Hello friends. I thought that I'd share how this weeks treatment has been. Firstly, I'm feeling really happy with myself, it's already day 18 which feels like a huge milestone. I'm going to count down now and not up, so just 10 treatment days left. I've learnt to really enjoy my weekends, it's s so wonderful not having to eat and take meds at set times and of course, having a break from the 3 hour round trip to hospital every day for Radiotherapy. I think that I relaxed a little too much as my water consumption dropped, that meant on Monday, my first radio.. of the week, my bladder wasn't full enough. So, note to self and anybody else, keep your water drinking up over the weekend. I had my weekly check up with my nurse and clinical oncologist, both say I'm doing really well which has given me a nice boost. My skin is good, it's discoloured, but not broken down. So more of the same with moisturising and time to look after myself. I can sense that my skin is changing, I get an occassional internal scratchy feeling when opening my bowels and had a tiny bit of external vaginal Itching, it settled quickly with no meds but the chemistry is clearly changing. My bowel continues to feel irritated, but only twice this week and loperamide continues to settle things quickly. So overall, I'm very happy with how treatment is progressing. I know that we all react differently to treatment, I continue to take a day at a time and keep an open mind about the days ahead. Sending my love to anybody else who is going through or about to start treatment. Bev x
Hi Positivepeople,
It’s great to hear you’re still doing so well. I remember that scratchy feeling & the itch sooo well!! Piriton was a lifesaver for me, it worked really well for me especially when things were fidgety during the night. I hope the rest of your treatment passes quickly & smoothly & then you can begin healing. Good luck.
Nicola
Hi Positivepeople,
Everyone is a little different but I got to the end of treatment without too much discomfort (mine was 23 treatments opposed to the usual 28). I was sore back & front but my skin hadn’t broken down etc. Yes the ‘peak of symptoms’ most people refer to is generally the skin reaction from the radiation, my radiotherapy team pre-warned me at my last treatment that things would likely worsen before I begun healing, my symptoms eventually peaked around 11 days post treatment & things were very sore, I alternated paracetamol & ibuprofen 2 hourly for pain relief & I didn’t really do much for those 2 weeks. As soon as my skin reaction peaked though it was amazing how quickly things healed & I began regaining my strength back, again I was having lots of warm salt baths & using Flamazine cream which my oncologist prescribed as soon as my treatment had finished.
Nicola
Hi Positivepeople,
Thats fantastic news that you’ve got this far with no major issues. Yes the burning, stinging & pain after going to the loo I remember well! I couldn’t take any of the opiate based painkillers you’d normally be prescribed during treatment as they caused me awful constipation & going back to the burning & stinging you really don’t want to add in constipation lol, I was advised to alternate the paracetamol & ibuprofen 2 hourly when needed during treatment & for the 2 weeks after my treatment had finished, I was also prescribed lansoprazole as I was taking 400mg ibuprofen. I also found I was very emotional on my last day of treatment, I’d looked forward to that day so much but saying goodbye to my radiotherapy team & ringing the bell on leaving the department left me in tears! I suppose it’s a natural response as your life has revolved around this process & these people for weeks. Once again I’m so pleased you’re doing so well, not long now & you’ll be on the road back to good health.
Nicola
