RT or not post clean margins, neg nodes for 87 year old mom?

Lelane4

My mom who is 87 had a lumpectomy on 10/5. The margins were clean and four sentinel nodes were neg. It is a triple neg, Nottingham grade 3 but at surgery it was only 1.9 cm not > 2cm. The surgeon is 50:50 on whether or not she should do RT. RT is obviously pro RT. She was given the statistics of a 25-40% recurrence rate at 5 years without RT and 7% with RT. She would be 92.Other than some memory issues and glaucoma and high BP she is healthy and active and lives independently.

She is having a hard time deciding whether or not to do RT. She was told side effects are local skin and tiredness. It would be four weeks M-F and then 4 days of "targeted" RT.

Looking for some advice and how others felt during RT.

Thanks,

Lauren

muska

Lauren, it's a tough question and I recommend you take her to a second and third opinions.Ask targeted questions, e.g. how elderly react to radiation? What side effects are patients in her age group are likely to get? Are memory issues likely to get worse? What about blood pressure? How bad is her glaucoma and could it get worse? Talk with her PCP who knows her medical history and get his/her opinion.
I went through radiation at 54 and it wasn't easy.

Cowgirl13

There is a shorter protocol for radiation and I had it. It was about 19 rounds and was a piece of cake for me. No sores, swelling anything. Tired yes.

AliceBastable

My mom had breast cancer and radiation when she was about 85. She had to drive to a different town every day for her sessions, and managed it well. She got a bit tired, and her shoulder was troublesome afterwards from the positioning. She lived to be 97, so it didn't have any long-term impact.

Salamandra

I met a woman in her early 80s while I was doing radiation. She was strongly recommended it by her MSK doctors. I think it was more tiring for her than it was for me, but she also didn't have a job she had to rush back to or anything, so she could take her time to recover.

Surgery is so much harder with every year older we get that I think the reasoning is that preventing even local recurrence can save so much life and quality of life for an elderly person, and many do just fine with the treatment. They also don't have to worry so much about any potential long term effects of radiation, since those are so much further out than even the longest projected lifespans.

I definitely agree with the advice for a second opinion from someone with a lot of experience with older patients.

Lelane4

Thank you all for the info and congrats on being a survivor and fighting the fight!!

She has decided to start the RT so being evaluated for the initial set up next Monday and then will start the schedule from there.