New Rads Side Effect

I started noticing intermittent lower back pain (middle of the back, right above the buttocks where the rads beam was focused on) about 2 months ago and kept contributing it to horseback riding or overdoing, or any other thing I could think of, and expected it to get better and go away. Instead, it has gotten progressively worse. The kicker is, it only hurts when presssure is applied to the area, and subsides to a comfortable level when it gets used to the pressure. I'm not talking about a large amount of pain, more of a medium annoyance.

I finally looked at the area this morning with the help of a couple of mirrors and saw that the area, about the size of a baseball, has sunken in and the skin has darkened and toughened.

Now I know that what I should be doing is calling to make an appointment to see my rad/onc, but to be frank, even though he was a nice enough guy and didn't have anything wrong with him, I never felt all that comfortable with him. He doesn't have much of a bedside manner and I didn't feel was all that comfortable with me (probably any patient) either. Plus he's an hour away (I know, I know, no excuse - can you tell I'm doctored out?), it's right before the holidays, they're pretty busy down there, insert excuse here. I will get around to calling, not that I hold out much hope that it can be fixed/reversed, but I thought in the meantime I would run all of this by you all and see if anyone else is experiencing the same thing.

p.p. I finished my rads 9 months ago. (wow time flies!)

I have never heard of this but I'm sure someone will know more. I wish I could give you my radiologist - he's super-duper and much easier to talk to than my gyn-onc.

For now, can you call your rads office and leave a message about what's going on? If this is something that happens on occasion maybe someone will be able to give you a rundown and you could ask someone who is not the doctor questions. Or maybe you could talk to a closer doctor in the interim? Maybe he could chat up your rad-onc and let you know what's up.

Yay for long past radiation!

I agree with "abeliangrape". If you could leave a message for your rad/onc or gyn/onc perhaps they could get back to you and relieve your mind before the holidays. I too was very lucky to have the most fantastic lady rad/onc. It's probably is just a matter of luck. Take care. anna

Sorry to hear about this! It does sound like something you should bring to the attention of your medical providers. If you don't like the rad/onc, how about calling the head nurse in the radiation dept? She/he can probably give you good advice and let you know if you need to be seen right away. And sometimes the doctors take things more seriously when they are "briefed" by a nurse or another doctor.

Maybe there is something you can do -- why don't you ask the doctor about applying vitamin E oil to the area to help heal the superficial cells?

Best of luck to you from your sister endo IIIC.