My radiation oncologist did tell me that the effects of radiation would continue for five days past my last treatment, and, he was correct. The most intense burning, heat, and true pain was at the worst on day five. How people go though radiation with blisters and open wounds or scabs, I have no idea, truly. The amount of “discomfort” would be phenomenal! Please, take a minute and think about the different areas of our body that cancer can grow and radiation could be needed….I spoke with a woman whose mother had vaginal cancer and needed radiation…there are no words. I will say it again, I am lucky to have this specific type of cancer.
In case you forgot I had all my lymph nodes radiated but the mammary ones because they were too close to my heart. The larger area radiated, my breast, back, and armpit started to peel last week end. I went to bed with a blood red, fire breathing patch of skin and woke up to a snake shedding its skin.
It was pretty disgusting if you would like to know. The skin fell off in pretty small pieces and all while being asleep. Scott and I got out of bed that morning and I started screaming. That flaked off skin looked like a million little bugs had tried to attack me while I slept. Since I had not removed my shirt I had no idea it was my skin. Let’s just say I didn’t need coffee to be alert that day.
As the skin started to fall off the heat went away with it. It felt like my skin had been holding it’s breath too long and could finally breath again. In the image above you can see it started to peel under the armpit and just below my implant. My clavicle is a different story.
My clavicle area was the least bothersome location out of all the treated areas. First, nothing really rubs against it or touches it. Second, the skin doesn’t get moved with every movement. However, it did not want to heal. Once the skin began to peel off of the radiation burn it looked like the image above. Now after the skin fell off it started to hurt. I could feel my heartbeat in it. Emery had some silvadine cream leftover from a burn she had so i started to put that on the darn spot. Thankfully this finally helped it start to heal.
Above are pictures of the two areas I took yesterday. It is clear to see that they look pretty darn good. There is still discoloration across my side, armpit, implant, and chest but, no open wounds. Scott said last night he feels like I am doing “too good” with this whole cancer thing. Everyone else we know with cancer keeps getting infections, needing additional injections, or is failing to the point of needing hospitalization, then there is me. I think there is a little fear that if everything goes well again the shoe will drop at the end of this.
The big question is why did my skin do so well and others does not? No idea. Of course, I tried my hardest to everything I could to help my body heal from the inside out. I drank a ton of water. I slept like a hibernating bear (umm, let’s be clear, still doing this one). I ate as many vegetables as I possibly could, then I made vegetable soup, in 104 degree weather, and forced myself to eat more. I lathered on lotions before the radiation even got started and reapplied multiple times a day. Take your pick, any one of those things could have been the reason. Then again it could just be that I am young and healthy. Well for a cancer patient!
If you are reading this and are going through radiation here are the products that I used on my skin. I purchased everything on Amazon because it was cheaper but you can find these at any Walmart or Target. They are linked directly to what I purchased (I am now an affiliate so will get a small commission if you do purchase them).
Dove bars of soap with no dye or scent
Pack of Men’s tagless extra soft breathable BLACK shirts - big enough for me to stretch on and not have to tug, breathable for the heat to escape, black so that I didn’t look like I was participating in a wet t-shirt contest that had one contestant 24 hours a day.
Saran Wrap - if you don’t want to wait for the lotions to absorb you can wrap yourself with this. I didn’t do this until week 4 and only then because I wanted that cream to stay on longer.
Heart pillows (from mastectomy) or small pillows to place under your arms so skin is not touching or rubbing. I now have 4 of these pillows, I LOVE THEM!
Medical gloves if you don’t like touching sticky creams. I didn’t use them but it got to a point where I couldn’t move my body to reach all the areas that needed moisturizing and my kids had to have the gloves to help me.
Hydrocortisone cream - your skin starts to itch like a bad case of poison ivy. Made the mistake of gently scratching my chest area and ripped off a chunk of skin. Only did that once! I carried this in my purse or pocket at all times once the itching started.
