Tuesday 12th October 2021
I haven’t kept up with this diary very well over the past few weeks because I’ve been very busy – nothing much to report, except that I developed very sore red skin in the crease under my breast as a result of the radiotherapy, and this has taken several weeks to heal. It is now much better – still a little red and the skin feels a bit rough, and it is now less itchy than it was as it was healing up. The twice-daily moisturising has certainly helped as it’s quite soothing. I had been expecting the whole breast to be affected in this way, but fortunately it was only in this one relatively small area.
Given the “worst case scenario” side effects they told me about at the hospital (they have to do this as part of informed consent, and they also add that you won’t necessary suffer from all of them, or to such a degree), I was expecting the aftermath of my treatment to be a lot worse. I think I have come through very lightly – God is good!
I really haven’t noticed a great increase in my general levels of fatigue at all, which is amazing. I was expecting to be pole-axed by it as I already have a base-line of fatigue with my ME, but I have actually felt a lot better than normal recently, and have had enough energy to spend quality time in the studio being creative, which has been a tremendous boost.
Today I had a phone call from the community radiographer as promised, to see how I was getting on, and to check on my jaw pain. This has been pretty much constant for about a month, although I think it is improving now. I am doing daily exercises to keep it moving, and whenever I feel my jaw muscles tensing, making a conscious effort to relax. I think I may have been doing some nocturnal teeth-grinding because it often feels tight and sore when I wake up in the mornings.
Because it didn’t clear up significantly when I stopped the exemestane, we agreed that it was probably coincidental and not related to the medication. She suggested that I start taking it again and keep an eye on how things go. If the jaw pain increases again significantly in the next couple of weeks, we may need to review things. I have an appointment with her at the end of the month to check on my progress generally, and we will discuss it then.
It was nice to be off the exemestane for a short while because the hot flushes did decrease to zero again! I can expect them to return in the next few days. I’ve been eating a few chunks of tofu with each meal, and I am now going back to adding soya beans to my main meal as well as with my breakfast oatmeal, and continuing to eat plenty of soya yoghurt and some soya milk, to keep up the levels of phyto-oestrogens in my system in an effort to combat this unpleasant side effect. I just wish Dr. Goodman had agreed to allow me to take soya supplements as I’d done with the menopause, because they were very effective, but I am sticking to his guidelines and just attempting to get sufficient through my diet alone.
