Radiation Burn

By Friday I was in complete agony with this under arm burn. I waited by the phone all day for my doctor to return my call and he never did. Grrr. I got up on Saturday and went to see the doctor on call at the hospital. The nurse put some Flamazine (which they keep in the fridge) on it and some gauze. It was so cold but instant relief. The doctor then prescribed some Flamazine for me to put on it and also told me to take my Tylenol 3’s or to take 1 full dose of Advil and 1 full dose of Tylenol together. The Flamazine feels oh so good but you can only use it once per day but the Advil/Tylenol mix is a pretty good pain reliever. I look forward to the day when I can do my own thing and not worry about what hurts….

On Wednesday I Rang the Bell

At the Saskatoon Cancer Clinic in the radiation department there is a bell on the wall just outside of the waiting room. It is called Taya’s Bell and on it is written:

Ring this bell to honor your last treatment.
Let the sound fill your heart to signify the bravery of your life’s journey.
Taya Rae Sawka
Age 5
Medulloblastoma

Well radiation wasn’t exactly a walk in the park either! I mean it didn’t hurt to get it but the last 3 days were a killer. I have a really bad radiation burn under my arm and the doctor told me on Wednesday that it will peak in about 4 or 5 days. So it is going to get worse before it gets better. I have saline compresses to put on it and I am supposed to leave it open to the air as much as I can. Also I am not supposed to do any vacuuming, carrying groceries or anything that will create friction under my arm. (Aww Darn!) It feels like it is on fire already so I can’t imagine what it will be like on Saturday!

As much as I enjoyed being in the city the last 5 weeks, I am really happy to be home. I will get my next dose of Herceptin at the Nipawin Hospital so I won’t be going into Saskatoon for at least 6 weeks.

Today a very nice friend sent a cleaning lady to my house. It was really nice to have that done since I haven't been here much during the last 5 weeks and before that I was too sick to do much more than the basic cleaning. That was the best present ever - Thank you!

I was very sad on Tuesday when my medical oncologist (Dr A) told me that he is leaving for the US in the next few months. I will miss him.

Halfway There

I am halfway done the radiation treatments. They have been scheduling me late on Monday and early on Friday so that I can spend more time at home. By 8:30 this morning I was all done my treatment and was on the road. Today they did the verification again to make sure that everything is still lined up right. So far the only side effect I have is the tight skin and muscle. When I saw the doctor on Wednesday he said that should go away gradually after I was all done the treatment. I do my stretching exercises faithfully every day and it just seemed like I regressed overnight.

On Wednesday I had my third Herceptin injection. It does make me a little tired – I had to have a nap that day and again today when I got home. It also gives me a sore mouth but nothing like I had with the chemo drugs. This is just a bit like when you burn your tongue – it feels a little uncomfortable but I can still eat everything.

The Tamoxifen is an anti estrogen and it is giving me hot flashes really bad! I spend half the night sweating and the other half shivering. This disrupted sleep may also be why I am so tired in the daytime!

So far 5 of my fingernails have come off completely. The new nails are grown up about ¾ of the way but they are not coming in very nice. The other ¼ starts out as a very thin layer of nail but it becomes brittle and breaks off in little chunks. They are quite tender and catch on everything. Last week I had the bright idea to try gel nails. My dear niece put them on for me. Even though I still can’t use them for a lot of things, it is such a relief to have the covering on them. It makes the simplest things like washing and drying my hands so much easier. For some reason my right thumb nail won’t stay on. It came off the first day and she kindly re-did that one. Well the second time it came off even faster. (It isn’t completely off, just cracked and I have to keep a Band-Aid on it.) Hopefully when I get to see her next week my nail will have grown that much longer and it will have enough to hold the gel in place. My hair is starting to fill in but it seems to be taking forever to grow!

I am really happy to be sleeping in my own bed for the next 4 nights!

Radiation

Well first of all the biopsy came back clean so I was able to start the radiation this week. That was a real relief for me! I had to go in on Tuesday for my verification. This is where they check the positions to make sure that everything is lined up and they go through the motions of what will happen without using the radiation beams. On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I had my first treatments. All the staff in there are amazing and it is a piece of cake really. You just lay there with your arms above your head holding onto some bars and the machines are rotating and whirring all around you. It takes about 10 minutes and you feel nothing. The hardest part is lying completely still on that hard surface. My back is really sore these days and I am not sure if I can take my anti inflammatory pills for that. I guess I will have to ask the doctor or pharmacy if I think of it next time I’m there.

Now I just have 22 more treatments to go. I should be done on September 23. This is probably the worst time for me to be away as everything in my garden is really producing right now.

