Radiation after lumpectomy

My goodness @Anne65 You must be finished or almost finished the rads.  Sorry, time lost on chemo, never recovered.  How is it all going?

@arpie I absolutely resonate with that experience. A dear relative gave me an angel when I was first diagnosed and I wore it on the left side (bc left) as I needed everything I could to help me then.  However, since then I’ve ‘lost’ it a couple of times for a month or more at a time and I search everywhere and ironically I was going out to cancer support sisters meeting this morning and again it was gone.  It’s very emotional each time I ‘lose’ her but today I realised that maybe SHE was hiding to see how well I’d cope on my “own”. I usually believe that we are in the right place at the right time and the universe is trying to support us the best way possible. 
I loved the words of your uk friend and also know that the person who gave me the angel is still there, whilst the physical angel isn’t, everything she stands for is!  I’m safe. I have people who love me, support me and want me healthy and cancer free. 
Maybe the angel, like friends are in our lives at a time, for a time for a reason. Maybe ur friend may get you a soldier brooch as the angel has done her job looking out for you to ensure you got onto the cancer. I don’t know. But I do like to think our angels (spiritual) are all around us all the time and that Them or Mother Nature or the Universe is looking after us. And then I let go and trust I am in good hands spiritually and look after my physical self by putting in good fuel into my body, running my engine regularly to keep it running and leave the rest to the Higher Power whatever that is. 
When I remember to, this is what I practise but it’s hard to remember to do this all the time. I visualise me being miniature and floating down a rippling brook on a leaf, looking at the sky and trusting me Higher Power will guide me where I need to be. 
Sorry if that’s been an airy-fairy rave on but it’s worked well for me in the past.  Each person has a different journey and maybe I’m a bit “off with the fairies”. And that’s ok. 
Hugs to you. Hope you feel better SOON. Xxx 

OK. I had my first rads yesterday and have been given A swipe card to announce my arrival ..... everything went swimmingly! Such lovely people looking after us.

That evening, I attended that local uke group and had a heap of fun, until the last 5 mins when i saw my broken silver chain on the floor and couldn’t find my Guardian Angel pendant that a dear friend (5 years clear of BC) had given me to wear just last week.  :(

Then the wheels fell off!  Maybe it has opened the flood gates of all my ‘hidden emotions’ of the last 6-8 weeks ...... grieving not only the lost pendant but everything else as well!

A number of the uke group searched everywhere in the room, all around and inside my campervan, in my shoulder bag, in my clothes .... it is nowhere to be found.  It wasn’t back at the lodge, it wasn’t where I purchased our meal last night.....

I’ve just finished today’s treatment (blabbing my way thru it) and am about to ‘walk over’ all the areas I walked along yesterday afternoon, in case the pendant fell off there and the chain only fell off later.  Realistically, I realise I am highly unlikely to find it again.

As My uke friend said to me in an email afterwards ...... Whoever gave you the amulet also gave you their love and strength, and even though the physical object may not be with you, the blessings of the giver are still with you..... 

Such beautiful words - it has set me off crying yet again just copying them here.  :( 

Hopefully I will feel ‘better’ tomorrow .... cos I fear today is a total write-off!  :( 

all my thoughts go out to to everyone else doing it ‘tough’ during their treatment or after it xxx

WOW!  @Anne65. Calvery sounds just AMAZING!!  I am not sure we’ll have quite so much comfort at Port, I’ll find out soon.

One of my uke friends gave me a little bag of goodies .... a puzzle book, a Di Morrissey book and a body lotion ‘treat pack’ to take away with me to keep me busy in my ‘down time’.  

Interestingly, my uke group (hopefully with me leading them if I feel OK) will be playing at the Relay for Life fund raiser here in late March!!  My sister and her hubby (both uke players) will be coming down from Qld to stay over Easter at the end Of my treatment ..... so hope I don’t  feel too ‘off’.  She has said she’ll take over the cooking!!

Yes, I’ll take my uke to the uke group .... but fear I won’t know the songs .... I am stuck in a 40s-90s time warp. LOL

that is terrific that your husband will be down staying with you next week. Xx

You’ll have lots of backup from your ‘family medicos’ too - who will fully understand what you are going thru.

Thank you for your support of me and @Sister as we go thru our own treatment .... we really apprciate it xx

just keep ticking off those days!! Thinking of you xx

GO GIRLS!   I had 30 treatments last year and here to talk about it. Its not the greatest thing in the world but can prevent the worst things we've had to deal with coming back..  So very necessary.   Ive asked the angels of strength, courage and love to support us all through every stage of our journey through breast cancer.  We all walk (sometimes crawl) the same path but the distances, levels, pot-holes, fallen trees etc along the way vary.  But we all have the common goal in sight.   May we keep sight focused on the end of the journey - being a survivor - and may our angels assist us along the way when the road becomes hard or impassable.  

