Day #1 -- Post Treatment!
Wow! So excited. Guess who's not gonna make the long drive to her doctor's office today? ...
I had my FINAL radiation treatment (Day #21) yesterday. I can officially say that the tumor blasts treatments are more hardcore. My residual side effects are as follows: a little pain, some soreness and tenderness, my nipple is darker in color than the other and I have what looks like a rash/sunburn all over the breast. In addition, there is a darker red spot about the size of a golf ball where those last five targeted treatments were. Fatigue is not really much of an issue.
I am told that all of these side effects will diminish with time (like my scars) and that I am not likely to have any lasting changes from this treatment. The discoloration may be permanent in that the redness will fade to a tan, but there is no way to know that now and even if that happens, so what?
My radiation oncologist says out of a ten point scale where ten is the best, I was a solid ten insofar as how I did with the treatments. I think you could call it successful if only there was a way to measure it. Ultimately, the only test is in time and lack of recurrence. If I never have cancer come back in that breast/chest area that was treated, you could call it a complete success. Of course, it could be that cancer was never gonna return even without the treatments. And there's also that 4-5% chance that the cancer will come back locally even WITH the treatments. And, if that wasn't enough ...
I could still get recurrence in another area that wasn't treated.
FUCK YOU CANCER, YOU SNEAKY BASTARD!
Sorry, had to get that off my chest. And now, I've got radiation off my chest too ... LITERALLY. Lol.
But for now, we're just gonna be happy and celebrate this milestone. It's a good day.
I had my FINAL radiation treatment (Day #21) yesterday. I can officially say that the tumor blasts treatments are more hardcore. My residual side effects are as follows: a little pain, some soreness and tenderness, my nipple is darker in color than the other and I have what looks like a rash/sunburn all over the breast. In addition, there is a darker red spot about the size of a golf ball where those last five targeted treatments were. Fatigue is not really much of an issue.
I am told that all of these side effects will diminish with time (like my scars) and that I am not likely to have any lasting changes from this treatment. The discoloration may be permanent in that the redness will fade to a tan, but there is no way to know that now and even if that happens, so what?
My radiation oncologist says out of a ten point scale where ten is the best, I was a solid ten insofar as how I did with the treatments. I think you could call it successful if only there was a way to measure it. Ultimately, the only test is in time and lack of recurrence. If I never have cancer come back in that breast/chest area that was treated, you could call it a complete success. Of course, it could be that cancer was never gonna return even without the treatments. And there's also that 4-5% chance that the cancer will come back locally even WITH the treatments. And, if that wasn't enough ...
I could still get recurrence in another area that wasn't treated.
FUCK YOU CANCER, YOU SNEAKY BASTARD!
Sorry, had to get that off my chest. And now, I've got radiation off my chest too ... LITERALLY. Lol.
But for now, we're just gonna be happy and celebrate this milestone. It's a good day.
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