I also had another bone scan on Tuesday. I don’t have the results yet but the technician did show me the pictures and everything looked the same as the first ones so I think that is also fine.

Vince had his lasik eye surgery on Wednesday and everything seems to be fine there as well. His vision improves every day.

Mammogram and Ultrasound

I had to be at the clinic at 8:30 a.m. and I wasn’t allowed to have anything to eat or drink for 8 to 10 hours before. I got in right away for the abdominal scan and then pretty quickly for the mammogram. Mammograms are awful enough at the best of times but I just had the biopsy two days before that. I told the girl to be gentle with me and she was really good. Unfortunately the radiologist thought he needed more pictures so she had to do it a second time. Then she was having some problems with her films and I ended up getting squashed a total of seven times on the second go around. After that I waited a long time before they finally took me in to do the ultrasound. As soon as she was done the radiologist came in to give me my results. It looks like it is just cysts and calcium deposits. He said it is nothing to worry about unless the biopsy comes back with something as the mammogram doesn’t always show everything. By this time it was 11:30 and I was almost ready to eat my hand. I had made arrangements to meet Val for lunch just two blocks away at Moxies. We had a nice visit and a great lunch.
Now I am just waiting to talk to Dr H on Monday with the biopsy results so I am still not 100% sure but I'm feeling pretty relieved anyway.

New Developments

I did go in on August 5 to get set up for the radiation. It took about 45 minutes all together. It was kind of a waste of the 6 hour round trip to the city for me. They just got me lined up on the machine. I had to lay on my back with my arms grabbing a bar behind my head. There is a place for my elbows to rest on. They gave me two little tattoos that look like little pen marks and that was about it.

I went into the city again yesterday to see the oncologist and today I got my second shot of Herceptin. Last week I happened to find a lump in the other breast so I showed that to Dr. A. He said that it would be very rare for the cancer to come back during treatment but until we know for sure we have to treat it like it has. He sent me for a chest X-ray and was going to set up a mammogram etc. He called me a few hours later and said that he had already spoken to Dr H (my surgeon) and that I was to meet him at the hospital at 9 this morning. It was great of him to fit me in between his surgeries. He did the core needle biopsy and marked it urgent and he asked me to let him know if Dr. A was setting up the mammogram etc because he didn’t want to duplicate anything but definitely wanted to get this done as soon as possible. If there is something there, they will postpone my radiation treatments.

While I was getting the Herceptin the receptionist brought me my appointment schedule. I have to go back in on Friday morning for the abdominal scan (to make sure my liver etc are still clear) and then I will have another mammogram and ultrasound. I still have to go back in on Monday for another bone scan. She tried really hard to get these all on the same day but I am just feeling lucky that she got me in at all on such short notice.

I will be going into the city from Monday to Thursday anyway next week since Vince is getting his lasik surgery. Hopefully this will all turn out to be nothing and I will also get my radiation treatments as planned.

Radiation Consultation

I am on Day 9 and still no ill effects from the Herceptin. It kind of wreaked havoc with my bowels for about a week but that is all. The evil Taxotere is still rearing its ugly head though. I still have a bitter after taste when I eat certain things, especially sweets. My face is still sensitive and my energy isn’t back completely. The worst of it is that I seem to be losing my fingernails. Some of them (especially the thumbs and index fingers) are barely hanging on. I went for a manicure the other day because I couldn’t stand looking at them anymore. They were so dirty looking and I couldn’t get them clean. She covered them up with some nice nail polish so they look good now but they really hurt today and I keep bumping them. It won’t take much to rip them off so I am trying to be so careful but you know how that goes. There will be some very colorful language when it happens because it already is like that when I bump them – it just hurts sooo much! I just need to keep them for a couple of months since the new ones are only coming up about ¼ of an inch. (Yeah right - like that is going to happen!)

My hair is growing! It is so wispy and fine that I can't even really see it unless I turn my head this way and that to catch the light but it's there!

I saw the radiation oncologist on Thursday. (Dr. V) He is very nice, compassionate and easy to talk to. He took the time to ask about our family and what they are doing. He asked where we are from and asked questions about Nipawin. He examined me to make sure that I have enough movement in my arm to be able to lay in the proper position during the radiation treatment. I was all set and ready to get my tattoos and prepped for radiation but this was just a consult to explain it to me and see if I was willing to go through with it. Now I have to go back next Wed for all of that. My appointment is at 2:30 so I can just go in for the day for a change. They said I will likely start on Aug 17 and go for 5 weeks Monday to Fri.