@Sister @arpie Thought I'd post you both a quickie before I start packing up to go off for my second week! Thanks to you both for your thoughts. It really helps having a group of wonderful ladies to help us all through this. Even though we are all going down different paths & treatments, we are all joined by a common denominator & are here for each other! @Sister I am having my treatment at Adelaide Radiotherapy Centre which has 4 locations & I am doing it at the Calvary Central District Hospital at Elizabeth Vale. Great new facility with heaps of parking. I have a swipe card that I swipe as i enter the building & that alerts the staff that I have arrived. I then go to my pigeon hole out the back & get my gown & hospital bag, then get changed & then use my swipe card to go to a private waiting room with tea, coffee, fruit, TV & lots of comfy couches & mags/newspapers to read. It even has an outside area to sit in if you wish. Any family/friends that come with you can sit in there too & then the girls come & get me when they are ready for me. After it is finished, I get changed & then leave my gown & bag back in my pigeon hole ready for the next day. My rad onc is Dr Borg but as he doesn't visit that facility very often, he has referred me to see Dr Tran for my weekly reviews.  @arpie I'm sure the lodge you are staying at will make life a lot easier for you. It will be a home away from home & having your hubby with you will be great. My sister & family are looking after me so well & spoiling me as my hubby has had to stay home & keep working as his is the only income coming in while I am going through this as I am only a casual worker.I reckon he is coming to Adelaide next week for a course so he will stay with me at my sister's which will be great. make the use of having the cafeteria nearby for meals as it will make it easier for you. I am getting a bit tired & probably the travelling isn't helping that either. We have been making meals & freezing them so when I come home, it is one less job to do if i am tired. Great that you have a group at Pt Macquarie ready to see. I was going to checkout a group while i was in Adelaide but my breast care nurse thought I would be fine with the support of my family & friends in Adelaide & it would be one less thing to worry about travelling to as i seem to have enough appts at the moment. A lot of my family are in the medical field - physio, nursing, exercise physiologist & i even have a rad therapist in my extended family who i am having coffee with on Thursday so i have a good support network. Take your uke to the meeting & you can play a tune a cheer up everyone!! Good luck for Wednesday as you begin. I am 3 down & 13 to go & you will be counting down soon as well.    I'll be thinking of you both & wishing you love & courage as you both deal with your treatments this week. We are all too nice to have to be going through this but we will get through together. Hugs to you both & I'll catch up when I am home next xxxx

@Anne65  Wow!  What a lot of stuff you are going thru ..... especially the holding breath stuff & making sure the Mepitel is all positioned OK etc.  Good that it is protecting your skin!

It is fine to be overwhelmed now & then .... this is pretty serious stuff going on!  :(  Take each day as it comes - tick them off - and pretty soon, it will be the last day.

Yes, being at the Lodge will make it much easier for us - tho we plan on going home for weekends.  We may even go to the Hospital Cafeteria for our evening meal ... which takes the pressure off me having to cook!!  

Yes, the uke will be going up with me & I've made touch with the lady running the group in Port Macquarie!  Her husband is one of the Rad Oncs!!  (But not the one I am seeing!) 

Thank you for your thoughts & prayers .... we'll get thru this together!   ;)  

BIG hugs to you & we'll catch up next time you are home!  xx

Great to hear from you @Anne65!  And good to know that things are going well even if you're feeling tired.  You've probably said, but where are you having the treatment?

@Sister @arpie Thank you both for your thoughts & kind messages. I am home for the weekend & will head back again in the morning. I have had 3 zaps now & going OK. Got a bit teary & overwhelmed on day 2 as I came to realise that this place will be my home for the next 4 weeks & I already know my way around the hospital & all the staff names. They are wonderful & can't do enough for you. Every treatment I have to do the 30 second breath hold & have to do it for every zap which is around 6-8 times each treatment so it is very exhausting & makes your chest hurt as you try to hold it in as deep as you can to stop the rays going to your heart. That is incentive to keep holding your breath! I will make a good deep sea diver at the end of this! I am well & truly taped up with the Mepitel film & feel like a mummy. I have to leave it on for 2 weeks after treatment as well so 5-6 weeks in total. Even after treatment finishes, the Mepitel will help in reducing skin damage as the rad treatment is cumulative so peaks after treatment has finished which i found amazing. Every day, I have had to see the nurse before treatment to check the Mepitel film as there was only a 5mm clearance from the edge of the film to the rad beam so if the film starts to curl at the corner, i have to have a new film put over the end or have the curling bit cut off.  I appreciate that the Mepitel is a wonderful invention & helps in many ways but I feel like I can't exercise or do what I normally do as I don't want to promote any lifting so I have given up doing my stretching & anything else that may loosen it. At the moment it has curled a lot since I saw the nurse Friday so I am booked in to see her before treatment tomorrow. The film covers half my chest area, breast & a few inches below & goes under my arm & half way across my back so i can't put deodorant under my left arm & where the film is under my arm keeps curling as your arm is always moving. Anyway, the nurse said it is normal so she will probably see me every day for a snip &/or adding new pieces of film. I drive myself to treatment every day from my sister's house & it takes less then 10 mins to get there which is great. Every week I see the rad onc also to check me over so I will see her on Monday. @Sister Thinking of you all the time & wishing you strength for Thursday as you return for your 2nd treatment. You are doing it so much tougher than me so prayers are coming your way & I hope all goes well. take care & look after yourself & accept all the care & help that others offer you as you deserve it & need to focus on yourself. @arpie Good Luck for Wednesday as you start your rad. I hope your "motel" provides a good haven for relaxing & giving you some "timeout" to look after yourself & focus on your treatment. I know you will do well & when it gets a little overwhelming & you need cheering up, get out your uke & strum a tune to lift your spirits.     Good luck ladies. My thoughts & prayers are with you both. i wish you love, strength & courage & I know you will fight through this & come out the other side, stronger than ever. Many, Many Hugs xxxx PS I will be staying in Adelaide next weekend for my great nieces christening so I wont have access to the forum for 2 weeks until i come home again.