All Things Radiation

The end of radiation is near! I started my boost treatments today and I found out yesterday during my weekly doctor check-up that I only have 5 boost treatments. I had thought I had 8 boosts, but I had never been told for sure. There was some confusion about all this but it was explained and I’m happy to report that I will be done next Wednesday. WooHoo!

As for how I’m doing physically – I know that just last week I said that radiation was easy, but things can change quickly with medical treatments. While radiation is still much easier than chemo, I have hit the point where it gets a little harder. But it is still doable! And I’m just grateful that I got this far before I started having problems. My skin is now very red, dry and flaky in the whole treatment site, but most of the site is not causing me much problems. The underarm area is where many women seem to have problems and I am not an exception. This area is now a deep red and is very painful and hot. Luckily the radiation nurses are great and have offered some great tips to help. My new favorite is a gel sheet that cools and protects the skin. With it on I was able to get a good night sleep last night. Yay for caring nurses and modern inventions! The other positive note is that the worst areas – my underarm and port area are now not in the boost treatment field. This means that they can start to heal. 

My other new problem is fatigue. I started noticing it the end of last week. This fatigue is different than chemo. I can start the day out fine without much problems, but by the time I get home from radiation I am already starting to feel the tiredness. It comes on slowly in the morning but by late afternoon it can hit pretty hard. Yesterday I felt like a freight train had run over me. Not a good thing especially when I have 3 kiddos in school and 2 of them need help with homework. I am so grateful that I was able to do chemo during the summer. I cannot imagine getting through the school routine and doing that!

So what is a boost you ask? And how is it different? I’m glad you asked. I had been getting whole breast radiation. This means that the treatment field is the whole breast area plus the underarm area where the lymph nodes are. The type of radiation that is used for this is high-energy photon radiation which can penetrate deeply. To minimize damage to the organs the machine is set up so that it administers the radiation in two fields – one on each side of the patient lying on a table. It comes in at an angle just above the surface of the body and way off to the side. This allows it to pass through and not cause damage to the deeper tissue and organs. 

Boost treatments are a lower-energy form of radiation called electron. This is used to treat just the tumor site. For a lumpectomy patient this is the old tumor bed inside the breast. For a mastectomy patient like me it is the scar. The machine is set up so that the radiation is administered directly above you and passes through a special cut out that allows radiation only to treat just the area they want it to.

I hope this explanation makes a little sense and helps to explain a little more what is going on during radiation therapy. Can you tell I love learning about science and medical technology? :o)

I am looking forward to reporting next week that I am done with radiation!