Radiation: When I first started radiation, I thought it was going to feel like it would go on forever. However, I am happy to announce that it has flown by! I only have a few sessions left and it is actually bittersweet--the sweet part obviously being done! Since I go every single day, I have become close with the staff/techs and can say I will honestly miss them!
While I explained the process of radiation in my last post, there isn't much more to it, except for something called the bolus! A bolus is like a silicon or gel mat that is placed on top of my chest for the duration of the session and I use it every 3rd treatment. The purpose of the bolus is to concentrate the radiation more closely to my skin to give that area some extra attention. It doesn't feel any differently than my other sessions, though I can usually see my skin turns more pink/red after those sessions.
Apart from extreme fatigue, the only other side effect I am experiencing is clearly radiation "burn." The pictures below show my progress!
Day 12
Day 20
Day 21
The reason for the sombrero looking outline in the picture above is because they are mapping out my last 5 treatments (in that area) which is targeted to where my tumor was.
Day 24
Day 26
Day 27
Even though you can see the burn on my chest getting progressively worse, it usually doesn't hurt that bad, since I don't really have any nerves in that area, but this section under my armpit will literally be the death of me. The doctor gave me a prescription cream to help with it, but I am still in pain. Cannot wait until it is gone! :)
Hair:
Surprisingly enough, waiting for your hair to grow back is harder than losing it in the first place. When I look at these pictures, yes I am clearly able to see progress, but day to day it is frustrating because I feel like it is moving at a snails pace.
March 10
May 28
June 14
July 2
July 15
July 31
Even though I started coloring my hair when I was 10 (thanks, Donna!), I know it is coming back a slightly different color than my true natural color. This is completely normal for post-chemo patients! Mine, as you can see, has a gray-ish hue to it, and while part of me wants to let it stay virgin hair forever, we all know it will only be a matter of time before I start to color it again :) As far as the texture goes, which also usually changes from chemo, I am pretty sure I will still have some curl to it, but at this point it is too short to tell.
Surgery:
As mentioned in my previous post, my radiologist stated that he thinks I will be able to get my reconstructive surgery in December, which I was beyond excited about. However, this past week, I met with 2 different plastic surgeons: one was Dr. Mahabir, aka McDreamy from Mayo Clinic, and the other was Dr. Creech, in Chandler. While they were both pleased at my progress, they each told me that the earliest either of them would be willing to go in for surgery would be March (6 months post radiation). The reasoning behind this is because even though I will technically be done with radiation, the effects of radiation do not stop as soon as my treatment does--my skin will likely harden (which is normal) and internally will take time to heal. Because of this, surgery any sooner than March would likely result in a "failure", meaning I would have to have secondary surgeries to repair the damage done by the initial surgeries. Although discouraged, I know March really isn't that far away, and it is still significantly sooner than my original reconstruction date, which was October 2018. I will visit again with the plastic surgeon some time in February to get a more official surgery plan set in place. Stay tuned!
While being examined by Dr. Mahabir last week during the surgery consultation, he noticed a significant sized lump in my left (non-cancer) side. This lump is about the size of a grape. Although he is confident it is fat necrosis, which is a common side effect from mastectomy, he recommended I get it checked out just in case. So, I brought it to the attention of my radiologist, and they also recommended we investigate it further. SO, I had an ultrasound on it the other day, and they recommended I do a biopsy of said lump just to be safe. This will take place on Tuesday, September 26. While I am annoyed have having to get ANOTHER biopsy, I certainly want to make sure that this lump is benign so I can stay on the road to being cancer free! As always, will keep you posted :)
As always, thank you so much for your support throughout my journey! I actually received the sweetest message from a friend from high school the other day, who has recently been diagnosed with cancer herself. She told me that all of the information i've posted on her helped her out with processing her diagnosis, as well as helping her cope with the expectations as to what to expect as she begins to undergo treatment. Of course I do not write in this blog to seek attention, as it is helpful for me personally to get my feelings out, but to have had her say that I positively impacted her was enough to make me ugly cry (which I did). I love you, Mary!
