Rads #10 done. 5 to go...

Hi blog fans

I have now had 10 of my 15 radiotherapy treatments and all is going well. I have a square of 'tan' where my boob used to be, and my shoulder is slightly red, but at the moment it is not sore - just a little itchy occasionally. I'm feeling a little bit tired, but not significantly. It certainly isn't stopping me doing anything and Greg is helping with the long drive (45 mins to work in the morning, 1.5 hours from Gloucester to Cardiff in the afternoon, and 45 mins home again - occasionally with an extra trip to and from Bristol thrown in for good measure).

The nurses are really lovely and we have a chat and a joke each time I go, and I'm getting better at getting into position correctly without too much need for them to adjust me, now.

If you're interested in seeing how it all works, I have found the video below which shows you (click on the picture to play):




Otherwise life is ticking along nicely. My hair is slowly getting thicker - Greg tells me that every day it looks a little darker, although it seems a lot more grey than it was before! It still isn't thick enough to go wig or hatless, but it won't be too long before I do.

It feels like my eyebrows and eyelashes have thinned slightly more, and quite a few of my fingernails are trying to escape - 4 have lifted from the nail bed, but only the top half of the nail has separated, so they are all in place and it looks like they will just grow out. I am covering their slightly strange look with dark nail varnish! This is a side effect of the chemo, delayed due to the slow growth of the nails.

I also have some itchy patches on my arms and neck, so will mention that when I go to the GP's on Thursday. It might be a side effect of the Tamoxifen (or maybe the Herceptin), or it might be entirely unrelated! Who knows.

Nearly at the end of the major treatments now. Will find out what happens next when I see Dr Iqbal in June.