Radiation

First I'll start with my physical therapy appointment before I get into all the goods about when I start radiation.

I was really happy with how it went today. I was afraid she was going to say that I for sure have lymphadema and there was nothing they could do...my mind always goes to the worst possible thing first of course. But the physical therapist said I most likely have cording (click for definition). After talking to her and seeing the definition I'm confident that is what it is. Sometimes I forget that my body has been through A LOT and that I shouldn't expect it to just do whatever I want it to do without odd sensations. I'm finally getting feeling back in my upper right arm and on the side where my surgery was which is great. The physical therapist told me that this is a "new normal" but about a year after surgery I should be back to my "old normal" which means how I felt before surgery. And although the mastectomy sounds like the most complicated surgery, the axillary lymph node dissection is actually more complex because they have to removed nodes but also move around nerves and lots of other insides and rearrange things.

So on to radiation. I got the call today right before lunch that they were ready to start my radiation. She asked if I could come in tomorrow night. I said night? She said yes around 745. Umm no thank you. First you're either assuming that I don't have plans or that I will cancel them for this. And I do and I won't! I was told that the first session is like an hour and its more like a mapping session with an x-ray and that radiation would start the next day...unless it was on Friday. Then it would start on Monday.

And of course before I talked to the lady I was adamant about having the earliest appointment and I wouldn't take no for an answer. But after talking to her I realized that 65 other people (her number not mine) need radiation everyday too. So for the first 2ish weeks I will be going 7 or 8pm and then I will work my way down the time scale. I'm also reconsidering going in the middle of the day. If I can't have the first couple appointments in the day then its not really helpful. Going at 845am would mean that I would have to use like 1.5 hours of leave EVERYDAY. We'll see. I don't have to figure out all 6 weeks of it yet.

I'm feeling a little nervous about radiation. More than I thought I would. Its just that there's so much unknown. Just like chemo, they can tell you what side effects you could have but they can't tell you what you will have. Except fatigue. Everyone is lucky enough to get that.

But I'm glad that I went to physical therapy when I did because I know that radiation can be so bad for your skin and it will set me back a little bit in terms of my range of motion in my arm. So now I have exercises to do everyday, even during radiation, to help keep my range of motion the same.

Oh and I read the article in Time that I mentioned in my last blog. It was so interesting. And hopeful. Stand Up To Cancer is funding some great clinical trials that are changing lives everyday. Obviously not every thing they find out about cancer is good news but if there is ANY good news that's comes from the research then its all worth it to me.