Last Phase of Radiation Treatment


Today, Sheila moved into her last phase of radiation treatment. Well... Sheila thought this same thing 11 years ago (her last phase) but here we are again. 

Sheila is now in her Boost Phase of radiation treatment and she is pretty happy about that!

This last phase is a "boost" of radiation to only the area of the tumor. Up until today, she had been getting radiation to the entire right side of her chest... from the lymph nodes under her armpit to the center of her chest. Now, she is getting one focused beam of radiation to just the area of her tumor for seven treatments.

The good thing about this Boost Phase is that most of the tissue and skin that has been burned and irritated over the past 26 treatments will now be able to heal without additional radiation making this large area worse. Sheila is definitely happy about this news. The itching, burning and peeling was getting pretty rough for a bit.

Now, these last seven radiation treatments will be focused to a rather small area where the tumor had grown this time around. This is definitely easier on Sheila than the previous 26 radiation treatments. We are constantly reminded, however, that the fatigue will continue to worsen over the next few weeks. At least Sheila can now get some relief from the burning, peeling and itching.

As you can see in the photos, Sheila is quite happy to be in this final phase of radiation treatment!

The Radiation Oncology waiting room... one of the advantages
of our time slot is we are often alone in this nice facility.



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