Tag: side effects
Posted on January 6, 2018
by Valerie Powell
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1) Radiation skin damage is just a sunburn While radiation skin toxicity looks like a sunburn and can often feel like a sunburn, the skin itself is not actually burned as if from a heat source. Radiation treatment is used to destroy the bad… Continue Reading “5 Radiation Misconceptions”
Category: Radiation EducationTags: burn, cancer, cancer blog, cancer treatment, chemotherapy, fraction, Healing, over, perspective, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, salivary gland tumor, side effects, skin toxicity, sunburn
Posted on December 29, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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WARNING: Gross pictures included Many of you have heard my stories about radiation and others actually watched it happen, but what you may not have seen unless you work with me or live with me is all the disgusting things that happened to my… Continue Reading “All the Gross Things”
Category: Where are we now?Tags: cancer, cancer blog, fear, gross, Healing, nose bleeds, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, rope saliva, salivary gland tumor, side effects, skin toxicity, tongue ulcers, tumor
Posted on December 4, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Life is way scarier these days than I remember it. I remember sitting on our swing just a few days after surgery back in July and wondering how I was ever going to trust my body with normal aches, pains, and sickness again. And… Continue Reading “A Dose of Reality”
Category: ReflectionsTags: cancer, cancer blog, cancer treatment, faith, family, fatigue, fear, Healing, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, sacrifice, side effects
Posted on November 15, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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If it wasn’t enough when they found it in my own body (and mom’s), it seems cancer is showing up closer and closer to my heart. More and more families are experiencing that dreaded feeling of the blood leaving your face as news is… Continue Reading “Week Nine – The Lull”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: cancer, cancer blog, faith, family, fatigue, fear, Healing, parotid gland, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, reflection, salivary gland tumor, side effects
Posted on November 3, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Post-op you may have read How It Healed that chronicled the progress of my incision and drain removal as it healed up, so I thought that it was only fair if I created one for my skin toxicity and it’s recovery from… Continue Reading “How It Healed (Radiation Edition)”
Category: Where are we now?Tags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, faith, fatigue, Healing, marriage, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, side effects, skin toxicity, tongue ulcers, tumor
Posted on October 30, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Yes…there’s a week 7 update (and yes, it’s late) but thankfully it’s not an update on week 7 of treatment. It’s week 1 of healing after 6 wretched weeks of treatment (Woo!) but also the week where there is the highest dose of radiation… Continue Reading “Week Seven”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: cancer, cancer blog, clinical research, fatigue, fear, fraction, Healing, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, reflection, side effects, skin toxicity, tongue ulcers, week 7
Posted on October 23, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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I’ve somewhat avoided this post for a few days, mostly because I was too tired to think and also because I didn’t know if I could do the specialness of this day justice. October 20th was a day I had been anticipating for every… Continue Reading “The Finish Line”
Category: Treatment UpdatesTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, family, fatigue, fear, fraction, Healing, last day, last treatment, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, reflection, sharon spencer, side effects, skin toxicity, tongue ulcers, uab, week 6
Posted on October 23, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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The final week of treatment is finally over, and I cant even begin to count how many times I thought it would never get here. Reading back through some of the posts, I already don’t remember some of the smaller details of things that… Continue Reading “Week Six”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, fatigue, fear, final week, Healing, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, side effects, skin toxicity, tongue ulcers, uab, week 6
Posted on October 13, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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How is it already the end of week 5? How is there only 1 week to go? And why didn’t the first 3 weeks go by this quickly? Actually I’m not sure these weeks have gone by all that fast after all. I think… Continue Reading “Week Five”
Category: By the Week, Treatment UpdatesTags: cancer, cancer blog, clinical research, fear, Healing, pathology, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, sharon spencer, side effects, uab, week 5
Posted on October 9, 2017
by Valerie Powell
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Feeling nostalgic tonight (as usual) as I sit here on the 2nd to last Monday of treatment and the first day looking at single digit days until the finish line. Reflecting about the last year and wondering how I ever got to this place… Continue Reading “A Bit of Reflection”
Category: ReflectionsTags: birmingham, cancer, cancer blog, fear, Healing, radiation oncology, radiation therapy, radiation treatment, reflection, salivary gland tumor, side effects