It's Cool

You know the saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun”? Well, there should be another saying that goes, “Time flies when you’re getting radiation.” I can’t believe it’s been a month since my last post! The past month has gone by so quickly and for that, I am grateful. I can’t believe I only have 7 more sessions of radiation to go.

In my last post, I mentioned that my last day of radiation would be Friday, 10/16 but that’s no longer the case. The first two weeks of radiation I only ended up getting four treatments, which means those last two treatments get tacked on at the end. My new final day of radiation is Tuesday, 10/20. So close!

All in all, radiation is not too bad. The firs few weeks were a piece of cake. The actual sessions last about 5 minutes once the machine gets going, and I’m in the treatment room for maybe 10 minutes total. I go every morning at 8am and I’m at work by around 8:45am. The most annoying thing about it is having to go Monday-Friday. I’ve gotten to know my radiation nurses really well and they’re all very sweet. The whole process of radiation is pretty interesting & very different than chemo. I lay on a table (topless of course) while the nurses stare at my tattoos and make sure they’re lined up straight with these green beams of light coming from the ceiling. There is one nurse on each side of the table and when one of them needs me to move even 1mm to the right or left, they’ll grab the sheet under me and barely tug on it to move my body exactly how they need to. My job is to just lie there and be still. Once I’m lined up perfectly, they leave the room, turn on some classical music, and the machine gets going. It moves to 4 different locations and zaps. Some are short zaps while others are longer. It’s totally painless and sounds like dial up internet. Seriously, that’s the best way I can describe the noise the machine makes.

I see Dr. Fowble every Tuesday so she can do a skin check and make sure everything is going well. She provides me with the creams I’m supposed to put on twice a day. Right now I’m using calendula cream & it’s really nice. I’m not in a ton of pain yet, just a little bit here and there, but my skin is definitely pink and very itchy. It basically looks like I have a sunburn on my chest in a perfect square over my left breast. Also, I’m not allowed to shave my left armpit so there’s that. Today was the first day where I really felt more tired than normal and I guess I can expect that fatigue to stick around for the next couple weeks. Thankfully it’s nothing compared to chemo.

I’m getting a lot more hair growth on my head and I leave the house without a scarf or hat fairly often these days. It’s growing pretty quickly and I can’t wait until it’s all filled in! I was really worried people would stare but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The only person to ask me about my hair was a little kid who said, “Why did you cut your hair so short?” to which I answered, “Oh I dunno, I just felt like it. What do you think?” He responded with, “It’s cool.” He was so nonchalant with how he said it, I couldn’t help but smile.

Next steps with Dr. Fowble are TBD, I’m honestly not sure if I’ll have to keep seeing her once I’m done with radiation. I think Dr. Jeske will likely be my main gal from here on out. I’ll continue to see her every three weeks while I’m getting my Herceptin, until next March or April. Oh, how nice it will be to only have to go in every three weeks, instead of every day. Almost there!

Xo,

Ali