I got my final regular radiation treatment today. Yippee! I have 7 more treatments to go, called "boost" treatments. These treatments are targeted so that they only hit the area right where the tumor was. I was very happy to get to the end of these treatments because I've started having skin reactions to the radiation. I've got a raw area in my armpit and a very itchy (and sore) area in the fold beneath my breast. I've also got a new spot that's irritated and itchy because they put a sticker on me the day before yesterday in an effort to keep some new marks they'd made from fading. I have several tattoos already and they were trying to keep from having to give me any more. On Monday I went in and they ran me through an extensive setup process to get me ready for these boost treatments. This involved several x-rays and a bunch of new paint pen marks. Unfortunately, the paint pen wears off really quickly on me. So the techs decided to put some little clear stickers over the marks to protect them. Unfortunately, the stickers only irritated my skin more. They took them off yesterday and sadly, removed a layer of skin with them because my skin was already irritated from the radiation treatment.
Now that the regular radiation treatments are done, the area under my breast and my armpit are no longer within the treatment area. This means they can finally start healing. The doctor told me yesterday that it won't take long for them to improve, a week or so. I thought I'd have to get more tattoos, but the techs used the ones I already have and measured to the new marks so that I wouldn't have to worry about trying to keep the marks from wearing off.
On a cheerful side note, I think my eyebrows are finally starting to grow back. My eyelashes can't be far behind!
I know this is short, but I'm feeling flat worn out and I think I need to go take a nap.
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