Radiation, Month of April
Radiation was definitely a weird experience. For me, it was much easier, however I did have some side effects.
Weirdly enough, the first week of radiation made me nauseous! I was shocked. Of course, I googled it to find that feel nauseous is not a side effect of radiation. I was confused so I went to the on-call doctor to find out what was going on. The doctor was really nice and explained to me that although it does not usually happen to people, it does not mean it cannot happen. I was getting radiation to the chest and throat, so it was quite possible to make me feel sick to the stomach. Also, he mentioned that it was quite close to me finishing my chemo treatment. I was only about 4 weeks post chemo, and those toxins where likely still floating around in my system.
I got through the first 10 treatments and had 3 bad days…but after that I did not get sick like that anymore. Now, I just got really fatigued! It was true, radiation kicks your butt and makes you just want to lie down and rest.
I made a goal to work out during radiation, so that I could start building my energy back. Let me tell you, by the end of chemotherapy and the beginning of radiation I felt pretty BLAH! It was like all the muscle was taken out of my body and I was just meat. Ugh, I know that sounds gross, but that’s how I felt. My core muscles were definitely gone, but so was my energy and stamina. I knew I needed to start slow and get back to it somehow.
I found a great free workout site, www.nowloss.com that focused on interval training and exercises you can do at home. I followed the jumping jacks, ski steps, and a combo (workout #1) trainings. I would do these 2-4 times a day about 3-5 times a week. I unfortunately didn’t lose 10-20 pounds like some of the people on that site, however I have to admit I did feel better. It was getting me back on track and definitely working on my energy, so it was all worth it.
Radiation lasted almost the whole month of April. I went a total of 17 times, Monday through Friday at 7:48am. That’s right, that was my time and it actually worked out really great. The staff was really friendly and knowledgeable. Every day, it was like clockwork. Check in, get a little beeper, when it goes off turn it in and go back to the changing room, change into gown, go wait at chairs in front of the radiation rooms. They call you back when they are ready, lay down on table, nurses line you up. Once you are all positioned correctly, they leave the room, shut the doors, and the radiation process is no more than a few minutes. It’s pretty rad. Haha.
I didn’t get redness until the tail end of radiation, as you can see in the pics below. Every day of radiation or “rads” as I like to call it, I used 100% aloe vera on my skin. I made sure that I kept up with it because I didn’t want to damage my skin any more than it already is, as well as, I did not want to have a open blister. The aloe vera definitely worked, but I think I was lucky to only have 17 treatments. If I had additional treatments, I am sure the skin would have broken open by another week or so.
I have more on radiation treatment (tattoos, prep, etc…) that I will post in an upcoming post.
Until next time, xoxo
Barbara Bee
Weirdly enough, the first week of radiation made me nauseous! I was shocked. Of course, I googled it to find that feel nauseous is not a side effect of radiation. I was confused so I went to the on-call doctor to find out what was going on. The doctor was really nice and explained to me that although it does not usually happen to people, it does not mean it cannot happen. I was getting radiation to the chest and throat, so it was quite possible to make me feel sick to the stomach. Also, he mentioned that it was quite close to me finishing my chemo treatment. I was only about 4 weeks post chemo, and those toxins where likely still floating around in my system.
I got through the first 10 treatments and had 3 bad days…but after that I did not get sick like that anymore. Now, I just got really fatigued! It was true, radiation kicks your butt and makes you just want to lie down and rest.
I made a goal to work out during radiation, so that I could start building my energy back. Let me tell you, by the end of chemotherapy and the beginning of radiation I felt pretty BLAH! It was like all the muscle was taken out of my body and I was just meat. Ugh, I know that sounds gross, but that’s how I felt. My core muscles were definitely gone, but so was my energy and stamina. I knew I needed to start slow and get back to it somehow.
I found a great free workout site, www.nowloss.com that focused on interval training and exercises you can do at home. I followed the jumping jacks, ski steps, and a combo (workout #1) trainings. I would do these 2-4 times a day about 3-5 times a week. I unfortunately didn’t lose 10-20 pounds like some of the people on that site, however I have to admit I did feel better. It was getting me back on track and definitely working on my energy, so it was all worth it.
Radiation lasted almost the whole month of April. I went a total of 17 times, Monday through Friday at 7:48am. That’s right, that was my time and it actually worked out really great. The staff was really friendly and knowledgeable. Every day, it was like clockwork. Check in, get a little beeper, when it goes off turn it in and go back to the changing room, change into gown, go wait at chairs in front of the radiation rooms. They call you back when they are ready, lay down on table, nurses line you up. Once you are all positioned correctly, they leave the room, shut the doors, and the radiation process is no more than a few minutes. It’s pretty rad. Haha.
I didn’t get redness until the tail end of radiation, as you can see in the pics below. Every day of radiation or “rads” as I like to call it, I used 100% aloe vera on my skin. I made sure that I kept up with it because I didn’t want to damage my skin any more than it already is, as well as, I did not want to have a open blister. The aloe vera definitely worked, but I think I was lucky to only have 17 treatments. If I had additional treatments, I am sure the skin would have broken open by another week or so.
I have more on radiation treatment (tattoos, prep, etc…) that I will post in an upcoming post.
Until next time, xoxo
Barbara Bee
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