Five More Fire Hydrants
CW: cancer stuff and one more piece of practical advice.
Well, I am scabrous, rugose, and desquamating. I've got blisters in my underboob and peeling, seeping, chafed skin in my armpit, and it's only going to to get worse for another week or so before it starts to get better. I am regarding the last stage of this radiotherapy process with a good deal of trepidation.
By which I mean dread.
I'm mostly sitting on the couch watching historical costuming videos on Youtube and playing through the Wordle archive, which is where I expect to be for the next ten to fourteen days. So don't expect much excitement around here, alas.
However, I have discovered another very hot tip for dealing with the radiation burns, which at this point tend to stick to my clothing and be rubbed raw by literally anything that touches them, so I thought I would pass that along. It hurts a lot less (and gets a lot less crusty lymph ick on your clothing) if you stick a big nonstick gauze pad to the burn cream after you slather it on. I can't do much with it there, because there's nothing holding it in place except the cream and my tank top, but that's fine, I wasn't going to do much anyway.
Once the radiotherapy is done, it'll take a couple or weeks to recover. Then we start with the endless series of followup appointments, which are going to be quite frequent for a while--two oncologists, my GP, my OB-GYN, and a general surgeon all want to keep close tabs on me for at least five years.
And hey, since I turned fifty in the middle of all this, I get to make an appointment for my first colonoscopy, too!
Good gravy, cancer is exhausting.