tip or tricks on getting through radiation?

Hello @Maree72, so sorry about your rad onc’ s behaviour. The last thing we need is snooty doctors. I was in Sydney for everything, and I was at a centre that also went both public and private, but I had to go public. I simply couldn’t afford it otherwise. My rad onc was fantastic though. I loved her, and the technicians and nurses were wonderful too. I consider myself very lucky because it’s not always the case, as we can see from yourself and other ladies too. I wore Mepitel during mine, which is really similar to the Strata cream only it’s a film dressing. I had 5 weeks of radiation to both breasts, and the Mepitel did wonders because at the end of it, I only had some pinkness which went away really quickly. I also used QV and fresh Aloe gel every day. My skin was really smooth afterwards. I can’t really tell that I’ve ever had it. I also don’t think my breasts changed size, although I did have expanders. I’ve had implants put in recently and my breasts seem to be the same size they always were. 

Hi @Maree72
I echo the thoughts of @Julez1958
I used Strata every morning before my session, and it was only in the last few days that I had some redness and a little bit of itchiness. 2 months out now and there is absolutely no difference to my skin.
I did the breath hold technique and my right breast was the one under the rays - my understanding is it's more about minimising any potential damage to lungs (as well as heart).
It's really not too hard when you get the hang of it.
Best of luck to you - the biggest thing for me was fatigue but about 10 days after I felt much better.
Kelly

Hi @FLClover, thanks for your thoughts, I had done a lot of research about the Mepitel the film dressing last time when I was sent to radiation, but chose not to go through with it, that's another story in its self, and a choice I'm now trilled I made along with the new medial team, due to the stuff up 1st time round with the first medical team leaving behind the cancer in the lymph nodes and giving me a false neg result, anyway, enough of that...

When I asked my Rd onc Dr (little miss snooty woman) about the film dressing it was a hard NO as we live in QLD and the film doesn't stick to the skin up here very well due to the humidity, its like now May and summer has finished with those horrible temps and humidity, so it was this StrataXRT or a sorbolene  cream from the chemist maybe moo goo that I react to.
Anyway its arriving today via the post, so I'm at home waiting for it as I have to sign when it arrives, I'm truly hoping it is only the 1 tube I need, as I was told i possibly could go through 1-2 tubes, but at $136 odd dollars a pop, ill be scraping the tube dry to use every last bit.

I am just disappointed & frustrated that something that they want us patients to have for our treatment, they don't help out with the cost at all, like cancer has already robed us all of so much lets just add more into the hole dam mess. 
I did ask little miss snotty Dr if this was because I was a public patient, and not a private one, was told no we make all our patients buy their own. not even a sample to given only patched tested with by snotty nurse who looked down on me too, such a delightful woman she is too. 

Then  asked me what deodorant I use, (brand) when I told her it was a roll on and Nivea was the brand, she just looked at me, said nothing, wrote something down, it wasn't till I again did my research coming home to find out deodorant with any metals in them as most of them contain this, can not be used, well my delivery for my new deodorant that is all natural arrived to today too, wasn't expecting to have to get a different deodorant , nor was I expecting to be told that I can not wear one, like this is my personal hygiene,  so I went searching ingredients and all things natural in deodorants that would keep me going over the next 6 weeks.  

@Julez1958 & @cactusk thanks for sharing your experience with the StrataXRT, I'm hoping ill experience the same as you, being protected and only slight pinkness - mine is my left breast, so I'm doing the hold the breath system as well as its directly over my heart and lung, I'm already accepting the fatigue as I'm still suffering it from the chemo, so I guess it will just be an add on to what I'm going through already.

I'm on the count down now till Monday coming, when this gets started, and hopefully I can say its all over and done with and not look back.

I also tried addressing my huge concern about the risk to the heart and the possible damage, as my mother passed away of a heart attack at age 57 once month before her 58th birthday 19 years ago now, and after her passing we learnt she had just recently been out onto heart medication, none of us knew about it at all as she had kept it from us,
But again little miss snotty Oncologist radiation Dr didn't want to know or even reassure me or anything, so I guess ill just have to wait and see how ill come out of this in years to come.
again she chose to ignore my concerns and not say a thing.


