End of treatment

I made it through 27 fractions of radiotherapy before my hand got so bad they had to stop. It's not the full 60 Gy we were aiming for, but 54 is not at all bad. My lovely oncologist said that most people don't get past 40 Gy with this sort of electron radiotherapy so my 54 shows that the bio oil and aloe vera I was using are good stuff, she's even going to recommend bio oil to other patients. I asked again whether finishing early would mean it was less effective and she said that I've had a very good dose so she is confident it will do the business.

(Quick reminder - Radiotherapy is measured in Grey (Gy) - the usual sort of dose is somewhere between 20 and 80 Gy depending on the type of cancer. The total dose is then fractionated and one fraction of the dose is delivered in each visit)

It is seriously painful now. I've got Flamazine cream to stop the burn getting infected and I'm on many lots painkillers for the next couple of weeks (maximum doses of Tramadol and Naproxen - yay drugs). I've also got a sick note for that two weeks as that's how long it's likely to take for the worst of the pain to pass. The oncologist told me to expect it to get worse before it gets better, I'm not looking forward to the worse. Right now I'd describe it as feeling like someone has poked 100s of needles through my hand and then poured vinegar over it.

So that's it. Unless I'm one of the unlucky ones who go on to metastasis my treatment is finished. I've got to back in six weeks to check how the burn is healing, then six weeks later I start a three monthly alternation between CT Scans and Chest X-Rays to watch for secondary tumours.

One of the things I've done while killing time at Addenbrookes is the Food for Life course at Wallace Cancer Care.

It's mostly based on research from http://www.aicr.org/ and encourages you to change your eating habits to help reduce the risk of cancer/metastasis.

It's basically about healthy eating - keeping below 12oz of red meat per week, eating lots of fruit and veg and including fish in the diet, avoiding processed foods and keeping sugar, salt and fat in moderation. Although there are lots of particular foods that have benefits or problems for certain cancers (eg Grapefruit should be avoided and Soya has effects on Oestrogen so can be bad for breast or gynae cancers, Green Tea, Garlic, and Tumeric are good for fighting cancer and should be included in the diet everyday if possible).

My cancer is too rare to appear specifically in the research (there simply aren't enough of us to do a proper study), and there are no proven connections between sarcoma and diet (or anything else for that matter) but the advice is all good and should have health benefits generally so I'm giving it my best shot. I've even ordered a juicer and a sprouter in a wave of enthusiasm.

I've been sticking to the plan for a couple of weeks now so hopefully I'll start seeing results in terms of weight loss etc soon.

I've also registered for genetic profiling as part of the sarcoma research being carried out by 23andme.com. They get my DNA to use for research and I get to see my full genetic profile. It's incredibly detailled and includes things like whether I'm a carrier for all sorts of medical conditions. Since I was adopted I don't have the option of asking my parents about family medical history so I'm really pleased to be able to pass that sort of information on to my kids.

KateG over 13 years ago

Your radiotherapy sounds really tough. I had radiotherapy for breast cancer and my skin broke down a couple of weeks after treatment had ended. It took a few weeks but it healed well. I hope yours heals quickly and you don't have any pain. I'm on Tramadol too and it is a common side-effect to have severe constipation so make sure they prescribe laxitives.

Best wishes,

KateG
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