Brass Bra Activated

Brass Bra Activated

🌼 Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026

⚡ Energy: Slightly congested and mildly annoyed

❤️‍🔥 Status: Brass bra engaged

😘 Outlook: Learning to trust my own voice

This morning I woke up with a stuffy nose and a tickle in my throat.

Now, normally I would chalk that up to allergies, a cold, or Oregon just being Oregon. But considering that I am currently undergoing daily radiation treatments, it made me wonder if this was yet another delightful little side effect of the process.

One of our friends who went through radiation last year told me she felt like she had the flu during treatment. I’m not sure if she meant the body aches kind of flu or the runny nose, congestion, sore throat version…so naturally I did what every modern patient does these days.

I Googled it.

My first search:

“Is a stuffy nose a side effect of radiation?”

Google answered:
Yes…if you are being treated for head or neck cancer.

Well, that’s not my situation.

So I refined my question.

“Is a stuffy nose a side effect of radiation for breast cancer?”

Google said:
No.

Hmm.

But then I remembered something important. One of the beams they are aiming at me is targeting the supraclavicular lymph nodes, which are located just above my collarbone.

So I tried again.

“Can radiation to the supraclavicular lymph nodes cause congestion?”

And suddenly Google said:

Yes.

Apparently when radiation is directed toward that area, it can irritate nearby tissues that connect to the upper respiratory and sinus regions. The most common side effects are still skin irritation, fatigue, and sore throat, but nasal congestion can happen as well, because the treatment area is close enough to affect the sinus passages.

Well look at that.

Mystery solved.

And if I had to guess, the congestion probably also explains the headaches I’ve been getting after each treatment.

Now, I’m not a doctor.

But if I had listened to my patient with my ears open instead of in my pocket, as my grandma used to say, I might have connected those dots a little sooner.

That realization also helped me understand why my appointment with the radiation oncologist yesterday bothered me so much.

It wasn’t just the lack of helpful answers.

It was the feeling that I wasn’t really being heard.

Like it was one of those classic situations where the person with the authority assumes the person without it must be mistaken.

And unfortunately, that’s not a new feeling for me.

When I was younger, I experienced that dynamic more times than I can count. Being dismissed, talked over, or treated like my observations didn’t carry any weight.

It’s a trigger I thought I had long since learned how to handle.

Apparently not.

But the good thing about moments like this is they remind you of something important.

Next Wednesday, when I walk into that exam room again, I won’t be walking in unsure of myself.

I’ll be walking in with my notes, my questions, and as my grandma used to say…

my brass bra on.

And now that Casey knows exactly how that appointment made me feel, I can pretty much guarantee he’ll be walking in there on high alert right alongside me.

He already treats me like a queen and has always been my protector and my knight in shining armor. But if this doctor continues to treat my concerns like background noise, there’s a very good chance Casey will politely — but firmly — suggest that we might be better off under someone else’s care.

Because when it comes to my health, he doesn’t play around.

And honestly?

That kind of backup makes it a whole lot easier to stand your ground.

Because I promised myself a long time ago that I would never let someone make me feel small again.

And here I went and allowed it to happen.

Shame on me.

…although to be fair, I’m going to blame that one on chemo brain.

💗 Tina –
One Badass Day at a Time