Question about Radiation Therapy

[bleh]

Hi Everyone, I hope you're having a good and side-effect free day! For those of you receiving Radium, I have a question: Did you get a permanent/semi-permanent tattoo, or just a mark/dot/crosshair type thing done with a marker that lasted a few days and then came off? Because I have radium on the lymphnodes on my neck, I didn't want anything permanent, so they used this pen that basically looked like a Nikko/ Texta pen, and was black, marked me up in all the different places, and then took photos and also Xrays. The marks faded after a few days, and now when I go in each week for Radium they shine a light on the area, look at it under either Xray, or some other type of viewer, and then they go ahead with the treatment. It's a little weird as my mum had tattoos that lasted for ages, as did a previous boyfriends of mine's dad. Any input / explanation would be very much appreciated!! Jo xo

[Mrs_Elton]

Hi Jo/Little Miss, Love the new 'name'! My hubby had temp markings when he had his radiation treatment, his was full brain treatment so the markings were on his eyelids and where his sideburns would be (if he had any). I assume they were temp markings as they were in a highly visible place, or perhaps as he was only having 10 sessions. Don't know if that helps or not! Also glad to see you've been able to have a 'win' in relation to your anti-nausea meds. $131 a week OUCH. Good luck with your next chemo, hope it doesn't knock you about TOO much. Take care, Jill.

[bleh]

LOL! My Wonderful Partner Michael calls me 'Little Miss' - and has done since we got together almost a year ago. What you said about the temporary markings TOTALLY makes sense now! (Chemo brain strikes AGAIN!) I only have 3 weeks of Radium left, and then I'm supposed to be having what is left of my inside 'girly bits' removed - technically a full Hysterectomy even though they've already taken 1 ovary and burned off a lot of my Uterus. Then I have to get Brachytherapy - not really looking forward to that. There's just something about having a capsule filled with radioactive material in my 'ho-ha'. :-\ Thanks for clearing that up for me - and yes, I'm so happy that my GP got me my meds as an Authority script...it has made dealing with chemo and radium so much easier. I can deal with all the other side effects, but vomitting - especially when there's nothing in your tummy left to bring up - is just too much for me to handle! Best Wishes, Jo xo

[bev]

Hello, I had four tattoos in my pelvic area. I thought they were permanent, but I cannot see them now. I am sure that if I went under the "bright lights" then they would show up. A friend had tattoos for her breast cancer treatment and after a few years you can still see her markings.

[vera]

My husband was given tattoos around his abdo for pancreatic cancer - they are still there but good new is he is still here too

[Jules2]

Hiya Jo Hope i am not too late on this one. I had radiotherapy to my lymph nodes on the neck. I had a small permanent tattooo placed in between my breasts and then one on either side of me under my arms. All not easily detectable. The reason they do this is to avoid any bones copping direct hits, specially the spine. :) Julie

[Sailor]

Hi Jo I've had three bouts of radiotherapy, one of which included some brachtytherapy, two included External Beam Radio-Therapy (EBRT) and the other was totally brachytherapy. For the brachytherapy, large needles were inserted into me under ultrasound guidance, and I was hooked up to a machine that inserted a hot little pellet of radioactivity into each needle in turn, all controlled by computer. No tattoos were involved. For the first EBRT, I had three pin point tattoos, one on each hip and one in the middle of my pubic hair. (After they had scribbled all over me each day with black and blue texta they always had problems finding that latter one as each hair follicle was full of texta dye!) I thought these pin points had warn off but they were able to locate them eight years later and considered using them again, but decided to give me a new set. So now I have six pin point tattoos - I don't notice them and would have problems finding them. (I suggested that they could give me a permanent memento of each treatment - a galleon or other selectioni of sailing craft would be distinctive, but they wouldn't come at it.) Cheers Sailor

[jodielee12]

Hi Jo i had 5 weeks of Radiation and i had 2 small tatts. one between the boobs and the other under the arm. the one under the arm has faded and the one between the boobs is still there. i guess it acts as a small reminder. i had plans to get a tatt on the scar but an too chicken to follow through with this. one day i might. cheers Linda

[Mrs_Elton]

Hi Linda, What kind of tatt would you get??........if you weren't chicken!! Jill.

[jodielee12]

Hi Jill a butterfly when i pick up the courage to do it. cheers Linda