I am officially half way through my radiation treatments now. As the weeks have progressed I have noticed a bit more fatigue, which usually begins to set in mid to late afternoon. For the most part I manage to push through it without much difficulty, but there have been days that I have become "zombie mom" by early evening. I will add that those have been rare, maybe just one or two days. I have managed to get a nap in here and there too, which helps.
The other affect of radiation that I am beginning to notice is skin tenderness. Thus far my skin is just mildly pink. Given my sensitivity to the sun, I really expected to react fairly quickly. Whether due to my being faithful to apply the creams I was given or due to skin reacting differently to radiation X-rays than to the suns rays, I do not know. Now along with that pink tone a slight discomfort has set in. It's very subtle and not extremely uncomfortable. I would liken it to when you have been out in the sun just a bit too long, narrowly escaping a sunburn. Your skin becomes somewhat dry, tight and perhaps the slightest bit sore. This is the closest I can come to describing how I feel at the moment.
I am also pleased to report that I will be receiving a treatment this Saturday morning, which will get me one day closer to completing everything before the end of the year. Although I am thrilled to be able to get this treatment, I also feel a little guilty about it. I spoke with my radiation oncologist this past Monday about whether it looked as though a Saturday treatment would be possible. She encouraged me to check with the technicians each Friday about it and also placed a note regarding this in my file. Yesterday I decided to ask about the possibility of not doing the last two treatments if Saturday treatments weren't possible. I had learned earlier in the week that the final five treatments, rather than treating the whole breast, are more localized to the spot where the tumor was removed. My thinking was that I could stop treatments at number 31, but they could perhaps "bump up" the final five localized ones to treatments 27 - 31 (rather than 29 - 33). Upon checking with the doctor about this, I was told that although they didn't have anyone coming in for emergency treatment this Saturday, they were going to schedule me to come in and do a treatment. I felt more than a little sheepish since it was not my intent to force their hand so-to-speak and said so to the technician. She assured me it wasn't a problem. I have decided I need to just get over it and be thankful for the opportunity.
We have been getting meals at least two times each week from wonderful friends from our Adult Bible Fellowship at church and the rotation of sitters I have in place for our children is going well too. They are having a wonderful time going to play at different places each day for a short while, although I must admit, I will be glad when treatments are complete and there will not be a need to go out each day, especially when the weather turns bad.
I have more on my mind and heart today, but time does not allow for more at the moment...
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