Has anyone here gone through radiation?

I have my first round this morning and am curious if I should expect anything with side effects. The little I’ve been told is that it might cause nausea/upset stomach. I’ll be going everyday M-F for 28 days.

I’ll also be taking 8 chemo pills each day that I have radiation so I’ll be curious if any side effects are from that or from the radiation

Thanks for any input

Zofran is your friend.


Best of luck in your battle.

Ginger ale for the nausea/upset stomach. Did 24 weeks of chemo a few years back. It was the only thing that calmed my stomach down, and it did it quick. Good luck.

My wife just finished 3 1/2 weeks everyday of radiation; not much of side effects.

Depends entirely on where you are being treated (as in the location on your body). The most common side effects are a reaction that is basically a sunburn on the surface of your skin, itching, dry skin. You generally won’t have any systemic issues like nausea because the radiation only affects the targeted area and any skin/tissues that are “in the line of fire”. Depending on the site and the amount of radiation you might experience fatigue. Any unpleasant effects from radiation usually don’t show up until the second half of your treatment schedule as radiation is a cumulative treatment and the half-life means that you have increasing amounts of radiation in you body as time goes on. That also means that any ill effects will linger for a few weeks after you complete radiation. In fact, you may feel your worst after you finish you treatment and then start to rebound.

Most important thing is to maintain your hydration and caloric intake. Your body needs fuel to help the heal from the chemo and radiation and to maintain as much as possible during g your treatment.

Good luck.

Advertisement

quote:

---

Depends entirely on where you are being treated (as in the location on your body).

---

Unfortunately it’ll be on my arse Was diagnosed with a colorectal tumor as well as a tumor on the liver, but I successfully underwent a liver resection surgery in January so now they’re focusing on the one on the rectum




I don’t want to flood the thread with individual posts thanking people for the well wishes, but know that I am very thankful for all the kind words and I greatly appreciate them all

To add to TigerDoc's comments:
I saw my radiation oncologist once a week, but was told to let him know right away if I was feeling bad. I showed up for treatment one day with a little bit of a cold, and the radiation techs could tell I wasn't myself. They asked if I was feeling okay and wanted to know my symptoms. Asked the following two days of I was feeling better.

Long story, made kinda short ... The same people saw me every day, were tuned in to my personality, and were watching me for changes. The oncologist was the same way. Very concerned with how I was feeling, etc

Wife had radiation every day for 21 days- she was a little tired and her treatment area looked liked a bad sunburn. Good luck

Prayers and best wishes to you! Stay strong.

Your reaction depends on the person.

Some people struggle with chemo. Some people struggle with radiation.

My buddy had zero side effects from radiation.

My mom had no side effects from chemo.

Neither tolerated the other treatment all that well.

My advice, eat. Fat people seem to deal with both better.