Three and Two!

I saw a doctor yesterday. My skin looks to me like it's a mess, and it certainly feels messy, but they continue to be rather pleased.

Things I learned:

• Once things heal up, my skin will continue to flake and itch for about two months. This means I will be applying heavy-duty moisturizer for all that time, in order to not look like a gorilla with fleas. Joy. But, on the other hand, things should stop hurting fairly soon (though they can worsten as the skin continues to react to the radiation). JOY!
• Even though my skin will eventually look just fine, it is deeply, deeply damaged. Sunburn will be like having radiation all over again, with breakdown, peeling, etc. To be avoided at nearly any cost.

The latter is why you can't do radiation on the same boob twice. The skin won't take it. So, if there's a recurrence, it's mastectomy time.

Yesterday there was the same problem with getting the positioning right, but this time everything went well. Some of my fellow zappees are begging me to bring in champagne tomorrow, and I just might see about it!

I will be having a follow-up visit in a couple of weeks to check the skin, and there's still all the hernia stuffs, and I have to have a review by my medical onc, so it's not "over" yet. But, unlike many others, I have no more chemo to do. Whew.