Lisa's F-Cancer Blog

I posted the following on Facebook today:

I didn’t expect to be spending my 50th birthday in active treatment for breast cancer. Thankfully, I’m halfway done with radiation (having already gone through chemo and surgery). Between this brush with my mortality and having a sister who died just before her 26th birthday, I’m ok with this milestone birthday. It is a privilege to age! Bring it on!

Thank you to everyone who took the time out of your day to wish me a happy birthday, and for all the love and support you’ve given me this difficult year. The next one will undoubtedly be better!

While laying (lying?) on the radiation table yesterday, I had a thought. So much technology and hardware are involved with radiation. How often does something not work?

Cue a phone call I got just now. Today’s session is cancelled because the machine isn’t working. The session will now be added to the end. Any more delays, and my treatment will extend into June.

“I hope it’s fixed by Monday!” I said.

“They have all weekend to work on it,” was the response. I’m glad the technicians are willing to work on it over the weekend!

Speaking of people who don’t have weekends – or any days – off, Happy (early) Mother’s Day! I get to celebrate in person with mine!

P.S. I’m going to ask at my next session how often they’re forced to cancel.

I now have one week of radiation under my belt!

I asked whether there’s a noise during radiation, and was told no. The sessions are so fast! It’s more of a hassle driving to/from the appointment and taking off/putting on my clothes from the waist up. At least the warmer temperatures coming our way will make that easier (no jacket or sweater on top of my shirt and bra!).

I met with the radiation oncologist, Dr. Tokol, on Thursday, as I will every Thursday, to check in and see how my skin is doing. So far so good. He confirmed that around two weeks is when side effects tend to kick in. I told him that’s around my birthday, when I turn the big 5-0. He said they’ll do whatever they can to help, but let’s face it – they really can’t do anything!

I just did some Internet sleuthing about taste bud changes. Obviously everyone is different and it can sometimes take a really long time to return to normal. It does seem, however, that 2-3 months is typical. It’s been 10+ weeks since chemo so maybe in a few weeks, it’ll be better?

My first radiation session was indeed painless and quick. I couldn’t even tell when it was happening. I meant to ask if there’s a noise the machine makes when emitting radiation; I’ll try to remember tomorrow.

I’m to moisturize twice a day and forgot that I shouldn’t do it at least two hours beforehand. Thankfully a friend reminded me, and the nurse mentioned it when I asked about the frequency. I came home and immediately put Aloe Vera gel on, and will do so again before bed.

This afternoon, I met with the benign hematologist about my blood clot. He said it was minor and to stay on the blood thinner for three months. That means I can stop (no ultrasound or tapering needed) at the end of June. There’s a 2% chance it will come back, but he said not to worry about it. If I have surgery in the future, I’m to tell the surgeon I had a blood clot so they can put me on a low dose of blood thinner for a few days.

I asked why it happened, and he matter-of-factly asked me a question in return: “Why did you get breast cancer?”

As of today, UPMC no longer has a mask mandate. This is both good and bad news for me. It certainly makes lipreading a hell of a lot easier! But I’m still being cautious of COVID and other illnesses because I don’t want anything delaying my treatment. And COVID is still out there; I know someone who just had it. It’s surprising that a radiation/oncology clinic would shrug off safety measures for an at-risk population.

Anyway! I laid (lied? No, this one is definitely laid!) down on the table while the two nurses (?) tried to find my tattoos. I think they had some difficulty. They marked the radiation area up and later put two clear stickers on specific locations so those marks don’t come off in the shower. They figured out my positioning and then checked to see if everything lined up properly. X-rays were taken. I had to lay (lie?) there with my hands over my head for a while.

It was all painless, which is also what the radiation sessions will be. They said from start to finish (including changing and set up), it should only take 15-20 minutes. Thursdays will be an extra 20-30 minutes since that’s when I meet with the doctor.

One of the most common side effects of radiation is fatigue. I thought it would be better than chemo fatigue, but apparently this might not be the case. Like chemo, it’s cumulative. One person described it as a bone-weary exhaustion that was worse than her chemo fatigue. A friend said, “It was kind of like when you go to the beach for the day and come back tired, take a nap, and when you wake up you feel better.” Clearly, everyone is different! Guess we’ll see what it’s like for me.

Another common side effect is burning/irritation. I’m supposed to moisturize the radiated area several times a day to help with that.

My eyebrows and eyelashes continue to come in. My hair looks the same to me but when I see people I don’t see every day, they notice a difference. Taste is still crap.