First of all, my apologies for keeping those of you in suspense who have been checking my blog periodically to hear how everything went in the end. Life got crazy - like usual. Anyways, I finished all 17 rounds of radiation with no problem - my swallowing never became unbearable and my skin never blistered. I had even purchased a tube of RadX in anticipation of my skin becoming extremely irritated and never used it. Within about three days my swallowing was back to normal, but it did take a couple weeks for the pink color to fade.
Then after finishing treatments in early November I didn't do anything medically related up until last week when I popped in for a visit to see my oncologist. As far as things go for follow-up it's not that exciting. I just show up in about 6 months for a CT scan and some blood work. Pretty easy I think. I thought she would have requested a PET scan but actually it's not recommended. I think it was because of the possibility of getting false positives.
I did get my port out as well last week. That went pretty well and I was only a little bit sore for a few days. They did this at the hospital and provided some great drugs to allow me to sleep through the whole thing, which I was completely happy with. Basically the procedure was they cleaned the area, re-opened the original incision site, took out the port and glued/steri-stripped the incision back up. In fact, they were even so nice as to clean and give the port back to me haha.
So until 6 months go by, I won't have any updates. I may go back though and add any tidbits of info I may have left out and forgotten to put in my posts. Happy Holidays everyone!
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Almost Done! (And A Quick Update)
Wow. Do I really only have 4 more left?!? It's amazing how fast this really has flown by (and I am NOT complaining at all!) So far things are still pretty good with just a minor complaint. At about #12 I noticed some swallowing difficulties. As long as I chew my food really well and take smaller bites there aren't any problems. However I tend to scarf down my food and this results in my throat feeling like I've swallowed a large pill without enough water, which most people know is an uncomfortable feeling. The same usually goes for liquids as well, as long as I sip drinks life is good.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Seven Down Already! (And 10 More To Go!)
Thanks to school being so crazzzy lately, it's been hard to find time to update! But I have already done 7 rounds of radiation and each have been uneventful - I hope it stays this way! My total number was finally decided on and I have to go for a total of 17 treatments. I go everyday, Mon-Fri. The radiation techs like to joke that they are "giving me the weekend off" when I go in on Fridays for a round haha. It's a bit of an inconvenience to go to the hospital everyday for these treatments, but they don't take long at all. The total time that I'm actually in the hospital is seriously 15 mins. I spend more time driving to the place than I do actually getting the treatment. So far I still feel pretty energetic and my skin seems to be handling the radiation well. It's interesting though, the skin on the front of my chest is slightly pink while the skin on my back actually looks tan. One of the nurses recommended to me that I put 100% aloe vera on my skin twice a day and this seems to help keep my skin looking and feeling good.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Preparations for Radiation....
So after finishing chemo back in early September I was given a whole month off! No appointments, blood draws, scans, etc. It was so great to have my life back! However now I get to start step 2 of treatment - radiation.
Before I could actually begin radiation there were a couple things I had to do first. I had to have to the radiation field marked out on my person and a "cradle" made for me to lay in when receiving treatment - this would put me in the same position on the table every time. So last Wednesday I had an appointment to do all this. First the radiation techs explained to me that they had to make a mold of my body so I would be in the same position every time. They did this by mixing up a bunch of liquid chemicals in what was basically a big plastic bag and then they laid this out on the table. Next they helped me lay down on top of this and they pushed the sides of the bag up around me. This was actually a pretty relaxing experience as the chemicals were warm while they solidified and I had to lay still while the mold hardened, this took about 15 mins. It was tempting to fall asleep haha.
Then after that they explained to me my two options for having the radiation field marked on me. Option one was to go the tattoo route, where they would make very tiny ink dots on my skin, they would be barely noticeable, but yes they would be permanent. Option two was to have the spots marked by using a special skin marker and then placing tegaderm (a clear, flexible tape made for skin) on top of the spot so it wouldn't wash off. However, the tape has been known to fall off if you're not careful. If one of the taped spots fall off and the ink spot is gone, then it's a little time consuming for the techs to re-determine exactly were the mark was and remark it. I didn't feel like getting tattoos so I went with option 2. So after a couple scans and using various lasers to pinpoint each mark, I left with a "+" mark near the top of my chest, just about two inches below the base of my neck (this would mark the center of the radiated area), one on each side of my waist, and another just above my belly button. The last three marks are just basically used to make sure you are properly centered on the table.
By now I've actually completed 2 rounds of radiation and I'll write more about these soon! But I'm going to head to bed now I think. So happy it's Friday tomorrow!!
Before I could actually begin radiation there were a couple things I had to do first. I had to have to the radiation field marked out on my person and a "cradle" made for me to lay in when receiving treatment - this would put me in the same position on the table every time. So last Wednesday I had an appointment to do all this. First the radiation techs explained to me that they had to make a mold of my body so I would be in the same position every time. They did this by mixing up a bunch of liquid chemicals in what was basically a big plastic bag and then they laid this out on the table. Next they helped me lay down on top of this and they pushed the sides of the bag up around me. This was actually a pretty relaxing experience as the chemicals were warm while they solidified and I had to lay still while the mold hardened, this took about 15 mins. It was tempting to fall asleep haha.
Then after that they explained to me my two options for having the radiation field marked on me. Option one was to go the tattoo route, where they would make very tiny ink dots on my skin, they would be barely noticeable, but yes they would be permanent. Option two was to have the spots marked by using a special skin marker and then placing tegaderm (a clear, flexible tape made for skin) on top of the spot so it wouldn't wash off. However, the tape has been known to fall off if you're not careful. If one of the taped spots fall off and the ink spot is gone, then it's a little time consuming for the techs to re-determine exactly were the mark was and remark it. I didn't feel like getting tattoos so I went with option 2. So after a couple scans and using various lasers to pinpoint each mark, I left with a "+" mark near the top of my chest, just about two inches below the base of my neck (this would mark the center of the radiated area), one on each side of my waist, and another just above my belly button. The last three marks are just basically used to make sure you are properly centered on the table.
By now I've actually completed 2 rounds of radiation and I'll write more about these soon! But I'm going to head to bed now I think. So happy it's Friday tomorrow!!
Friday, August 26, 2011
A Positive Update About Radiation...
So I met with the radiation oncologist the other day and it sounds like things should tentatively go well. He said that because I was an "early responder" meaning I had a clear PET scan so early in my chemo rounds (after round 4 actually) I win the lower radiation dose of 2400 something. I have no idea what 2400 means, but it sounds better than receiving a higher dose that they would use for example breast cancer. Because I will be receiving a "lower dose" he thinks I should only experience minor side effects like reddened/warm skin or some generalized fatigue. I'll be doing about 18 treatments, Mon-Fri, five days a week. He wants me to "settle" from chemo so I won't start radiation until October.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Eleven Rounds of Chemo In a Nutshell...
So I thought I'd give everyone the "run down" of how I've found about each chemo to go. Thankfully I have just one more to go!!
Day 1: Usually I go to chemo about 3 or 4ish in the afternoon and it's a 2 and a half hour process. (I go in every other Friday.) Then as soon as I get home from a treatment I start drinking water like crazy!! Someone else I knew who did chemo suggested that you should drink a lot of water - and I really think it helps!! I slacked one time and felt more "off" and "icky" than usual for the rest of the week. Anyways, I continue to drink lots of water especially throughout the first week). I don't normally notice any symptoms other than I'm tired a little earlier at night than usual.
Days 2-4: Ughhhhh! I get this disgusting, stale, chemical taste in my mouth that won't go away! Also I find that food doesn't taste right and food that I normally really enjoy can taste so gross (so I suggest to those doing chemo to eat food you don't like as much so you don't have negative feelings towards those foods later.) Because of that gross aftertaste, I usually drink a lot of tea or something else in place of plain water as regular water can taste gross. To avoid brushing my teeth/swishing with mouthwash like 2039438 times a day to get rid of that taste, I find chewing some strong, mint flavored gum does the trick! Not to mention I find that mint keeps the nausea feelings away. Also, during these days is when "chemo brain" usually strikes! I find it hard to multitask, or study during these days. Sometimes I'll totally forget what I was planning to do! But I usually figure it out shortly after forgetting.
Days 5-14: Usually I'm feeling more back to normal by about day 7. But I get tired on and off throughout this period, and sometimes I need a nap or some caffeine. I think being on summer break right now has been so helpful as I can go to bed and sleep in really late everyday! Back in the beginning though I had trouble sleeping more than 4 hrs at a time because the steroids they gave me kept me wired, but now I'm sleeping much better.
Overall, chemo sucks, but I am VERY thankful that the symptoms have been pretty minimal. During the spring semester I was still able to keep up with school and did really well in all of my classes. For this summer, I've been busy taking a summer class and working a little here or there, and during July I played in the pit orchestra for a community theater (so fun!!!). I think staying somewhat busy - but not stressed helped me a lot. I found that when I spent a lot of time cooped up in the house I'd worry about how I felt from chemo, and that would actually make the icky, off feelings you get worse.
My last piece of advice to those undergoing chemo is to avoid orange juice and all other highly acidic fruits/juices. In the 22 some weeks I've been doing chemo I can honestly say I've only had two episodes of vomiting, once because I was way too stressed out about taking the GRE, and the other because I drank orange juice. There was one week where I felt nauseous from mid-morning till the evening everyday and I thought that it was just a side effect from chemo. I figured that the nausea had caught up to me and I would just have to accept it, but once I stopped drinking the OJ the daily nausea went away and never came back.
Day 1: Usually I go to chemo about 3 or 4ish in the afternoon and it's a 2 and a half hour process. (I go in every other Friday.) Then as soon as I get home from a treatment I start drinking water like crazy!! Someone else I knew who did chemo suggested that you should drink a lot of water - and I really think it helps!! I slacked one time and felt more "off" and "icky" than usual for the rest of the week. Anyways, I continue to drink lots of water especially throughout the first week). I don't normally notice any symptoms other than I'm tired a little earlier at night than usual.
Days 2-4: Ughhhhh! I get this disgusting, stale, chemical taste in my mouth that won't go away! Also I find that food doesn't taste right and food that I normally really enjoy can taste so gross (so I suggest to those doing chemo to eat food you don't like as much so you don't have negative feelings towards those foods later.) Because of that gross aftertaste, I usually drink a lot of tea or something else in place of plain water as regular water can taste gross. To avoid brushing my teeth/swishing with mouthwash like 2039438 times a day to get rid of that taste, I find chewing some strong, mint flavored gum does the trick! Not to mention I find that mint keeps the nausea feelings away. Also, during these days is when "chemo brain" usually strikes! I find it hard to multitask, or study during these days. Sometimes I'll totally forget what I was planning to do! But I usually figure it out shortly after forgetting.
Days 5-14: Usually I'm feeling more back to normal by about day 7. But I get tired on and off throughout this period, and sometimes I need a nap or some caffeine. I think being on summer break right now has been so helpful as I can go to bed and sleep in really late everyday! Back in the beginning though I had trouble sleeping more than 4 hrs at a time because the steroids they gave me kept me wired, but now I'm sleeping much better.
Overall, chemo sucks, but I am VERY thankful that the symptoms have been pretty minimal. During the spring semester I was still able to keep up with school and did really well in all of my classes. For this summer, I've been busy taking a summer class and working a little here or there, and during July I played in the pit orchestra for a community theater (so fun!!!). I think staying somewhat busy - but not stressed helped me a lot. I found that when I spent a lot of time cooped up in the house I'd worry about how I felt from chemo, and that would actually make the icky, off feelings you get worse.
My last piece of advice to those undergoing chemo is to avoid orange juice and all other highly acidic fruits/juices. In the 22 some weeks I've been doing chemo I can honestly say I've only had two episodes of vomiting, once because I was way too stressed out about taking the GRE, and the other because I drank orange juice. There was one week where I felt nauseous from mid-morning till the evening everyday and I thought that it was just a side effect from chemo. I figured that the nausea had caught up to me and I would just have to accept it, but once I stopped drinking the OJ the daily nausea went away and never came back.
Monday, August 22, 2011
An Introduction...
Hey Everyone,
So it might seem like it's a little late in the game for me to start a blog about all of this, but my primary purpose for this blog is to share with others my experiences with radiation. There are so many great blogs out there about people and their experiences with chemo, but last I looked I've only found two blogs by people who had Hodgkin's and wrote about their radiation treatments. And if you're like me, I would really appreciate some advice from "real people" about what lays ahead with radiation. I always find it frustrating when you ask what it will be like and the doctor or nurse just lists of a bunch of side effects that you "may experience" - not that helpful, but thanks though. So I hope whether you are just newly diagnosed, in the middle of chemo, starting radiation, or a friend/family member who wishes they could understand better what their loved one is going through, I hope I can help!
So it might seem like it's a little late in the game for me to start a blog about all of this, but my primary purpose for this blog is to share with others my experiences with radiation. There are so many great blogs out there about people and their experiences with chemo, but last I looked I've only found two blogs by people who had Hodgkin's and wrote about their radiation treatments. And if you're like me, I would really appreciate some advice from "real people" about what lays ahead with radiation. I always find it frustrating when you ask what it will be like and the doctor or nurse just lists of a bunch of side effects that you "may experience" - not that helpful, but thanks though. So I hope whether you are just newly diagnosed, in the middle of chemo, starting radiation, or a friend/family member who wishes they could understand better what their loved one is going through, I hope I can help!
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