Count - Ah, Ah, Ah

I'm in single digits now for the remaining radiation treatments. After this morning's, there will only be 5 more times on the table. As Count von Count would say, "Five, Ah, Ah, Ah."

First of the follow up appointments will be in December with my medical oncologist at MGH (bloodwork, etc), and again in March with my surgical oncologist (more imaging). I'm already slated to start (Nov 1) daily tamoxifen which is a hormone inhibitor, specifically an estrogen agonist, and specifically targeted for me since my cancer is hormone receptor-positive. I'll continue to have 6 months check ups and will probably be on tamoxifen for five years, though that will be under review as well.

More immediately by the end of last week, and more clearly this week, the skin in the treatment area - essentially the upper right quadrant of my torso from my sternum to my side and from just below my breast up to just above my collar bone - looks like I've spent a little too much time in the sun on a topless beach. Two places are a little harder hit. Under my arm, there is a patch of skin that is a darkish not quite purple color and it's also starting to get a little raw. The only other suffering spot is across my color bone which looks like a small rash has developed. Since the friction of clothing doesn't help, and I'm already using special ointments (Jeans Cream and Aquaphor), we've added Mepilex patches to protect those areas. Mepilex is this really cool silicone foam dressing that sticks to my skin but doesn't use an adhesive. I can take it off and put it back on multiple times.

If you want to see a photo of the skin and the patch, you can click here. The uncovered skin looks like a shadow, but that's fairly accurate in terms of color. Just below that, you can see one of my treatment tattoos (slightly enhanced by a sharpie each day by the therapists). And, about halfway up the darkened skin, you can see a small horizontal scar which is where the sentinel lymph node was removed. The second photo shows the Mepilex dressing. This is completely safe to open at work, and I am not exposed, shall we say, at all.