Need some help - radiation after surgery

1marmalade1

I will  be having a bi-lateral in May.  Chemo was done first.   I am concerned about radiation following surgery.  Most gals have surgery first - then chemo - then rads.  This gives 4-6 months of healing time between surgery and rads.  Since I have done chemo first, rads will follow surgery, and I am concerned about the effect of radiation on something that has been been operated on so shortly before.  I hate to think I will be in severe pain from this from burns because the incisions haven't had proper time to heal.

Have yet to meet with surgeon/rad onc, but this thought has been really bothering me the last couple of days.  Don't know why I didn't think of this short time-line before, but originally they were hoping for a lumpectomy, and it has turned out to be mastectomy.

Does anyone know what the effect is of rads on surgical area within 4-6 weeks of operation?

Thanks to all.  Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

precioustime

Had BMX with rt. axillary dissection on 12/14/09.

RADS started 2/1/10 and completed 3/16/10

I was given 32 rounds to chest wall, axilla area and upper chest where I had a mediastinal lymph node positive.  Needless to say I had extensive Radiation per my Oncologist.  The S/E's that I got were sore throat, indigestion (because of getting Rads to upper middle chest area)-- I did get a pretty bad burn because of having to wear a Bollus (a material placed on skin to get a skin reaction.)  My incision areas only got bright red but did not get painful or have any other problems with them.  My upper chest and underneat my rt. arm was the only painful areas that I experienced. 

In all that-- again we are all different-- and it depends on the amount of RADS you are given and how they are given on how our skin reacts.  I am now almost 2 weeks out from RADS and have started to see improvement in my skin after using much Silvadene Creme and applying Petrolatatum Mesh at night.

I also experienced fatigue at the end of RADS and still have a little fatigue today-- I was told my the nurse that sometimes RAD fatigue can last up to 1 year -- HOWEVER, I refuse to be tired THAT LONG:) 

Drink lots and lots of water-- get your rest when you can-- apply cremes that Rad Oncologist prescribes and you will get through just fine.  The good news is that some women do not experience any burns or fatigue:) 

This will soon be over Marm and you will be on your road to recovery.  I wish you the BEST.

Loretta

allisontom911

Hi Marm,

I am also doing the same thing you are. I have one more chemo, surgery will be mid-may and then will start rads about 4 weeks after surgery. There seems to be alot of ladies that do it this way. There is a thread about rads and tissue expanders which is good to read.

Good luck to you!

NatureGrrl

This is strictly in the FWIT department -- but I also had chemo, then surgery, then rad.  I had a lumpectomy, which isn't the same as your case, but like I said, FWIT:  my rad started about 5-6 weeks after surgery. I think 4-6 weeks is normal (mast. or lump.)  I had no real problems at all with my 38 treatments. My skin turned pink/red but never burned (no heat or pain on the skin even tho it was red), never blistered or peeled, and it was almost normal again a few weeks after rads ended. The scar got redder during rads but now is fading away and there was no pain with the scar. Check with your rad oncologist for what they recommend you use on your breast to keep the skin as moist as possible.  (If you do start to have heat/burning from rad, you can keep your lotion or whatever you use in the fridge for extra cooling!). My biggest complaint was fatigue but it wasn't anything near as bad as chemo.  I'm about 2 months out from the end of rad now and feeling MUCH better.   Talk with your radiation oncologist and tech team about your concerns, and don't stop asking questions until you have all the answer you need.  Hang in there... best of luck.

1marmalade1

Thanks to all - I am feeling much better about it now.  The only person I know that had rads had it after chemo - so lots of time for incision to heal.  Even with that, she had a terrible time with burning during rads (with lumpectomy) - but is healing nicely now that she's a few months past it.

I guess everyone is different in how their skin reacts - drinking lots of water makes sense, though!