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Jo_Mac
Member
13 years ago

Radiotherapy help

Hi, this is my first post. I started radiotherapy on Monday after 2 surgeries. I'm getting a funny taste in my mouth. Can anyone tell me if this is something they experienced? Any other tips about the 5 - 6 weeks ahead of me would be much appreciated. Thanks :)

8 Replies

  • Hi Stephanie, Radiotherapy was not a happy experience for me (ended up with staph infection and 2nd degree burns), but I'm happy to say I came out the other side and last month got my all clear from the dreaded C word. So all the best to your cousin. Give her all the support she needs and tell her she'll feel better - eventually. Jo 

  • Glad to help, I am doing fine and have 3 of 18 rounds of Herceptin to go so nearly finished everything.

    Didn't do chemo (TC) very well and got quite sick and bloated which was not pretty believe me!

    Hope it all goes well for you from now on

    cheers,

    Cheryl

  • Glad to help, I am doing fine and have 3 of 18 rounds of Herceptin to go so nearly finished everything.

    Didn't do chemo (TC) very well and got quite sick and bloated which was not pretty believe me!

    Hope it all goes well for you from now on

    cheers,

    Cheryl

  • Hi again Jo

    I agree it's great to have someone to talk with who is "in the same boat" my friends are also fantastic but.......you don't really know what it is like unless you are doing it / living it. and being the cancer bore I can totally relate, sometimes you just need to talk about it/stuff/feelings etc but don't want to.......because well you know.

    I am also working while having Rads but have reduced my hours a little, slightly later starts (so I can keep my beach walks in the morning) and slightly earlier finishes (so I can get to my appointment on time) and my work has been very supportive and accommodating.  I thought that I should just spend the time looking after me for this time and go back to fulltime when Rads and recovery are over and I can give myself 100%.  I work in mental health and disability so work can be pretty full on at times

    I don't have kids but have a busy life and four lovely godsons 12, twins 8 who live an hour away in
    Brisbane and another 8 year old who lives with us with his mum so life is fairly loud.

    Well the sun is finally shinning again here on the coast and I have a tonne of washing to get through after the rain all week wet towels wait for no woman  lol

      Take care and love to talk soon.

    Georgie

     

  • Hi again Jo

    I agree it's great to have someone to talk with who is "in the same boat" my friends are also fantastic but.......you don't really know what it is like unless you are doing it / living it. and being the cancer bore I can totally relate, sometimes you just need to talk about it/stuff/feelings etc but don't want to.......because well you know.

    I am also working while having Rads but have reduced my hours a little, slightly later starts (so I can keep my beach walks in the morning) and slightly earlier finishes (so I can get to my appointment on time) and my work has been very supportive and accommodating.  I thought that I should just spend the time looking after me for this time and go back to fulltime when Rads and recovery are over and I can give myself 100%.  I work in mental health and disability so work can be pretty full on at times

    I don't have kids but have a busy life and four lovely godsons 12, twins 8 who live an hour away in
    Brisbane and another 8 year old who lives with us with his mum so life is fairly loud.

    Well the sun is finally shinning again here on the coast and I have a tonne of washing to get through after the rain all week wet towels wait for no woman  lol

      Take care and love to talk soon.

    Georgie

     

  • Hi Georgie,

    We are the lucky ones, aren't we? I too have had the shooting pains in my breast. So far skin is Ok but I'm moisturising morning and night to hopefully keep any problems at bay. I'm doing 5 days a week and will finish around the same time as you.

    Not ridiculously tired so far - I work full-time and have 2 teeange boys, so I'm used to being on the go. Have to hope the reported fatigue doesn't get me, but my employers are being great, so if I need days off, or late starts/early finishes they will accommodate. That funny taste in my mouth only lasted about 36 hours, so hopefully it won't come back!

    It's actually really great to have someone to talk to who's also going through this. My friends are fantastic, but they don't really get it and I don't want to talk about it all the time (nothing worse than a cancer bore !) so I do hope we can stay in touch while we go through this together. Thanks so much for replying.

    Best wishes

    Jo

  • Hi Jo Mac

    I started radiotherapy on Wed 20th June so I am 2 zapps ahead of you (doing 9 day fortnights - the zapper get serviced every second friday)  , I haven't experienced the werid taste in my mouth so far........ but do get occaional  sharp stabbing pains through my breast - told the rads therapists and they dicussed with the rads nurse and said that it was reasonably common.  Has your boob changed colour at all? My looks a little pink and sometimes the skin tingles, I put on the recommended cream in the morning after my shower, around lunchtime, directly after rads and then just before bed in the hope of staving off the broken skin that many ladies have talked about. (advice from the lovely Chris on this site).

    Sorry you here with us on this site but I have found it a wonderful source of support and friendship. I like you have managed to skip chemo and also consider myself to be very very lucky.  Hopefully when my our  zapping (6th August is my last one) is over and the talked about fatigue has gone we can continue with life as before though I know it will never be quite the same after this experience of cancer world.  Please stay in touch and we can chart this experience together.

    Take care

    Georgie

     

  • Thanks for getting back to me Cheryl. I really appreciate it. I'm doing well so far and I know I'm WAY better off than many. It's all such an overwhelming experience. I'm actually really pleased to be doing the radiotherapy, because it's (hopefully) the final step (at this stage) for me. How have you coped with it all?

    Jo