my wife had it for 6.5 weeks and for her it was pretty bad. The skin blistered like you mentioned and it weeped. She used Biofine for it and towards the end Percocet twice in the evenings to sleep.
It was so hard for me seeing my wife suffer so much from radiation burns.
My wife is the kind of person that HATES taking pain medication but she had to for radiation. When she had a mastectomy she was on Percocet for a day and then switched to Advil.
It was horrible she would cry and there was nothing I could do about it.
She had 27 weeks of chemotherapy and the oncologist told her that radiation could make her fatigued. Well at first she did not notice the fatigue, but about the third week of constantly getting that damn radiation treatments daily she did.
It knocked out her energy.
But we do what we MUST do to survive. That is why my wife was so brave because she was in a lot of physical pain but continued doing exactly what her doctors told her to do.
Here is the good news:
After your last radiation treatment the radiation will still continue to get worse before it gets better. After about three weeks she could see her skin begin to heal and the burn begin to fade. Energy gradually returns and your body recuperates.
The effects of chemotherapy is still with her in the form of numbness in only some of her toes. Last treatment was about three months ago.
My wife saw her radiation oncologist a month after her last radiation treatment and was very pleased with how well she recovered. She said there was no sign of the cancer and declared her healed.
I pray those words are true and we continue living each day one day longer past her diagnosis of breast cancer. July 1st it will be a year since her breast cancer was discovered. She is not the same she was before the cancer, you never are.
But we will open up a bottle of champagne and toast her new beginning. One day you too will be there and I hope you celebrate a victory over this terrible disease.
Good luck,
Dave
Radiation treatment for different areas is done differently.
I had mine for cancer in my breast, daily treatment, 5 days a week for 5 weeks, ended up loosing layers of skin in the area treated (ouch!)
My sister had hers for uterine cancer, it was done intravaginally, single 24hour dosage which took more than 24 hours as it needed to be turned off whenever anyone else entered the room, eg meal deliveries, nurse for toilet requirements etc.How uncomfortable were your side effects from radiation therapy?
I wanted to answer your question since I have gone through radiation therapy, but I'm not sure I can answer your specific question. I had radiation therapy for five days a week for seven weeks for breast cancer following chemotherapy. It was not painful at all other than some dryness of the skin. My oncological radiologist made several suggestions as to how to overcome that.
You really just have to talk to your doctor.
the first time i had 33 treatments and my skin did start to blister so i wore cotton shirts anthing that wasnt tight. as far as any other side effects, its a cake walk compared to chemo. my second time for bone cancer i had 10 treatments and they radiated me all over my back and hip area and up my neck. i did almost lose my voice but as i said before, chemo is the worst. good luck and god bless you on your journey! keep a positve attitiued, dont let any of this consume your life! go on with life as normal as you can. best of luck and god can help!!!How uncomfortable were your side effects from radiation therapy?
Radiation was a piece of cake....Chemo was my problem...but yes you will see a burn and really dry skin...but mine did not hurt...
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Travis
33 radiation treatments for breast cancer. The worst part was going to the hospital every day for 6+ weeks.
Check with your doc/nurses. I used aloe vera 100% pure gel 2x per day and calendula lotion 1x per day on the radiated area. By the last treatment I was just a little bit pink. This varies widely from person to person. But BE PROACTIVE in taking care of your skin ... that will give you the best chance of not having problems.
Now, 9 months after finishing, the area is still tender (the tissue - muscle and deep layers of skin). The muscles cramp easily when I move certain ways. And the rib muscles are sore most of the time. I don't know if this ever goes away.
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