Radiotherapy

[TrishLamb]

I had my last chemotherapy last Wednesday and start 20 rounds of radiotherapy. I have no idea what to really expect, but would appreciate any advice please.

[galgo]

Found radiotherapy a breeze just the journey 1 hr away was the worst.The staff are wonderful explain all it only took 6mins for treatment and the days went very quickly ,

[louisa73]

I completely agree with galgo , after chemo radiotherapy is a walk in the park you've done the hard part. The journey to & from the hospital took longer for me too but the treatment itself takes minutes. Good luck with everything xxx

[Hidden]

Hi Tricia

Glad to hear you’ve finished your Chemo, from reports from two of my friends the worst part of Radiotherapy is the travelling back n to everyday!

Just remember to really look after your skin, they will advise you in the department.

Good Luck 🍀

Angela x

[anrean]

YAY for completing chemo. The most important thing to keep in mind during rads is that your skin can get burned. To help with this, make sure there isn't any lotion on the area before rads and wait about 30 minutes after rads before you apply lotion again. I'm from The States, so you probably don't have the same lotions. My oncologist suggested Aquaphor, which is very much like Vasoline, but has some added ingredients. For my second breast ca I used Bag Balm, which is used here by farmers to clean and protect cow udders - farmers started using it on their hands, and eventually it became accepted for use with humans - if you have anything like that, it is great because it also has antibacterial ingredients. You might experience increasing fatigue that usually isn't too bad, but can be uncomfortable. For my first breast ca it wasn't so bad, but for the second it got pretty bad - but I think that is probably because by then my body was just plain tired all over. Aside from that, the worst part was getting there every day through traffic!

[carolinenailsea]

Hi, fabulous to be at the end of chemo. Congratualations on making it through the treatment. xx. I found everything got easier after that and I that the radiotherapy was fine. You should start to feel better everyday now. I did take extra care of my skin and used avenno with radiotherapy. Below my breast was red and still is a little bit but I had no pain at all. Be ready for the tattoos - my centre made 3 tiny tattoo spots to mark the spot accurately. Good luck and with your up and coming plans. Caroline

[RuthJ]

Drink plenty of water stay hydrated rest plenty xx

[Margt34]

After chemo radio is easy peasy travelling everyday is the worst part the treatment only takes minutes good luck

[Debster2016]

Hi Tricia I agree the journey was onerous at an hour each way but the best advice I can give is to make sure you drink plenty, like 2 litres a day as that is really helpful. I thought I was drinking 3 litres a day but I found out recently that one of my bottles was infact 250ml and not 500ml as I thought! 😂.

I also got hit with a big depression in week 2 and when I looked back at my notes I found my team had advised me that if depression hit it would be during the middle of the radio; which it was 👍. We stopped at a petrol station to buy more tissues on the way there! But I have a history of depression and it passed very quickly and after that I focused on the treatment journey being downhill all the way after that 👊.

Wishing you well xxxx