Journal entry by Sara Dailey —
I finished my radiation treatments on Wednesday and had my discharge visit. During the meeting, the nurses told me that now that my treatments were done I could expect my skin to continue to get worse over the next 1-2 weeks before it starts getting better.
They were not kidding.
I have felt worse this weekend than I did at any point during the actual radiation process, and have spent a lot of time trying to be still so as to not aggravate my wounds. I'm still drinking a ton of water (and nothing yet out of the cocktail fun basket my friend gave me) because I feel as if I was out in the sun for too long on a hot summer day. When I removed the low adhesive foam dressing they gave me to protect against friction, my skin came with it. and that was exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. Fortunately, I was given another type of non adhesive dressing to try. I put a coating of lidocaine jelly and aquaphor on it per instructions and then put that on the areas where my skin has basically blistered open.
Cancer has been exactly no fun and I give it 0 out of 5 stars. BUT I feel thankful to be coming out on the other side of things now. I have a check up about my skin on Wednesday, and after that I have a break until I go back to see the oncologist in July, then again in December. If everything is still clear in December, I will not go in again for another scan for another 6 to 12 months. In the mean time, I'll be letting my skin heal and my swelling go down, as well as working on my PT so I can get my arm strength back.
I am super grateful to the people that have helped me out with food drop offs or DoorDash money, and to my father for cutting up vegetables for me when my arm did not permit me to easily prepare food. I am thankful for my mother frequently watching Evan and for her other support. I am also thankful to Joe for watching me overnight after both my surgeries (even if he did purposely wake me once), driving me to most of my radiation appointments, moving my garbage bins, and cleaning my house while only occasionally judging me for how frequently I put the dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher. I absolutely could not have managed this process without help, and I am so grateful to all of you who offered it.
I am hopeful that my next set of scans will remain clear and that it will be only improvement from here on out.
They were not kidding.
I have felt worse this weekend than I did at any point during the actual radiation process, and have spent a lot of time trying to be still so as to not aggravate my wounds. I'm still drinking a ton of water (and nothing yet out of the cocktail fun basket my friend gave me) because I feel as if I was out in the sun for too long on a hot summer day. When I removed the low adhesive foam dressing they gave me to protect against friction, my skin came with it. and that was exactly as unpleasant as it sounds. Fortunately, I was given another type of non adhesive dressing to try. I put a coating of lidocaine jelly and aquaphor on it per instructions and then put that on the areas where my skin has basically blistered open.
Cancer has been exactly no fun and I give it 0 out of 5 stars. BUT I feel thankful to be coming out on the other side of things now. I have a check up about my skin on Wednesday, and after that I have a break until I go back to see the oncologist in July, then again in December. If everything is still clear in December, I will not go in again for another scan for another 6 to 12 months. In the mean time, I'll be letting my skin heal and my swelling go down, as well as working on my PT so I can get my arm strength back.
I am super grateful to the people that have helped me out with food drop offs or DoorDash money, and to my father for cutting up vegetables for me when my arm did not permit me to easily prepare food. I am thankful for my mother frequently watching Evan and for her other support. I am also thankful to Joe for watching me overnight after both my surgeries (even if he did purposely wake me once), driving me to most of my radiation appointments, moving my garbage bins, and cleaning my house while only occasionally judging me for how frequently I put the dishes in the sink instead of the dishwasher. I absolutely could not have managed this process without help, and I am so grateful to all of you who offered it.
I am hopeful that my next set of scans will remain clear and that it will be only improvement from here on out.
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