First radiotherapy today

Hi Brian

It does sound very unusual to have fatigue and pain after your first session of radiotherapy. Normally the side effects kick in around week 3. I would talk to your medical team to see if there is something else that needs attention and get the benefit of their experience as you have had a lot of surgery as well.

Best wishes for the rest of your radiotherapy. It will get tough but hang in there.

Lyn

Hi Brian 

has Lynn had said day 1 is early for side effects to knock  you fir 6 thus early. Have a word with your team like you said you’ve had a  fair amount surgery as well. Best just the check with them good luck for remainder if radiotherapy pop on her with any questions.
Hazel   

HI Brian

Do contact your clinical team for a definitive answer to your issues.  I suspect the current fatigue is as a result of all the surgery you've had recently.  A doctor friend of mine said the unwritten rule is that for each hour you are under expect one month of recovery for the body.  That is not recovery from the surgery but the anaesthetic.  On that basis it is early days for you.  Compound that with the stress of moving into the next phase of treatment and the body just needs somewhere to go to look after itself - sleep!

Hi Brian

I agree with the others about just running your fatigue and pain passed your team, although it does seem like the surgery could have something to do with it.

Linda x

Update. I had my second session today and I seem to have handled it a lot better than yesterday. None of the extreme tiredness and much less pain at the surgery site.  It seems that the pain could be connected to the recent surgeries and they have explained that having radiotherapy such a short time ago increases the risk on complications. But their advice is to carry on regardless. So thats what we will do. They issued me with Caphosol dispersable tablets and Oralieve toothpaste. I have also purchased a Water-Jel R1&R2 radiation burn course on creams. If anyone has any suggestions on anything else I can do to make this treatment easier, I am all ears. Thanks to you all for the feedback.

Hi Brian. That’s better news I use Oranurse toothpaste which has no SLS or mint and is even kinder than oralieve. You could ask for Gelclair to help with mouth ulcers and Difflam mouthwash which helps numb your mouth. 
Get plenty of rest but you need some exercise too. 

Hi Brian better day for you that’s good not heard if the water gel course just check with your team it’s ok to use. I had a humidifier for bedroom it helped with the mucus. Plus hospital gave me  a nebuliser got the mucus.  Gelclair was a  godsend when ulcers developed. Plus make sure towards end of week 2, you’ve plenty if painkillers as it tends to catch us out over a weekend good luck Hazel 

Hi Brian

Pleased to read your second session was better and your team have been able to reassure you.

I agree with the suggestions made by Dani and Hazel (especially about rest and a little exercise) but I would say it's difficult to suggest medications etc at this point as we all tend to get side effects to a greater or lesser degree.  If you do start getting into difficulties though firstly mention it to your team immediately so they can prescribe something promptly.  Also worth running it passed the forum too as someone is bound to have experienced something similar.

Good luck with your ongoing treatment.

Linda x

Hi Hazel, Thanks for responding. Asking the team about products just gets the stock answer "We cannot comment on products that we haven't tested". So they will only comment on products they use. They suggested "any cream without perfume" and also mentioned E45, but will give another cream when they burns appear.......I would assume that preparing the skin with a suitable cream could prevent or at least delay burns.

Hi Brian. How unhelpful! I was given Diprobase which I found too heavy so bought myself some Cetraben which did the trick and was lighter. A lot of people use the oatmeal version of Aveeno. 
What I do think made a difference was a liberal helping of aloe vera gel straight after RT. I used to put it on in the car on the way home. If your neck burns significantly they should give you FlamigelRT and Flamazine when you have finished. There are also dressing like Polymem which you can have on prescription 

Be careful of E45. It has alcohol in it which might be irritant and a surprising number of people are allergic to it. I had a period when I had excena and could never use it at the best of times.