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.
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.
