my call and CLE and then I called my doctor's office. My surgeon was in surgery but they wanted me to come in so someone could look at my breast. 

The nurses that I saw insisted that the pain was normal. I kept repeating that I understood some pain was normal but that this was not normal. I said that I had a high pain tolerance. I do CrossFit for fun! I'm not a typical OC housewife. Hello. Finally one of the other plastic surgeons came to my room. He simply said that there was no reason that I needed to be in that kind of pain and that he'd take some of the liquid out. Instant relief! After that, my doctor put much less liquid in per fill and I took Valium and ibuprofen BEFORE my appointments. This meant that Seth had to drive me. Thanks again, Seth. I wrapped up the fills on May 25. I played Pump Up the Jam during the procedure to celebrate. To my delight, my plastic surgeon knew all the words. The expander sits pretty high on my chest and it is rock solid. My real breast droops. They are an odd pair. 

On May 26, I saw my radiation oncologist to get ready for radiation. I will do six weeks of radiation (30 total treatments). The targeted areas are my chest wall, underarm lymph nodes and neck lymph nodes all on my right side. The marks you see in the above picture are markings to line me up to receive radiation. It is a permanent marker covered by clear "stickers". It's not entirely clear to me whether they will place small tattoos on me to line me up in the future or if I will have these stickers for six weeks. I have my simulation on June 5 and then begin the regular treatments that will take place every week day. I should be done by about July 17. Radiation is supposed to get any cancer cells that were not killed by the chemo or removed during surgery. I'm going to operate under the premise that they already got all the cancer. This is just a cautionary measure.

I'm back to CrossFit and a normal work schedule (except I have lots of doctor appointments). I'm seeing a physical therapist to get my range of motion back in my right arm and to help me prevent lymphedema. 

I was so very happy to be able to do the CrossFit hero WOD, "Murph" on Memorial Day. One mile run, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 air squats, one mile run. I had to do ring rows instead of pull-ups and box push-ups instead of real ones but I legit did the air squats and running. To me, patriotism is a deeply personal thing that cannot be measured by the size of the American flag one posts on FaceBook. It is important to me to do this workout in honor of our fallen soldiers.

I know my last post seemed a bit morbid but that was an honest post; that was how I felt on those days after surgery. Cancer is hard. Everyone says to stay positive. I'm successfully positive about 90% of the time but that other 10%, when you think about your own mortality, can be pretty dark. Sometimes it's hard to pull yourself out of the darkness. It's little things, like doing Murph, that help keep me in the positive zone. Ever onward!