Friday, November 1, 2013

Burn Baby Burn

I've now finished 27 of my 33 radiation treatments and I am burning. My whole left chest, breast, and armpit looks like they have the worst sunburn you can imagine. The most painful area is my armpit. It's so red it's almost purple. I'd post a picture but I don't want to scare people. Seriously. I put the rx creams and lotions on it constantly but I'm still burning. On Monday I'm going to talk to my radiation oncologist about how many more treatments my poor skin can tolerate. Please pray that I don't burned too bad.

Radiation is also zapping my energy. I cannot wait until it's over and I can spend some much-needed time resting and recovering.

I keep reminding myself that I'm close to the END. When I'm finished with radiation, I'm finished with cancer treatment. For good.

I see my medical oncologist and breast surgeon next week for my 3 month follow up. It's been almost 3 months since my surgery and NED declaration. I'll see them every 3-6 months for a while. I know these appointments are routine, but they still scare me. Please pray that I will have good appointments and no recurrence scares.

In happier news, Elise is a great joy and a distraction from the pain and anxiety of all of this. She really gets cuter every day. I'm just in love with this age. She's now 5 months! 
My heart

This weekend I'm leading the "A Bump and A Lump" team in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5k. I'll post pictures and more about it next week! 

9 comments:

  1. Ugh, this absolutely SUCKS. Praying your skin gets some relief and that the pain is over ASAP.

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  2. I still remember the Christmas my grandmother was undergoing radiation for breast cancer, she was wore out all the time. Luckily once it was over she bounced back to her normal self. Hopefully the last few fly by and the Dr can get you something to help with it.

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  3. If you dont already use it, try Aquaphor on your burn (Walmart,Walgreens sells it). My Aunt used it on her radiation burns and it helped her. I remembered her telling me this and a few years later I was burnt really bad in New Mexico on vacation and used it and it cleared up my burns in a day.

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  4. That sounds terrible but thankfully it will all be over soon! Little Elise is looking so cute and chubby!

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  5. OUCH! MISERABLE! I was thinking the same thing...I obviously know nothing about it, but how much more can your poor skin take????? Praying for some sort of relief soon. You are amazing. Hang in there!!!!

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  6. Thinking of you!!!! And she's so adorable!

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  7. I burned awful in my armpit area too:( And it didn't really kick in until the last week...thankfully. I just felt like laying around with some kind of cooling gel on my burns til they healed. Good news-they do! And your energy will come back, and you will continue to grow hair, and love on that oh-so-precious baby!! Hang in there, sister. You've got this!! Almost there!!!

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  8. I found Mepilex to be very helpful during my breast cancer radiation treatments. My radiation oncologist gave it to me. I simply cut it to size to cover the most sensitive areas. It is a cloth like/foam fabric that is placed directly on the skin. It helped! Good luck and congrats on beating cancer!

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  9. Try drinking aloe vera juice. My mom went through radiation for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and you could never tell that she had radiation treatments. You can purchase it at Walmart. Doesn't taste great but it works.

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