Radiation is finished

Quick update, and then I'll write more tomorrow with pictures. I finished radiation on Thursday, Oct. 23, (not Oct. 20 as I had expected.) I found out on my birthday that I was scheduled for 7 weeks, not 6 1/2 as I was told at my consultation. I was devastated, and cried most of the day since my leg was starting to blister by then and I knew that having radiation four days the next week would be significantly worse than just ONE.

As of today the wound in the back of my knee is getting larger, as Dr. Godette told me it probably would. It really hurts now to either straighten OR bend my knee at all, and it was more comfortable after surgery than it is now. Starting with this post, I'm providing an outside link for those who REALLY want to see what my leg looks like (not for the squeamish) rather than subjecting everyone to it in this blog.
Click here for progress photos past 10/24/08: http://www.soprano1.com/blog

Here I am with my certificate congratulating me on finishing my radiation therapy, signed with good wishes by most of the people in the radiation oncology department. That's Mike, me, Beverly and Derrick in the photo. I broke out in hives all over my body the night before my last treatment and it was really hard to sleep; it's almost like I was having a premonition that something was going to happen. Unbelievably, Beverly called just as I was leaving the house to tell me the COMPUTERS WERE DOWN!!! I was horrified. Last time it was the machine, which was fixed fairly quickly. It took about two hours for them to get the computers working again, and they said although they were "running slow" it was safe to come in. There was no way I was going to extend this torture another day, so I went in. As of November 3, (when I updated this older post) my hives have finally stopped, although they tormented me, especially every night for about a week. NOTHING helped--hydrocortizone cream, topical or oral Benadryl, Xlcair, or manuka honey. The hives made me completely miserable since I was itchy all over my body--arms, legs, and all over my back, on TOP of the pain.

The stage I'm in is the worst phase of skin toxicity, which is moist desquamation. There's an easy to understand article at this link.

Management of Skin Toxicity