It's been a while since I've posted an update to you all so thought as I have today off from work, it is the perfect opportunity!
Having got my tattoos for radiation, I was going into it thinking it would be sooo much easier than chemo..... and how accurate I was! I had 25 treatments in total over a five week period so it was a daily visit to the radiation clinic and luckily I got the early morning appointment most days which was great! While there were lots of other patients not happy about going daily, to be honest, I was feeling pretty good throughout, so I was just happy to be well enough to get up each day and be out of the house!
The first four weeks was really quite good although my skin did show signs of burning from about the beginning of week four. I have to say that it did deteriorate severely from there and on my final few days, it was extremely painful.... that said, I was speaking to another lady having treatment and her skin was absolutely fine..... so once again everyone is different!
My skin needed to be dressed on the final few days and by the end, I couldn't bear to touch it.... it looked like raw flesh.......so I did feel pretty sick in the last week, only because I think my body is still pretty low post chemo, so as it was trying to repair the skin damage, I think it had an impact on my overall immune system; that said, it was a doddle compared to chemo!!! I felt sick for about a week afterwards but then started to feel much better quickly!
One week on post radiation, my skin has healed remarkably well and much quicker than I envisaged. I did use a cream called Flamazine post treatment which worked wonders with the dressings and two salt bathings a day (highly recommend).
The final few days of radiation were very emotional for me. The past 8 months has been such a challenging time, but as there have been so many day to day challenges, I have been living for the day.......at the end of my treatment, it really hit me just what I have been through for the past several months, and the reality that it was all coming to an end, was such an amazing feeling!
It still feels quite surreal to sit here and think about everything that has happened as today just a week after treatment, I'm feeling pretty good. I even managed a 5.5km jog at the gym this morning so I am so happy about that!
I'm back at work for three days this week and while work is really tiring for me, I am enjoying getting back to normality and getting the 'Alannah' wardrobe out again!!!
Each and every day right now I feel sooooo lucky to wake up and feel good and I hope I can live in this moment and enjoy each and every minute of life for a long long time......
xx
