33 or 36 days? HELP

dori234

Hi there, this is my first post. I am 27, with stage 2A breast cancer, I had a bilateral mastectomy, R lymph nodes removed, a L sentinal node biopsy, 6 rounds of chemo.  I am currently taking Tamoxifen and am almost finished with my Herceptin infusions.  I also am in the process of radiation, yesterday was day 30.  I was told I would be doing 33 days (5 days of boost), but my rad. oncologist told me he added an extra 3 days.....so I will be doing 36 days of radiation, and extra 3 of boost.  Has anyone else done 36 days? Has that been recommended to you?  I am hesistant to do the extra 3 days, we were almost not going to do radiation to begin with, and I feel the extra 3 ma be a bit much.....................what are your experiences? Thank you!

GabbyCal

Hi dori, 

I'm doing 36 radiation treatments - 28 regular followed by 8 boosts. That's been the plan all along. Since your doctor has made a change, I suggest asking him his reason for the change in plan.

Good luck and congratulations that you're almost done.

rdn

Dori234,

I'm also doing 28 treatments and 8 boosts.  That's been my plan since the beginning.  My radiation oncology nurse said that the oncologist may change the treatment plan as my treatment goes along depending on how I respond to the radiation.  I had a very narrow margin (1 mm) at my incision site so I need extra boosts to that area.  The only other option was a mastectomy and I wasn't ready to walk down that path.  Talk to your doctor.  There should be a good reason for the increase in boosts.  Congratulations on being so close to finished with radiation.

CTMOM1234

I did 30 -- 25 full then 5 boost. That was the plan that my rad.onc. told me at our first meeting, and then about halfway though, one of the rad techs mentioned that I was going to have 32. When I questioned my rad.onc. she mentioned that her former place did 30 and here, which she was relative new at, does 32 but she was fine with either, so truthfully, I went for the 30. Got me realizing that this is not a perfect or custom science by any means.

dori234

Thanks for the input, I am still on the fence about going 36 days.........I feel it is really high, even though I am young (and that card is always played when I speak with my radiation oncologist).  I am having trouble rationalizing it in my head, and "anything so the cancer won't come back" (as my radiation oncologist puts it) isn't enough for me at this point.  33-35 seems to be the norm and the sneaky way this happened is pretty disheartening..........  Today is Day 31, so I do need to decide soon.  Any other ideas or links would be appreciated

dori234

Thanks Gabby! Did you have a mastectomy? Or a surgical option? I have found that many women who have had a lumpectomy are given 36 treatments, but with a mastectomy I haven't found as many..... thanks again!

elimar86861

Don't get too hung up on the number of DAYS.  That's not where the difference is found anyway.  Based on all your info., the Rad Onc determines the TOTAL amt. of rads you can handle, then you get them in fractionated amounts.

Like I might get 6 1/2 weeks of rads, and a Canadian woman might get that shorter 3 week protocol that they have, but we will end up getting roughly the same overall,  I will get less units per treatment, she will get more, but our totals could be the same.  See what I mean?

peggy_j

My RO said that they give up to 10 boosts. (I'm getting 33 rads, incl. 8 boosts. I had a lumpectomy). During my regular rads he kept talking about "designing" my boost (sounds so artsy!) and that my recommended treatment might change. (it didn't, though originally he had hoped to avoid the nipple completely during the boost, but that didn't happen). As elimar said protocols vary among women. In my case, my RO is giving me a lower dosage each day since I have bone concerns.  Would it help if your RO was more specific on why he thinks you need the 3 extra days? i.e. what does he know now compared to what he knew when he recommened 33 days?