We are in the last major phase of treatment - Radiation! Today, 7/25/16 we begin 6 weeks of radiation treatment. I'll be going to the Radiation Center here in Nashua, NH which is great because it's close by, especially since I have to go EVERYDAY - Monday - Friday.
Part of getting treatment started involves getting "marked" in the location of where radiation will be administered, by doing this it helps them line me up properly to ensure the radiation is targeted to ONLY the area they are radiating. They had to "mark" me with 4 tiny tattoos, you can barely see them as they look like tiny little dots.
Why does my overall treatment involve radiation? Well, the advantage in doing radiation decreases my local breast recurrence by 70% and provides a 17% better prognosis. Based on all the treatment I've done so far, this is a continuation of the advanced treatment I've received to help kill off any potential cancerous cells remaining and reduced the chances of future recurrence.
And it begins... 6 weeks, everyday (M-F) of this. There are lots of side effects with radiation but the most common are fatigue and skin issues. In my case, since I have implants, there is a concern that the right side implant may get affected (get hard or shrink). I knew that going in, but the alternative was to do expanders first and my doctors advised me NOT to go that route and to do reconstruction during the original surgery as it is harder to reconstruct radiated skin. After much research, I agreed. So, we will see how it goes. Treating the skin cracks me up as they suggested to use "Aquaphor". This is the same stuff I used on my girls when they were babies to heal their bottoms if they had diaper rash. Who would have thought that it's used to treat skin that is radiated? Amazing! Keeping my fingers crossed and hopeful that all will go well. As I've said many times before, "One Day At A time".
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