One More Day
You heard me, just one more rad and I'm done! I did 15 rads over the whole breast and these last five were targeted. I don't have to hold my breath for these since they control the depth to the area where the mass was. They have a cone they put on the machine that is cut to the shape of the area where the mass was and it goes about an inch away from my skin. They radiate for maybe 60 seconds and I'm done. That means I'm 60 seconds away from finishing all 20 rounds! 😁😁😁 That definitely requires three of those!
My skin is pretty burnt up and I'm itching like crazy, but the nurse gave me several things on Friday to help. I have a spray for the itching, cool patches for the burning, and pads to protect the areas from rubbing my clothes. It's more tolerable now and I'm hoping that it'll heal quickly.
I called the radiation oncology office to get a release to go back to work on Wednesday, but the nurse wanted me to talk to the doctor first. Friday afternoon, he said it would be good if I could take another month to recover before going back. He said I'll still have radiation in my body and the side effects for 2-3 weeks after I finish. I split the difference and said two weeks so I'll go back on September 26th. I'm still working remotely on the meantime provided they approve my extension. Before you text me any admonishments, I'm going back on chemo at the end of this month, so out of the pan and into the fire. Might as well go back to work since I can't take off the next 6-12 months 🤣
I see my regular oncologist September 23rd and he'll decide about the chemo start date. I'll either start that day or maybe the 30th depending on my labs. If they are still like they were when I saw him on the 12th, then I'll have to wait. 🙁 The specialty pharmacy sent my order already and it came today. Looks like 10 pills a day instead of six. When I logged into my online account, it said four pills for the higher dosage pill, but I wasn't counting those twice a day and then a smaller dosage pill makes up the rest (one twice a day). My pill count will be back up to 19, plus whatever I have to take for side effects. They called in something else for nausea already and I have the other nausea meds I used during the first two cocktails so I should be set.
TODAY'S SILVER LINING: I went to a wedding on Saturday night and had a blast hanging out with some great friends. It had been way too long for us to all get together. ❤️