Radiation Therapy for Lumpectomy

The word Radiation is a scary word, but it is also a good word.  Radiation therapy takes something that can be used negatively and refocuses it on healing and treatment, so I think of it as a hopeful word.  I created a new online profile name when I started this journey  . . . radioactivegirl.  It was started after I had to have some tests in the nuclear medicine department and there were several radioactive signs around.  In addition to my username it is my cancer fighting alter ego.

I started radiation therapy on Tuesday (1/8).  If you have a lumpectomy you always have radiation for breast cancer.  Some people with a mastectomy also have radiation if they have positive nodes, but for me I am having radiation because I had a lumpectomy to get the same survival rates as if I had a mastectomy, but I got to keep my breasts.

Preparation for radiation takes time.  They put you on a machine and take some x-rays and do some mapping.  They put these marks on my skin with a sharpie and then put some clear stickers over them.  I was told to keep them on my skin until my next appointment a week later.  I'm not sure exactly what they did but they mapped it and had the physics department review it.  Then I went back and they did some stuff to make sure it was aligned correctly and removed the stickers and gave me 5 tattoos.  Yep, tattoos or permanent markings.  These arent the tattoos like you are thinking about - they are small black dots.  The technician put some ink on my skin and then used a single needle for these medical tattoos.  I looked at them afterwards and I have moles that are bigger than these tattoos.  Before I had them I was thinking of having them removed after treatment because they will remind me of treatment.  But I may keep them because someone made me think of these as battle scars.  I am undecided at this moment, but even though they are small they are black and stand out among all my brown moles.

Radiation itself is usually a quick and painless process.  I get undressed and into a gown.  Then when I get called in to the radiation room with a giant radioactive sign and a 5 inch door I lie down on the table/bed thing.  There are notches and groves so that your head is cradled and they put a triangular pillow under your knees and you put your hands above your head and there are braces to support them.  There are laser beams of light that are pointed at your body and I believe they use those to lign up with your tattoos.  I cant actually see what they are doing but they do always move me around a little.  Then they leave the room and close the 5 inch thick door.  The radiation machine starts making noise and there are lights flashing to indicate that the beam is on.  Then they come in, the machine moves to another position and the process is repeated.
I am usually pretty calm until I hear the noise that indicates the beam is on and I start to breathe heavily and freak out a little.  I always have my eyes closed and I try and think good thoughts.  I also use this time to send people good thoughts.  I don't really pray, but I do send people good thoughts and I figure that is a good a time as any to do that since I have some quiet alone time.

I have radiation in two positions and after the second one they tell me I can get up and go.  It is totally painless and uneventful.  This is repeated every weekday for a total of 25 times and then I get 6 boosts which I think are just targeting the area where the tumor was, not the whole breast.  The most common side effects of radiation are reddening of the treatment area and fatigue.  My radiation doctors recommend using 100% aloe vera gel.  I have been using it religiously one to two times a day to prevent any radiation "burns" that arent really burns but look like a bad sunburn.  If my skin does get red then the doctors have other things they can prescribe.  In the meantime I am slathering on the aloe vera in hopes of preventing any skin reactions.  I do see the doctor after every 10 days of treatment so they can monitor me.

So far I have had 9 out of 31 treatments and I do not really notice any reddening of my skin or have fatigue.  I think, like chemo, that the effects are cumulative so that may come later but so far so good.