Hello all, I have bee away from the site for a while recovering for my last chemo session. All is good but now I am starting to feel nervous and anxious about radiation tomorrow. My main concern is how my skin is going to react to it. I prepared my skin well with vit e cream and the radiation nurse was happy with how my skin looked when I went for CT planning, I already put my aloe vera gel in my bag to aply post session as some of the lovely ladies recomended on this site. So I am keeping my fingers crossed that all will be good and I am getting ready to start this second part of the journey. Feeling a lot better now that I typed up my feelings and " bring it on " I say trhe sooner it finishes the sooner I can get on with my life. All the best to everyone. Monica

Hi Monica, Well done with completing the chemo and now your on the journey home. Dont feel nervous about what might happen. You have just had chemo so this will be a breeze. I used sorboline cream every night and morning, although i did miss two or three mornings. I have only in recent days come up with blisters around my breast line and on the center of my chest that have burst and gone into weeping redness and sores. It is very red under my arm area but the skin has not broken.Fingers crossed it wont. What does worry me about the radiation is that my chest wall and under my ribs is very sore after treatment. It feels like a stitch in your side but under the rib. I am going to see the my GP tomorrow to make sure it is not my lung because where the rays go it captures the corner of the lung. You meet so many new people going to treatment. At mine we all have a thing going to see who gets in first and how long the waiting time is daily to be seen (my first week was between two and 3 hours wait each day) Good luck with the treatment , it just drags on a bit and having to go 5 days weekly is a pain but thats the way it is. Lucky for you there is some public holidays coming up that you will be able to escape from treatment and enjoy your self over Christmas. Good luck with everything . cheers Jo xx

I dont know if it is all hospitals or not. But Royal Perth Hospital is shocking. At the moment i wait about an hour after my appointment time each day if my appointments are later in the day/early evening. If i go morning or lunch time there is always a long wait. Royal Perth now stay open till 7:30pm and open on Saturdays to help with the overload. Cheers Jo xx

I had my radiotherapy at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth and there was very little waiting time. I was given my appointment times for the whole 7 weeks in advance and they ran pretty much to schedule. Apart from lots of aloe vera gel, try eating alfalfa sprouts. I found a study that said it helped to prevent damage from the radiation and I hardly burned at all; my skin was just a bit pink and had no blisters or break down whatsoever. It's worth a try! All the best; I found it to be a breeze. x Jane

well i have had two lots of radiation. i had lumpectomies on both sides .i was concerend about issues with lymph flow from surgery and radiation. the right side i had 11 nodes taken, one had cancer. the left side was only the sentinel node. one operation was in 1998, the other in 2003. when i went the first time to radiation, the waiting times were not long; it all seemed to run like clockwork. i would drive in each day 65 kms away. it took about an hour to drive in, then radiation , then the drive home. all up about 2 1/2 hours. the second time there was a bit of a backlog of people waiting for treatments, but i think in some places this may be worse even. i had my treatment at the launceston general hospital in tasmania. my skin held up pretty well. i used sorbolene cream religiously. the nipples went a lighter colour after treatment. they have stayed that way. the skin on breast has settled back to normal pretty much now. it was slightly darker, like a tan sort of i think i remember. i had a few scanning light laser treatments not long after radiation treatments, and i think this has helped to settle lymph flow, pain, stiffness and speeded healing of soft tissue. my movement is good on both sides, but i have to be careful with how much i do, or i can cause discomfort, stir up lymph and make arm swell a bit. i had an axillary clearance on the right side, and a sentinel node clearance on the left side. the lymph drains into the neck, more so on the left side of the body, than the right. i think i also had some slight radiation to left side of lung when i had treatment in 2003. it has settled down ok. it took some time to adjust to the new me and how my body was now, but i have done that and life is chugging along ok, somewhat slower than when i was 42 and menopause hit me like a ton of bricks after chemo in 1998. i am now 55, my children are young adults, my marriage ended, but i am content and have had many blessings since my diagnosis of BC ( even though i have had some rough times also. now i try and go day by day, trying to accept what life throws at me and dealing with whatever happens. ) good luck with your treatments. kathy.

Starting Radiotherapy tomorrow | BCNA Online Network

17 Replies

monica
Member
14 years ago
Thanks Tonya, I spoke with the specialist and he asked me to bring in the cream ,so I'll see them again on wed and find out if its ok to use or not.Take care, Monica
monica
Member
14 years ago
thanks Julie
monica
Member
14 years ago
thanks Julie
Julie_A
Member
14 years ago
Hi Jane,

I was very interested in the study you found regarding alfalfa sprouts. Do you have the details about the study, as I would like to read it. Did it say how much alfalfa you need to eat? I noticed it's also available in tablet form, this may be more convenient than having sprouts on everything :)

I start radio therapy tomorrow...

Cheers

Julie
Julie_A
Member
14 years ago
Hi Monica,

I start radio therapy tomorrow, so your post was very timely. The advise I received about Aloe Vera Gel was that you can use it but it must be at least 97% pure and you use it in conjunction with a moisturiser.

cheers

Julie
Julie_A
Member
14 years ago
Hi Monica,

I start radio therapy tomorrow, so your post was very timely. The advise I received about Aloe Vera Gel was that you can use it but it must be at least 97% pure and you use it in conjunction with a moisturiser.

cheers

Julie
TonyaM
Member
14 years ago
I just used normal salt,maybe half a cup?I was told you can use aloe vera gel so long as it was pure with no alcohol or additives in it.That was back in 2003 so check with the nurses as things change.Good luck

Tonya xx
TonyaM
Member
14 years ago
I had my radiation treatment at a private hosp.and was booked in for the same time each day,rarely had to wait. I ended up glowing like a hot plate but my skin never broke down.As well as the gels/creams, I'd soak in a warm salt bath most nights and that was soothing.Don't wear underwire bras,just loose ones or none at all.Radiation is abit scary at first but no where near as hard on you as chemo.Good luck,you'll be ok.

Tonya xx
TonyaM
Member
14 years ago
I had my radiation treatment at a private hosp.and was booked in for the same time each day,rarely had to wait. I ended up glowing like a hot plate but my skin never broke down.As well as the gels/creams, I'd soak in a warm salt bath most nights and that was soothing.Don't wear underwire bras,just loose ones or none at all.Radiation is abit scary at first but no where near as hard on you as chemo.Good luck,you'll be ok.

Tonya xx
Joy_K
Member
14 years ago
Good luck with the radiotherapy. Some women burn, some don't and it all depends on your skin type and on the strength of the radiation. Each person has the appropriate dose calculated for them and also the field size. In all the literature it says that maximum burn (if you are going to burn) is 14 days after the last treatment. Burns are very manageable and the nursing staff will help you and often provide dressings for you to dress the burn at home if necessary. I had a delayed reaction to both my bouts of radiation, nothing till at least 4 weeks after completing treatment and then dressings for a week. If you have pain with the burns use Lignocaine Ointment 2% on top of the Sorbolene for instant relief.

I live in Melbourne and live a few minutes by car from my treating hospital at Moorabbin, my record was 30 minutes from leaving home to returning!

With love

Joy K