Radiation - my experience
Hi Everyone, I finished 25 sessions of radiation on the 3rd Jan 2019 and thought I would write about my experience of the whole process. It will be a long post, so get a cup of tea ready :) ...
Forum Discussion
@LittleBlueWren, I love your name , are you a bird lover?
I was given a small blue blanket with my gown in a bag which I brought in each day to the clinic. I would change, put my clothes in the bag, pop on my gown and have the blanket on top of the bag for the technicians to put over me when they left the room.
It all worked very well and the male technicians were very good, always covering me after they had joined the dots and got me into the correct position on the table. Music was on in the room and the ceiling had a huge photo of trees and sky. I also wore the goggles as I had to do the deep breath hold when zapped.
My upsets were with the oncologist who other than prescribing the radiation seemed very remote and appointments with him were at record making speed. I did not warm to him at all and he was very off hand. My burns were severe and the thought of more days of radiation really did panic me and this is when I had a little meltdown. I truly thought my nipple was going to slough off, but using the mountain lion analogy my mountain lion had three legs and I was told I should be glad enough to still have a nipple (grrrrr).
The nurses were fantastic. Very kind, supportive and understanding. I burnt severely. Apparently I was told the more sun you've had in the past the more you tend to burn and I certainly had my share of sun from living in Queensland in the 70's using Coppertone to achieve that perfect tan (oh dear).
With the money side, we have no private health insurance as we are now retired . We had been fully insured all our lives until 5 years ago. I went as a public patient. My care was excellent, couldn't fault it and we were not out of pocket.
Wishing you all the best as you start on your tamoxifen. It is a strange time once you finish treatment. All of a sudden the treatment is over and you're left wondering what the hell was all that about. I'm still dazed and getting my breath back lol. Xxxx
I was given a small blue blanket with my gown in a bag which I brought in each day to the clinic. I would change, put my clothes in the bag, pop on my gown and have the blanket on top of the bag for the technicians to put over me when they left the room.
It all worked very well and the male technicians were very good, always covering me after they had joined the dots and got me into the correct position on the table. Music was on in the room and the ceiling had a huge photo of trees and sky. I also wore the goggles as I had to do the deep breath hold when zapped.
My upsets were with the oncologist who other than prescribing the radiation seemed very remote and appointments with him were at record making speed. I did not warm to him at all and he was very off hand. My burns were severe and the thought of more days of radiation really did panic me and this is when I had a little meltdown. I truly thought my nipple was going to slough off, but using the mountain lion analogy my mountain lion had three legs and I was told I should be glad enough to still have a nipple (grrrrr).
The nurses were fantastic. Very kind, supportive and understanding. I burnt severely. Apparently I was told the more sun you've had in the past the more you tend to burn and I certainly had my share of sun from living in Queensland in the 70's using Coppertone to achieve that perfect tan (oh dear).
With the money side, we have no private health insurance as we are now retired . We had been fully insured all our lives until 5 years ago. I went as a public patient. My care was excellent, couldn't fault it and we were not out of pocket.
Wishing you all the best as you start on your tamoxifen. It is a strange time once you finish treatment. All of a sudden the treatment is over and you're left wondering what the hell was all that about. I'm still dazed and getting my breath back lol. Xxxx