My Radiation Routine

     I am settling into a radiation routine now that my appointments are at the same time each day. My time for each radiation for the next month and a half is at 10:10am. Last week my appointments were all over the place so planning anything else was challenging.

 

     Each Monday, I see Dr. Foster, my radiation oncologist. When we met today, I reported that I had not seen any skin changes yet. When he looked, however, he pointed out an area where my skin was beginning to change and become reddened. Obviously, he knew what to look for and I am still learning.

 

     The areas that are usually problematic for breast cancer patients are the collarbone, upper front shoulder, the breast, and the top of the back. The area he noticed redness was on my collarbone. I'll have to be religious about putting the Vanicream on to help keep the skin soft and prevent blistering later on. Redness usually doesn't appear until after about radiation #15 on most people so I guess I'm an early starter!!! Darn! Not a race I wanted to place early in!!!

     I have had several "left over" chemo issues these past 2 1/2 weeks. My immune system is very weak so I have had two UTI's within days of each other. I had finished all my antibiotic from the first UTI and felt good for two days. Then I started feeling crummy like I could be getting another UTI but ignored the symptoms for two days, thinking I COULDN'T be getting another one since I had just finished my meds. Unfortunately, I was wrong! Yup! Another UTI so I am now taking the second round of antibiotics. Hopefully, this time the antibiotics will do the trick and completely cure my symptoms. If you're a guy and don't know about UTI's, just trust me (or ask your wife)...they don't feel very good!  :-(

     The next two paragraphs are sort of icky so "ye of weak stomachs" might want to skip the next two paragraphs. 

     The second side effect of chemo I am learning to cope with is loss of some of my nails. The Taxotere chemo drug that I had during my chemo infusions is very hard on fingernails and toenails, causing them to loosen and fall off.  Since chemo has been done for several weeks, my fingernails look better now than they did while I was on chemo. They are very weak and brittle but I can live with that. I do not think I will lose them but I won't know for sure for a while yet.

 

     Taxotere wasn't as kind to my toenails. I have lost one toenail so far (yucky, gross, and disgusting!!!). I anticipate another three will fall off within the near future. When I was receiving chemo, four toenails had at least a third of the toenail turn black. Those are the other three that I'm sure will be detaching soon. The Golden Thread here is that summer is over and I won't be wearing sandals or toeless shoes anymore this fall so no one has to see my toenail-less toes!  :-)

     Ok, "ye of weak stomachs", you can start reading here again!

     Two weekends ago, we pulled the docks out. Our son, Bob, came down to help. Since he brought Olivia along, my job was to take care of her while Arland and Bob worked on the docks. I LOVED that job!!! Here is what Olivia and I did while they worked. She loves, LOVES, LOVES to swing! She is 17 months old.

I was packing boxes to take home the left-over food from the lake since we don't heat the cabin during the winter. Here is how we filled the boxes! She is such a sweet, good natured little girl! We had so much fun!!!

She is one of the three "little" reasons (Brody and Logan being the other two) that I can stay positive through this whole venture!