u/Impressive-Arm-5205

Random and not that pressing of a matter, but lately I've been taking regular photos of my chest as I go through radiation to track my skin changes and I keep forgetting to delete them from my phone's gallery once they're backed up!

It happened once while showing my parents a cute video of our cat and today while I was scrolling through nail inspiration photos at a new salon. And when I've been on flights, sometimes I've mindlessly opened up my gallery, forgetting that people behind me can probably see my screen. Luckily I've never clicked into a photo full screen, but they're definitely there and obvious if you're looking.

No one has said anything but it's kinda funny and embarrassing at the same time. They're obviously not great photos either, just straight forward photos of my burned right breast with all of my radiation markings!

Anyone else have awkward or unexpected things like that happen?

I did all of my reading on what to expect but of course we're all individual so I knew to just see how it goes. I had my first session a few hours ago, and maybe 2 hours later I felt a wave of fatigue where I feel my eyes wanting to shut.

In addition, I feel pressure in my radiated breast. Maybe not pain but definitely noticeable.

I'll mention this for sure when I go in tomorrow but is this a sign of what my next 4 weeks will look like? I'm gonna do some light exercises later and make sure I'm eating protein but honestly I just want to nap the rest of the day. And I can't do that since I'm working!

Starting Monday and planning on picking things up this weekend! The tech I spoke to today said no aluminum. Lately I haven't even been wearing deodorant because my underarm still feels so weird and numb and unpleasant post SLNB. My go to has been glycolic acid on a cotton pad because the application is just me patting it on my underarms and not rubbing.

I'm not particularly sweaty so I don't prioritize anti perspirant properties but DEFINITELY want good odor control. They also said no shaving during treatment so I don't want to be both hairy and stinky lol. I deeply admire those who are comfy with their underarm hair but I'm not there yet and almost all of the radiation staff is male, which makes me self conscious. Any recommendations are welcome!

I'm about to start and I'm feeling so nervous and anxious, vastly different to the calm I felt before my lumpectomy. Something about the permanent damage and risks I'm taking on by doing this in order to hopefully keep away the breast cancer. But that's not the point of this specific post!

My skin tone is brown and I would say I don't burn easily out in the sun but I do tan quickly. My radiation team has been so hands off with providing me with any information or what to buy to help with potential skin symptoms. If you also have deeper skin tones and you went through or are going through radiation, how did it go or how is it going? What products do you recommend?

If you've been out for a while, how has your skin changed? I'm already bummed because my skin is already a bit darker post lumpectomy but my doctors aren't worried about it. They did say it might be permanent. My concerns are permanent skin darkening, skin texture changes, firmness that won't go away, shrinking, etc. Would love any experiences or insight! Trying not to panic and bail right now.

Also in case anyone's curious, I'm only specifying because from some quick perusing, I'm seeing a lot of experiences from those with lighter skin tones and I'm curious if there are any differences I should be aware of. I've looked online for videos from people with my skin tone or deeper and I've seen some gnarly burns/peels and that's what's worrying me aside from all of the other risks.

Hey all!

32, diagnosed in January with IDC/DCIS, lumpectomy mid March, post surgery pathology changed to Invasive Solid Papillary Carcinoma with Invasive Solid Papillary Carcinoma in situ.

So I decided to get second opinion done because with my updated subtype, my oncologist didn't want to run any additional tests like Oncotype or Mammaprint. There are a number of reasons for this - 1. This subtype is extremely rare and both my oncologist and my second opinion oncologist said they almost never see this subtype. It also tends to only affect post menopausal women 60/70+ years old 2. When researchers were figuring out those tests, they weren't including or specifying SPC so they can't speak to whether they'd be useful for me.

I called my second opinion hospital, got set up, and was told that they'd handle all of the communication with my provider and get all of the necessary files sent over. I met with the second opinion oncologist two weeks ago and she pretty much walked me through the same things as my oncologist so I didn't really learn anything new, but it was still helpful to hear of course. I was mainly looking for confirmation on the slide review but that wasn't processed yet and she said it might take two more weeks.

Well I just got a message from her saying "Unfortunately, the specimen we received was the biopsy specimen, not the surgical specimen. Please let me know if you would like for me to order pathology review on the surgical specimen. I think it should be fine to forgo that if cost is a concern."

I'm so confused! Why would they send biopsy slides when I've already had my surgery? This second opinion was pricey too, at $1496. I've already called my care coordinator to ask for clarification but I was only able to leave a message. If I want them to look at the surgical slides, it would probably be an extra $700ish or more. Even if it is a mistake on my team's end, I highly doubt they'd reimburse me.

Am I correct in being upset about this? Or was this on me to confirm? I'm so bummed, it's so much money to pay.

Hey all!

To quickly summarize, I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of January via biopsy, had surgery mid March, and I'm scheduled to start radiation tomorrow. A few weeks ago, I coordinated a second opinion through City of Hope mainly for peace of mind because my cancer subtype changed post surgery and that impacts my future treatment.

Total for the second opinion was $1496. I could've paid I think around half that for just the oncologist to review my pathology but I paid the extra 700ish for the slide review because that was higher priority for me. They said they'd contact Kaiser and get all of my info sent over and there wasn't anything else needed from me.

I met with the COH oncologist two weeks ago and she pretty much agreed with my Kaiser oncologist but did say that the slide reviews haven't been finished yet so to check back in two weeks. I got a message just now saying "Unfortunately, the specimen we received was the biopsy specimen, not the surgical specimen. Please let me know if you would like for me to order pathology review on the surgical specimen. I think it should be fine to forgo that if cost is a concern."

Is this my fault for not double checking with them what slides to use?! I assumed they'd use my post lumpectomy slides since that's where the definitive diagnosis comes from so I don't know if Kaiser sent the biopsy ones by accident? I've already called and left a message with my team so I'm waiting to hear back but I don't know if this was my fault? If it's not, then would Kaiser consider paying for the second slide review? I would assume the answer would be of course not 😞 But it's such a high cost out of pocket.

I'm mainly concerned because my original subtype would've required an oncotype test to figure out if I need chemo or not but with my new subtype, it's supposedly very rare and Kaiser's workflow is to not do chemo which means I don't get those extra tests. I wanted the second opinion to either confirm Kaiser's reading or adjust accordingly just so I could be sure that my treatment plan is correct.

Thanks for anyone who has time to read this!