Skin

I wasn't sure if I should post pictures of my skin because it's pretty gross, but the after picture looks SO much better that I decided to go ahead. Throughout treatment it looked fine. It got redder and redder as the weeks went by. It was warm to the touch but it didn't hurt. The final week of treatment, however, it started to change. It was crusty and oozy and sore and tight. I looked it up and it's called a "moist reaction." I was given some cream with silver in it to put on my skin for soothing and drying. I also used an astringent solution that I used 4 or more times a day. Finally, last Friday, I was able to peel some dried skin off to find nice, pink, healthy skin underneath. And it's just gotten better from there. There's really just one spot, along my scar, that's still moist. I'm buying all sorts of sun hats to protect this new skin from the sun this summer. On a positive note, the doctor mentioned that the skin reaction was a good sign that near the surface of the skin, where the tumor margins were, got a significant dose of radiation. It kind of reminds me of the first months of pregnancy. If you feel sick that's good because it means your hormone levels are high!

Before

May 19th, 2010

Five days after final radiation treatment

After

May 23, 2010

Nine days after final radiation treatment