radiation!

my understanding is that they do,allow 6-8 weeks,on average before they start radiation , in order for any wounds to heal properly . You’re having yours in a ok timeframe I believe . I had my lumpectomy and sentinel ‘lymph node excisions on 4th jan and am now waiting for,radiation referral,and first appointment to plan and discuss .I’d originally been told,4,weeks but breast care nurse amended that when I enquired again at surgery 

Hi @mg2
I had my mastectomies on 1st April, and radiation started 22nd June. They do usually wait 4-8 weeks. Don’t worry, they know what they’re doing. You’ll be fine. There is a lot of waiting sometimes. 

the waiting is the worse part , it does your head in, im scared its going to come back as i have been told after my surgery that i was always high risk

I had a lumpectomy early March followed by a re- excision to get clear margins 2 weeks later.My radiotherapy started mid April so sounds about right.

Radiotherapy in our cases is a mop up exercise for any stray cancer cells.For others it can be used to shrink the tumour.

Given you are LHS and on chest wall you’ll be taught how to lift the breast away from the heart at the mapping session. 16 rounds of radiotherapy is quite light so skin damage will be minimal if you cream up 3-4 times daily with a good emollient. I liked Calendula cream but many on here liked moo goo.You will be given instructions about this. A front opening bra will help the process. Amoena bras are great but I didn’t know about so bought 2 from Target - they do get grubby.

thank you so much for all your advise, did you have the hormone tabs after as well for 5 years , if so how are you going with that???

ps do you get the creams at the chemist??

The calendula cream you can get at chemist. Look up Moo Goo online to find stockists. There is a Cetaphil product and Dermaveen also at supermarkets too. There are a lot of good emollients but avoid Sorbolene as it’s smelly and sticky. If you are small chested you may be offered Mepitel film to protect your skin and I believe creaming is unnecessary.

with luck you may find you get offered a product called mepitel 
. Sorta like a,heavy plastic wrap which by all accounts wraps around chest/breast and protects skin from burning. There’s a few pros and cons to,it but I’m certainly going to,ask for it when i see my radiation consultants .Do a google search on it , plus search here for others comments .
I have seen pics of patients radiation burns without it . I know here on Sunshine Coast they use it . It may not be readily available where you are but do some research and ask. 

@noosa_blue150 good on you for doing the Mepitel 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻

hi Mg2 I had lumpectomy 14 December my radiotherapy starting 27 Jan. Similar to you. I live remotely 500km from treatment so had all appointments at once last week & have already had the Tatt markers also was told about the plastic shield (metaphil ? Couldn’t remember the name) they put a sample on my inner wrist as a test to ensure no reaction to it. So plan to have that.