kate56

Hi Kate,

My name is Regina. I was diagnosed with an invasive form of breast cancer in Nov, 2010. My journey has been complicated by infections. I never had chemo or radiation; I'm on a 5-year medication regimen.

Would love to get to know others here in the Tucson area.

Always, Regina

My Dearest In The Lord.
Greetings I am Mrs. Ava Denzel, from Kuwait. I am married to late Mr. Valasca Denzel,who worked with Kuwait Embassy in Cote d'Ivoire for Twenty-Sixyears before he died in the year 2011, after a brief illness that lasted for only 2 weeks.
I am an ageing widow suffering from long time illness. i am currently admitted in a privet hospital in Cote d'Ivoire i have some funds I inherited from my late loving husband Mr Valasca Denzel, the sum of (USD $5,Five Million United State Dollars) whichhe deposited in one of the famous Bank and I need a very honest and God fearing Person that can use this funds for The good work of God's to help the charities, and 20% out of the total funds will be for your compasession for doing this work of God.
I found your email address from the Internet and decide to contact you.Please if you would be able to use these funds for the Lord's work kindly reply me.
Thanks for your co-operations
Your Sister In The Lord.
Mrs Ava Denzel.
Email_mrs_avadenzel()yahoo.co.jp

Hi Kate,
I have had a very aggressive radiation treatment. I have Inflammatory breast cancer which is extremely aggressive so I requested the most intense radiation possible and my Rad Onc agreed. I had radiation twice a day for 6 1/2 weeks finishing in late March. Upon starting radiation I had a recurrence of cancer in the incision from my mastectomy so that was something visual to focus on with many boosts of radiation there. The majority of my breast was OK as far as recovery. It was like a sunburn but the boost area was quite large. The Dr. warned me that she really had to burn me over and over again. She told me that I could end up in the burn unit or in out patient wound care. I agreed with the procedure. I ended up with a large area that I have had to have wound care twice a week for. The epidermis was burnt off and so I have a large "raw" area. After over a month it is now down to about 6" by 4". It is manageable with the wound care. They bandage me up and I do not have to do anything until the next time they see me. But if I am active over the weekend I tend to change my bandages at home. It really looks worse than it feels.
I think the standard radiation is usually 5-6 weeks and I believe that the reason for that is that it is more gentle on your skin. My friends that had a 5 or 6 week plan never blistered or anything. Also, radiation treatment always depends on your particular situation.I am curious to know more about your particular situation. Whether or not you have had reconstruction or whether or not you are interested in reconstruction. My Dr. did tell me that I could have reconstruction in two years after my skin recuperates. I had had a mastectomy with immediate implants but I chose to have my implant taken out so that the radiation would be more effective.
My radiation was the most aggressive treatment that they had done in about 10 years. I am happy to have had it done but I have an extremely high tolerance for pain and am not even on any pain killers during the wound care.Good Luck to you. I am sure that your Rad Onc will have a a decision for you and will know what is best for your situation.

I wanted to mention to you that I often felt "guilty" when I went to support groups and saw women with wigs and head scarves, heard horror stories of chemo experiences, breast reconstruction, etc. and I "just had radiation and hormone treatments"...eventually I gave up that guilt and realized that there are many paths to survivorship, some take a mastectomy route, a chemo route, lumpectomy and rad route, but we all end up at the same place as survivors...I thank God I did not need chemo and refuse to let that diminish my experience with breast cancer. Take care, I will get to the Arimidex issues, I promise!

I thought I responded last night but do not see the post so I will resend this...
1) yeah!!!! No chemo.
2) the sim is usually when you get your tattoos...I wanted more than tats that looked like little rosebuds or angel wings, not freckles!
3) I had 33 rad sessions, over 6-7 weeks, the first 28 were total breast, the last 5 were "bolstered" to the incision/tumor site...I did well for the first 5 weeks but then my skin underneath the breast began to break down...I am a large busted woman (44DDD). And the team was prepared for this, did everything they could to prevent it but I knew it was a risk...they gave me lots of creams and advised me not to use anything without clearing it with them first.
4) the first side effect was like a sunburn, then a tanning of the breast, some itching controlled with cortisone and aquafor...when the skin broke down I had pads impregnated with an soothing ointment to apply...what worked for comfort, do not laugh, was the hair dryer on cool setting...I also had a small portable fan and I would hold the breast up with one hand and the fan in the other and wave the fan back and forth
5) I did my sessions at 8 am then went to work...I do not think I could face doing it at the end of the day and as a nurse practitioner in a busy health center I could not always count on getting out on time.
6) FATIGUE...you will feel it, part of it is the daily grind of going to the sessions but radiation has a cumulative effect and fatigue results...it took me about two months to recover completely...my advice is to give into it, get to bed early, eat well, nap when possible...if you try "to push through it" you will set yourself up for a longer recovery.
I promise to let you know more about my experience with Arimidex but I need to get going. I will type soon! Best wishes and hope this week at work will be better than last week.

Kate, that is a good description of the pain...I must admit I had more discomfort from the sentinel node site than at the surgical site though...why are we so reluctant to take pain meds? Why do we think we have to "tough it out"? Take your Vicodin, then as you feel better you can wean yourself onto some extra strength Tylenol..all narcotics can cause constipation so be sure you are drinking lots of water and take some extra fiber...let your doctor know if this becomes a problem...as far as going back to work tomorrow, take it one day at a time...you will, no doubt, be tired as you adjust back to the daily grind...try to take a short break morning and afternoon and try to eat a healthy lunch...this might be a good time to pull out a few take-out menus if you are not up to cooking when you get home or if folks ask what they can do, make a suggestion of a simple casserole and/ or salad...please keep in touch...good luck this week, I will be thinking of you. God bless!

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