Forum Discussion

Spirit-Harmony's avatar
7 years ago

Just wanted to hello

Hi lovely ladies.. I just felt I wanted to say hi to everyone and send love... Its been almost a month since my lumpectomy and things have settled down for now. It seems surreal that over a month ago my life turned upside down and at the moment all is calm.. Everything happens so quickly in the beginning, and then the wait for the next lot of treatment.. I feel lucky so far being on the femara for the last 10 and no sign of the dreaded hot flushes rearing their ugly head (touch wood) or is that still to come? I am having some niggly twinges in my breast, I explained it to my GP it like, a cripple nipple but inside, he laughed...  also on my bra line occasionally like a stitch type grab... I haven't started my radiation as yet, the initial appointment is on the 9th, I must admit though I am a bit scared of the burns that may happen... but compared to some I am very lucky... and it's this lovely forum and support system that has helped me so much, so thank you all so much..  <3 <3 <3 <3 <3  

12 Replies

  • @Spirit-Harmony the radiotherapy clinic at St Andrews hospital supplied Calendula cream.

    Some ladies on here have had much success with Mepitel film to protect against burns - you could do a search on here to see their experiences and hopefully someone who has used it will come on here to chat.

    Just a quick caution - radiotherapy in public and private system is the same except there can be a huge gap in the private system as it is not considered a hospital treatment by private insurers and thus is only covered by Medicare. .  My excess was $2000.I have learnt that you can blend private surgery with public radiotherapy .The excess can be very high if you have a lengthy course of radiation.
  • @Spirit-Harmony many of the people on here have had great success using MooGoo during radiotherapy. I bought Dermaveen which worked well for me .

    Only thing I didn’t like was Sorbolene and noticed few others at my clinic used it either as was supplied in the change rooms for after treatment. The clinic also supplied as an alternative a herbal cream which I and everyone else liked as it was always running out .The clinic in fact stopped supplying Sorbolene and replaced it with Cetaphil.You will need to cream 3 times per day and more if you need it and I was told for 3 months after radiation ended.

    Be aware UV seems to activate the region - we went to Cairns a month after treatment and I had to be very careful in the sun.

    I also wore front opening Target postop bras during treatment which made things a bit easier.

    I had 16 rounds of radiotherapy, am very fair and my skin came thru ok.