I truly hope no one has to also experience this DR and her shocking dismissive behaviour, as its not helpful or any way reassuring as a breast cancer patient who just wants to get through this dam health issues and come out the other side in one piece. 

Hello @Maree72, yeah now that I know you’re in QLD, I would’ve chosen the Strata cream too. I’m in Sydney and I had radiation in July, which is possibly the coldest month of the year, bang in the middle of winter, and I still sweated so much 😬🫢. And the Mepitel starts peeling off at the slightest bit of wet on the skin. That’s one of its drawbacks I guess. It’s really fiddly and hence rad oncologists hate it. But they should offer it anyway, in colder states, and if not then they should offer the Strata, for free. I agree with you that the prices are way too much and for a lot of us, simply unaffordable. We shouldn’t miss out just because they’ve priced it too high or because they refuse to cover it. Make sure you use every last little drop of yours, I would!! 

update, was meant to start radiation today, got up, put that most expensive cream on the boob ad surrounding area, after shower, sat down for breakfast, only to get a phone call from centre to say its being cancelled, as the machine is broken, what a waste of that very very expensive StrataXRT cream, whished they had called way earlier in the morning to advise, like when they opened and knew they would be cancelling all the patients for today, 
Starting next Monday now, so my end time line just keeps getting blown out, looks like ill now be finishing this at the end of the 1st week of July, not last week of June, now to move more hospital appointments etc to accommodate for this.

Over it completely, 
I get machines can break down, but I'm just now lost for words on how my cancer journey is going,

This is an interesting article about mepitel. Clinicians need to look at the evidence. Hope this helps 😊
 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10439668/#:~:text=The%20use%20of%20Mepitel%20film,Grade%202%20or%203%20dermatitis.

Hi @Maree72,
I used strataXRT.  My last rads was in mid Mar 2024 and I had 15 sessions.  I applied twice a day ( yes, it was expensive and I don’t have a discount code to use). My rad centre (private) actually tells me using sorblene is good enough . But as I had already purchased StrataXRT and I  wanted to stick to it (after suffering so many rare side effects from chemo). And StrataXRT came highly recommended. My rad doc was happy for me to use StrataXRT, but my centre nurses didn’t know how to use StrataXRT and I had helped from ladies in this network on how to apply. 

Mine was on the left breast. I didn’t have any redness or even pinkness…the nurses couldn’t even tell the difference. I was extremely diligent with applying it and I also moisturised in the middle of the day (MooGoo). 

hi @GinGin
Thanks for your positive message, I'm sorry to hear your clinic dint offer you a discount code, as its so very expensive and it comes recommend by the professionals, yet we have to pay with no help or subsidy's for this cream that is part of our treatment.

I'm so over my radiation centre here in Brisbane, and I have not even started the treatment, the nurses are just as bad as my rude little miss snotty rad oncologist Dr, 

I pretty much flipped out at my rad tech who dose the treatments and appointment's when he called me back as I had left a message to ask more questions, he is the only one who seems to see me and listen to me, so I told him what I thought about my so called dr, and how I wont see here at all during my treatment as I don't trust her at all.
clearly that got passed back to the dr, who then rang me, so I let her have it, saying how she completely dismissed my concerns about the heart, to which she finally acknowledge she had, and offer me another Dr if I wanted one, as as she sated you have to have a god repour with your dr, I bit my tongue but in my head it was like well we certainly do not have that! 
Said that she would happily transfer me, then corrected her self with oh not happily, but I will transfer you if this is what you would like.
Told her I would think about and let her know, when I come in for treatment.
I'm now not to afraid to let her have it, maybe no one has ever called her out before.

The nurse who's also a right royal B....  towards me, very loosely pointed to her self to said this is where you have to put the cream, then asked what deodorant I use, was it a spay or roll on, but never explained why, just wrote something on paper, never advised me I couldn't use these as they contained metals, found that out through DR Google, thanks so much.
This treatment place is just ............................ no words I have no words left at all.

Thankfully everyone on here has been super helpful with their advice and support, and Ill check in with my own GP and the surgery nurses to see if I can pop in for check ups with them, to avoid the clowns that have been assign to me from this radiation centre.

Ill be cutting open that tube of that cream and scrapping the sides to get every inch of the cream out. as its so costly, 
it was like 1/2 my food money for the week, so as it was spoken about in the webinar etc, barriers for treatment, is costs, and well this is a cost we have to have spend.

It would be wonderful if the hospital I attend, who are great, had the service like some of the others that are offered in other states, that have been spoken about with Exercise Physios, or if my hospital knew of other places to recommend you to, but thankfully to my other post, I have now made contact with a place who can offer such a programme. So I'm very grateful 

Thank you for all your stretching tips, Ill make sure I remember those, I'm a big yoga fan, so I guess Ill get some stretching in, while under going this treatment,

Mine to is my left breast, 
last time I used Moo Goo I broke out as it caused my dermatitis's to go nuts - just found a 1Ltr of sorbloene cream on special at Coles for $5.50  today in the shopping, small win. but ill take it.

Ill let you all know how I get on. 

Oh yes! I recalled reading one of your posts that you had a negative reaction to Moo Goo🙈. Hope you tried testing the Sorbloene to ensure there’s no reaction to the product.

Everyone has different level of tolerance and patience. I would have given Miss snotty what I thought of her if she called me. Sometimes these compassionateless people need to be given a slap on their face and then they would realise their behavior is unacceptable (unfortunately some of these people don’t change their behavior as it is so ingrained in their brains). I hope you’ll change to a different rad oncologist as there are very understanding ones in public hospitals (I genuinely hope there are many understanding ones and little Miss Snotty is an exception). I will admit that I told off my chemo nurse (team manager)what I thought of her when she kept pressing me to have a PICC line and this is in the private hospital 🤪. I also wrote in to complain. She subsequently changed her attitude towards me and I was always assigned to the top notch nurse who is good with patients who has small veins. 

@GinGin 
lol you make me laugh, that's so kind of you to be angry for me over this stupid rad centre, I thank you though, its so kind of you.

Its a bit of a pity where we can not name and shame others, but I kinda get it, as to why we can not.

I probley will change rad oncologists, I did with my chemo and medical one, he was an idiot, I had heaps of issues with him, to the point where my hospital cancer care coordinator did change me, as they could finally see how badly I was handling everything with him as my lead care oncologist, 
I now have a new lady who now my oncologist, and she seems rather ok, so I'm good, as I have finished needing to see them every week, as chemo has ended. what a nightmare road that one was too.

Little miss snotty, was like on the phone to me - the other 2 Dr's I can refer you to are both male though, i'm the only female Dr here who see the XXXX hospital patients ( XXXX stands for the hospital I am connected with, as I can not name)

I'm like , in my head, I so should of said this too, and possibly I will say it to her, as I have said it to other DRs who need to look at said boob. who go do you mind if  I examine the breast 

look love, its only a boob, "its been out more times than a stripers left tit on a Friday night", since this dam cancer, and all the tests, biopsy , check ups, surgery's, mapping for the radiation, and everything else you all put me through.

I've had 2 kids, now this, who cares its only a boob! get over it.

Ill be ok with the sorbloene  I've used it before, I just don't like it, but hey its only for what maybe 10 weeks all up, 6 of radiation and 4 post? 
Then I can use what ever I like,
And back to my normal non expensive deodorant rather than the expensive stuff I had to buy that's all natural, don't get me wrong, its very nice and silky smooth, just more cash I had to splash in the name of cancer, as there was no way on earth I was compromising my personal hygiene by not wearing anything, as stupid horrible rad nurse told me to not wear any under that are, but could do what I liked with the other underarm. along with we don't care what moisturiser you use on the rest of your body either.
No bed side manner at all. beyond rude. All she kept saying to me on that last meeting was type of moisturiser do you use, all I could remember was it had paw paw in it, she kept on saying yes but what brand, where did you buy it from, with no explanation, only jotting notes down on this piece of paper. 


Tell you the care factor of those 2 people is terrible, im most likely going to issue feedback on how Ive found these so called medical people, I'm so over rude people who work in this sector. there is no need for it, not one of us signed up for cancer, but yet here we are!