First Week of Radiotherapy

As well as starting radiotherapy this week, I have also started the hormone therapy - Letrozole - which decreases the amount of oestrogen the body makes (my tumour had an 8/8 score ie. a strongly oestrogen receptor positive cancer).  Along with all the other forms of treatment, this comes with loads of dire warnings of side effects and indeed my step-mother was on it a few years ago and stopped taking it as she suffered so badly.  But as before, I'm not going to dwell on what might be and just take it as it comes - PFTWHFTB 

Although I knew roughly what to expect after the planning session, I was still a little apprehensive when we arrived at Maidstone Oncology Centre Monday afternoon 😟😟😟  The receptionist couldn't have been sweeter (in contrast to our last visit) and told me where to wait and that as it was my first time someone would come and collect me - "but by Tuesday you'll be an old hand" she said.  

A male (again!)  trainee came to collect me and gave me a plastic bag (for my clothes) and a pair of non slip socks - Health & Safety requirement apparently - then told me to change into one of the button-through tops and wait to be called.  The tops are colour coded for size and this was the smallest!!

The room is quite huge for just one machine but I'm guessing that's because it gets quite warm.

As in the planning session, the tattoos had to line up exactly and as they aren't easy to see when the lights are down, I was drawn on with a marker pen.  The two female radiographers (hurrah!!) were lovely and pulled me around until I was lying exactly where they wanted, whereupon the couch is raised up towards the ceiling and nearer to the machine.

The girls then leave the room and the machine moves itself around me and delivers it's dose from two angles.  There is a TV screen on the ceiling showing generally badly taken pictures, I've seen three sets so far; animals (mostly over exposed), flowers (all taken from above - bad angle) and landscapes (probably the best set).  But it keeps you entertained.

It's over in a few minutes, in fact it takes longer to get on the bed and in position than anything else.  I'm lucky in that it's my right breast as those receiving treatment to the left have to hold their breath to protect against damage to the heart (when you take a deep breath, your lungs fill up and your heart moves away from your chest).

Each time you go, you have to double check the time of the next day's appointment as they often seem to tweak the timings by the old half hour.   Mine are mostly late afternoon and it's very quiet so I often get done a little early.

Today, Friday, was quite exciting as the small gowns were a different colour.

They also had Velcro fixings instead of poppers which was fine until after my treatment when I managed to attach the front to the shoulder and leave my boobs completely exposed 😵😵😵😵😵

Also I seem to be the only person wearing the non slip socks -  maybe they were meant as a joke.

As far as side effects go, I have a slight "smarting/itchy" feeling around the lymph node scar but that's all.  As recommended I'm moisturising with E45 cream twice daily and keeping my fingers crossed.

It's quite unbelievable how quickly this week has flown by - already I've had 5 out of the 15 zappings and whilst I know it does absolutely no good to think this way, my God (the real one) how I wish this was the only treatment I'd needed after surgery.

Docetaxel Side Effects

As I'm now 4 weeks past my last infusion, I thought it was a good time to reflect on the side effects of this particular drug - known as The Big Daddy as I was helpfully told at the beginning.

Once again, it would seem I've been incredibly lucky as I really can't say I've "suffered" too badly at all.  OK, there have been a few things to endure along the way, as I mentioned in my posts at the time, but all in all it wasn't too bad.

Radiotherapy Planning Session

My rearranged radiotherapy planning session took place at Maidstone Hospital (no facilities for R/T at Medway) and we had to allow at least an hour for traffic and parking which is a nightmare.  I was asked if I'd prefer any particular time of day for the appointments and I chose afternoon so we didn't have to get up too early and/or battle rush hour traffic, but in actual fact they're mostly quite late in the afternoon so I think we’ll get stuck in the evening traffic.  Never mind, working folk have to fit it in around their jobs but we're lucky and have lots of time to spare.

As I mentioned before this Cancer Unit is huge and impersonal, but we found our way to the R/T reception which unfortunately seemed to be manned by someone in their very first day of work (despite looking mid 50s!).  I gave my name and appointment time and without even looking up at me she uttered the dreaded words

- "The computer system is down so I don't know where you have to go"

- "Well I've never been here before, so I don't know either" I batted back.  

- "What's your name?"  I repeated it  "You're not on my list"  

I explained about the rearranged appointment

- "What's your name?" This third time she actually wrote it down

Luckily a colleague with a brain turned up then and took over, told me to take a seat in the waiting area and phoned though to the relevant person to say I'd arrived.

A youngish, male, radiographer came out to collect me and asked me to take all my top half clothing off and put on a button through shirt, but NOT to undo the shoulder poppers as this causes no end of problems - intriguing!

I was then taken into a fairly large room with a couch and CT scanner and the chap asked what treatment I was expecting as well as the usual name and DOB.  Fortunately we both agreed it was for radiotherapy to the right breast.  I was then introduced to another radiographer (male and very, very young).  I don't mind who treats me and I was aware it might be males but when the third bloke appeared I did feel a little bit outnumbered especially as I knew I was going to end up topless on a couch with my arms in rests behind my head!!!!  Luckily the 4th one to join us was female and a Jenny.

The couch is exactly the same as the one I'll be on for the R/T and has a wedge halfway down to stop your butt sliding down and removable underknee rests and arm rests.  (I forgot to take my phone in with me but it looked a little like this and was placed on top of the couch)

With my arms in the overhead rests I then had to shuffle up and down and measurements were taken to ensure I was in the correct position.  Then the purpose of the poppers was clear, once in position the radiographers could simply unpop the top of the shirt and pull it down.  I was drawn on, each side below the armpits and also on the centre of my chest, and then had to get off and on the couch again to make sure I would be back in exactly the same position.  

Once all 4 of them were happy that the marks were in the correct places, they all left the room and I was told to stay very still while the CT scan was done - the scanner looks like a large polo mint to me. 

They all came back into the room, warned me of sharp scratches and there I was tattooed - uurrgghhh (no offence to anyone who has tattoos or likes them, it's just I don't!!).  Not being able to see what was being done, I imagined the tattoos to be huge but actually they're fairly difficult to spot - more like freckles, except blue.

So that's that all sorted and the first session is 18 February.

Catching Up

Sorry I've not blogged for couple of weeks but there hasn't been anything new to report - really just more of the same old side effects.

Although I’ve had my last chemo session, of course it’s still going to take a while for the effects to wear off (as it has done throughout) so why I’m expecting to feel totally normal is beyond me - just goes to show how stupid I am.

The first few days weren’t so bad really but I just seem to burst into tears at the slightest possible thing (even thought) but since then I’ve been plagued with the sore mouth, nose sores and the most dreadful taste in my mouth.

Thursday early hours brought violent sickness and diarrhoea - hospitals really, really don't want you if you're likely to be infectious so ask that you wait 48 hours after any such incident.  So that meant my radiotherapy planning session had to be cancelled and rearranged for the following Monday.

But the biggest one of all is the fatigue which has hit me like a 10 ton truck a few days after the infusion - every afternoon saw me dozing off the sofa.

Fast forward to the end of the second week and my energy levels have recovered slightly but any prolonged activity still leaves me wiped out.  My mouth is a lot better but still a general soreness most of the time, especially when I'm eating or drinking.  

On the hair front, it continues to grow but so slowly.  I'm finding the look of regrowth quite difficult to deal with (much the same as when it was falling out) - I didn't mind too much being completely bald but just having a patchy, thin covering of hair I don't like.  

I will try and continue to show photos, as it's part of what's happened to me and I can't pretend otherwise, but I think it'll be a long, long time before I feel comfortable to go without a head covering of some sort.