Forum Discussion
Massage
My daughter gave me a voucher for a massage for Mother's Day. I have had 24 weeks of chemo, lumpectomy and axillary clearance on left breast and am two weeks into four weeks of radiation. My body hurts from being poked, prodded, port-a-cathed, stuck with needles, drugged, scanned, x-rayed, echoed, biopsied, hook-wired, cut, stitched, and now burnt. My shoulders ache, my lower back is tired and sore, I get puffy easily, and have not done a lot of physical exertion since treatment started. In short, I'm tired and sore!
So, I thought the massage would be lovely! Alas the "therapist" thought otherwise, and took an obvious step back when I told her about the radiation treatment, even though I assured her I wasn't glowing. She said she didn't want to "move anything around". She contacted a colleague (who advertises herself as oncology massage therapist) who advised her not to massage me, and to tell me I can't have a massage till the same amount of radiation treatment time as passed. E.g: four weeks of treatment plus another four weeks to wait.
So I left there with my tired sore body and unused gift voucher which I returned to my daughter.
Has anyone else had similar experiences, or has anyone had (god forbid) a massage??
Signed:
Tired, sore and fed-up! :(
So, I thought the massage would be lovely! Alas the "therapist" thought otherwise, and took an obvious step back when I told her about the radiation treatment, even though I assured her I wasn't glowing. She said she didn't want to "move anything around". She contacted a colleague (who advertises herself as oncology massage therapist) who advised her not to massage me, and to tell me I can't have a massage till the same amount of radiation treatment time as passed. E.g: four weeks of treatment plus another four weeks to wait.
So I left there with my tired sore body and unused gift voucher which I returned to my daughter.
Has anyone else had similar experiences, or has anyone had (god forbid) a massage??
Signed:
Tired, sore and fed-up! :(
15 Replies
- So, as a follow-on from the above topic, I saw the radiation oncologist today. He advised me to go ahead with a massage as long as I didn't have my breast "massaged", smiling as he said this and telling me this is an old radiologist's joke! He said there was no reason to not have any therapies as long as the therapist didn't touch the treatment area, it was fine. :D
So now I don't feel so bad at all. :) - I attended a "Living with Cancer" session shortly after I was diagnosed where the advice was to only go to an oncology massage therapist.
- Bundaberg, like where I live in Victoria, should not be in the treatment desert. It's really annoying to read about the options others can access and have no local options. You,like me, are not exactly in the sticks. Grr.
- Hi @Teejay
thanx I will be interested to follow up with you. - Hi @SoldierCrab
I am in Bundaberg, but will definitely follow up with the leads you found for Toowoomba when I get back home. Thanx for your help. - No! Not a thousand hugs! @Bravo, I'm one of the least cuddlable people on the planet. Friends I've had for decades still think it's hilarious to sneak up behind me, wrap their arms around me then run like buggery, laughing like hyenas. Come to think of it, maybe they deserve to glow in the dark...
Thanks Zoffiel. I love the idea of one of us getting thousands of hugs. Lucky woman!Zoffiel said:Bollux! If your skin isn't broken and they leave the actual treament area alone there is no reason for them to refuse that I have heard of.
' Move anything around' FFS! It's bad enough to feel like you've been dragged backward down the stairs without someone treating you like a leper. Does she think you are radioactive enough to contaminate her? The numpty. If that were the case there would be thousands of people wandering around glowing mysteriously because they'd hugged one of us.
Get her to refund the money and go somewhere else.- LadyLace ask at the Centre tomorrow for recommendations for a massage for relaxation explain to the BCN about it
you are not sooking you are tired and sore that is part of this bloody roller coaster ride.... - I have an oncologist massage therapist. She has to be careful just after chemo but I certainly find it helpful. Sorry I haven't made is to radiation therapy yet but next time I see her I will ask her thoughts
- HaHa @SoldierCrab love your comeback !!
How I would love to have someone touch me who wasn't there to inflict some sort of invasive procedure. I live in rural Qld and there are no services at all. I am in a bigger Centre for radiation, but will only be here for two more weeks. At home there isn't even a physiotherapist who has training/knowledge re breast Ca. The local Breast Care nurse has recommended I travel (again) for any type of therapy, which I am happy to do (again), but am getting so tired at this point in my treatment. Winge winge, me, me, me... sook, sook!! Sucking it up, and adjusting my big girl pants, pushing forward (again) :smiley:
