Need first hand info on radiation treatment for cancer

[havocmom]

Hey, evilDUers, my sis has entered this new phase of her treatment and I know zilch about it. Would like to understand more about what she is going through so I can really hear her when we chat on the phone.
She is pretty stoic and without benefit of being in the room with her, I am at a disadvantage determining how she is really doing and how I can be of help all these miles away. (She does have family with her at this time)

Any impressions/recollections/advice any of you would like to share would be greatly appreciated. PM me if you would rather not go global with your experiences. I really do need to try and get some understanding of what she is going through.

It has been a tough year for her. Her son died and then the breast cancer. She is amazing, and I want to help her stay that way.

Thanks for anything you care to share. EvilDUers are the best.

hm

[molly]

1. My contractor had - almost free - testicular cancer

he's only in his 30's. He sat at my dining room table last week and detailed his treatment. He said radiation hurts. He also had chemo. Both made him very ill for a while. He had a pain and it took them almost 2 years to find it. Both of his brothers-in-law and his mother-in-law are docs. He went everywhere and finally went to the Mayo Clinic where they found it and immediately removed his testicle.

[havocmom]

5. Thanks molly. Hope he is gonna be OK.

Hope everyone facing scary times is gonna be OK ;)

[Loki]

2. My sister-in-law had cancer

and we took care of her when she came down here for her treatment. As a nurse, I know each individuals response is different, but you might find this web site informative. http://www.breastcancer.org/

You and your sister will be in my prayers.

[havocmom]

4. Thank you, Loki

Going to bookmark that site and send it to my daughter who is in same area as my sis and doing the 'keep an eye on Auntie' thing.

Yeah, I know everybody has different experiences, just wanted to get an idea where some of the pits are likely to be. She did much better with the chemo than we expected. Good attitude, strong will, loving, realistic support system.

And thank you for prayers. Thank you very much.

[LanternWaste]

3. I worked in an Outpatient Radiation Therapy Center

I worked in an Outpatient Radiation Therapy Center for app. five years (1990-1995) and I'll give you some general bits and pieces of info I picked up during my tenure there...

Radiation Therapy works by basically dousing the cancerous area in radiation which kill the cancer cells. The downside is that the radiation does not hit only the cancerous cells, it also hits the surrounding healthy tissue. This is the major reason why the patient will begin to feel tired and lethargic after a period of treatment... the body is using higher amounts of energy to replace and heal the damaged, healthy tissue.

There is absolutely no pain at all during treatment. The patient will lay on a table in a treatment room surrounded (more often than not) by a machine that resembles half an MRI tube. The radiation may make the skin tissue rashy or tender-- talk to the Therapist about which lotions are o-kay to use to soothe the skin.

Most treatments are five days a week for six weeks, and the treatment itself will last app. 10 minutes. During treatment, she will have to lie perfectly still. Depending on the patient, there are various side-effects-- lethargy and nausea being the two most common. My (non-empirical) observations were that app. 50% of the patients suffer zero side effects, 30% suffer nausea, 15% suffer lethargy and 5% suffer both lethargy and nausea.

If there is nausea, Nutriment (or any other liquid-based food supplement) will be recommended. I will not recommend Marijuana simply because I have never met a patient that tried it (or admitted to trying it) so I have absolutely no idea if it is effective or not.

She will most likely be given temporary tattoo's used as targeting-aid's for the radiation machines. It's important she does not wash these off. The process to put them on (part of the dosimetry process) is lengthy and involved-- most patients don't want to go through it more than once as they have to lie perfectly still for app. two hours.

She will see the oncologist app. one time a week to check on her progress. At the end of the treatment period she may be given another dose or treatment or not, depending on how effective the first was.

From another, purely non-empirical viewpoint, I noticed one major thing while working there-- patients with a positive, upbeat attitude defeated the disease more often than not, regardless of disease progression. I was told this the first week I began working there and after a period of skepticism, it simply became an accepted fact that no therapist or oncologist could prove.

Please bear in mind, I worked at the Radiation Center almost ten years ago and there have been some changes more likely than not. Please feel free to PM me with question or comments. I was not an oncologist, nurse or rad therapist, but I picked up a lot of info working there...

My prayers to her, her family and you. O8)

[havocmom]

8. Many thanks, LanternWaste. Great to hear your observations.

Emperical data is fine and dandy, but nothing beats some good, honest observation from someone in the trenches!

She keeps a good attitude, but like I said, she is stoic. She will hide much to spare the rest of us. She is also pretty good at denial! She was really surprised when even she had bad days during chemo. She is someone who thinks sheer will can overcome EVERYTHING. That is good, to a point. But I just want to understand what she might face along this part of the journey.

You have been a great help. And thank you for prayers for her. It has been a nasty year.

peace.
hm

[miss_kitty]

9. It's pretty much like what you said-and I'd forgotten stuff

they made the tatoos not so temp, but they are pinpricks with india ink.
marijuana worked for the mild nausea, but I was mainly taking Zofran and Dolasatron.

I had all the side affects, and it is important your sis understand-she needs to let her team Know everything. she might end up having supplemental IV for fluids and need extra naps. she needs to do what her body tells her-it's only a few weeks she need to pretend she's not stoic-then she can go back to the stif upper lip thing...

[commander bunnypants]

6. give her hugs for us

:hi:

DDQM

[havocmom]

10. Will try, DEMMAN

but don't know if my arms are that long. ;)

Appreciate it my friend.

[miss_kitty]

7. I had Radiation therapy

It does not hurt. in fact it's strange because you go into a room where the spend ages arranging you on a tble or up against a marked board (mine was lay down treatment) and everyone else leaves the room. Then the zap. and the machine rolls around till it's under the table and zap again. I had the stuff aimed at my lower abdomen.

here's the deal-if she is having Chemo as well as radition, she's likely to hit a nadir-which they never told me about, or in the shit storm of info, i missed. sweat, teeth chattering chills. She needs to mask up and go to the hospital immediately. If it's the ER they need to be told upon arrival it is a nadir due to cancer treatment. On 2nd thought-she should ask a member of her team exactly how to handle it, should it come up after hours.

after I had my nadir the most painful blisters came up. Your sis should check herself in the area of irradiation for blistering-sometimes the burn comes on so slowly, you don't feel it-that's 2-3 weeks into it-however, I am sure it varies according to person, amount of radiation etc.

For me, the hugest letdown came AFTER treatment-it had been like a job, only everyone is really nice to you, and extremely concerned.

If you can find it, I suggest the Julia Sweeney movie, 'God Said Ha!' about her family's experience with cancer-you'll laugh, you'll cry-it'll become a part of you...

My best to you, your family and of course, your sister.

[havocmom]

11. Thank you for your posts, mlle_chatte. Really appreciate the first hand

impressions. She is done with the chemo, so not the double whammy you had all at once.

Yeah, she has gotten better at letting her team know if she is having difficulty. Nurse really gave her what-for early on when she sorta failed to let them know some of the stuff that happened. She is getting over her inhibitions at talking to health care professionals. Hard for her, they are the only people in the world I have ever seen her be intimidated around. She is not a person who read the 'owner's manual' for her own body and what she didn't understand about it is staggering. She is really working at learning now.

Will look into the movie. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hope you have a LONG and good 'ever after'.

Thanks,
hm