STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

my father was also diagnosed with cancer (stage three, lung).  they found a 8mm tumour in his left lobe and he's been through 7 weeks of radiation plus an additional 4 cycles of chemo (taxol + carboplatin) to treat it. 

before he began his radiation treatment the doctor met with us and then ordered tattoos (hardly noticeable, about the size of a very small mole) done of his chest and back region.  this is done so that the technician will know to treat the cancer precisely (its basically a map).  the actual radiation treatment is typically about 5 minutes long.  radiation for him was pretty difficult towards the end of his treatments.  in the beginning he didn’t really think anything of having radiation (it was more of a pain in the butt for him to go get treatment everyday).  

small/ short doses of radiation isn’t really painful (mild discomfort) but its the continued treatment that leaves the irritation.  towards the end of my father's treatment he was having an enormous ammnt of pain swallowing and eating.  the best thing you can do for your mother is make sure that she doesn’t have anything abrasive and dry (example, toast, breads, crackers) and that a lot of what she eats is soft.  because your mother is having her breast treated i dont know if she will feel the same symptoms that my father had.  i think the eating/drinking/swallowing was hard bcs his esophagus was unavoidably also 'hit' with the radiation. 

as for medication to relieve the pain there are duragesic (pain patch... generic is called fentonyl) and dilaudid. the duragesic was the best bet for our situation bcs it constantly released meds so that he's always in some level of comfort.  i dont think you will need this initially but it might be something to keep in mind if the pain is a significant problem towards the end of the cycle. 

i feel like theres so much more that i want to say to you but i really dont know what it is.  i just want to let you know that i've been there i guess.  

 

-- Edited by iconic at 13:25, 2006-03-15

Hi Katya.  I hope all is well - stage I breast cancer is very treatable.  I would refer to the American Cancer Society website:  www.cancer.org.  This is a great reference that will be able to answer some of your questions.

There is also a great program called "Lood Good....Feel Better" that teaches women beauty techniques to help restore appearance and self-image during chemo and/or radiation treatments.  We did this for my friend who had cancer, and she really loved it.  http://www.cancer.org/docroot/ESN/content/ESN_3_1X_Look_Good_Feel_Better.asp?sitearea=MBC

I know that during radiation, the surrounding skin can become very dry and irritated.  There are special skin creams that your mom can use to help prevent this - check out the link and ask her doctor.

HTH!

Everyone, thank you so much for replying! Iconic, how is your dad doing now? Good, I hope. I can only imagine how hard it must have been for you to be on your own during that. You must be a strong woman! I will talk more with the doctor about this. The one my mom is seeing has been so nice! I talked to her yesterday, and she said he is making her feel so much better about the whole situation; he's really put her at ease about the treatment & the odds of her making a full recovery. I know I will be checking out ST a lot; clothes make me happy! The only thing I'm worried about is missing the opportunities to shop with my mom while she's in treatment. She taught me everything I know about bargain shopping, and together we are unstoppable when it comes to bartering with salespeople/finding sales! Thanks again, everyone!