Radiation necessary in an early stage cancer

Melissa and Tami,

A big thank you from me,as well..  Having cancer is scary, you feel so alone in a huge ocean of emotion, and finding this site has been a lifesaver!  But, the circling sharks were making this site pretty scary, as well. 

Cancer is stressful enough.

Susan

I'll just say .... I do NOT want, to die.  Yet, I have NOT made my choices, lightly.  I HAVE had, Stage 1 breast cancer. AND Leiomyosarcoma, cancer. And in January, 2008, my sister was diagnosed with Stage 3, Ovarian Cancer. 

Where to go, from here. This is all hard.

And again, just for me, the radiation was NOT for me.  In the grand picture, of MY life. With all of my other, cancer threats. Yet, other people, disagree.

And that's fine.

Although  as some poster said, "mdb smokes" Like screw her. "She deserves, what she gets."  But then, I also eat right, and walk 60 minutes/day, and am not overweight. 

And my Leio CT scans, have shown, NO lung cancer.  And the reality, 8% of smokers, get lung cancer. 

You have to DIG for this statistic. To read the popular media, EVERY smoker, get's lung cancer. 

There's a LOT of variables, in "Health." 

I've just chosen, my own path. And I'm totally happy, with it. 

And that's all that I've ever wanted to say, on this board. Choose, your own, path. Whatever is right, for YOU.

And I've just wanted to give you an alternate, choice. What I have done. Against, the mainstream, advice.

I'm here, alive, with no cancer. 2 years, later, with my breast cancer, and 4 years, later, with my Leio Cancer. 

With NO side effects. And no, other treatments. No Radiation.

But ultimately, it's the person's choice. 

That is all that I want, to say. 

mdb

I had radiation, and my BC was in the left breast. At my hospital, the radiation oncologist ASSURED me that my heart would not be affected. That is how precise radiation is nowadays.  I was also worried about my left lung, to which he replied that at the most, it would catch the tip of my lung, but I would never know that it was affected. I trusted him to do his job, have the permanent blue dot tattoos to show for it, and I'm glad I went all 33 times.  I am stage IIB, but I am a triple negative and would do anything to fight this because it got to my lymph nodes.

easyquilts, about one of your posts being delted, heck not only were so many of my posts deleted but so were worriedhubby's 1 and 2.  I think the moderators gave up on me after that :-)

Obviously there is no way we as lay people can compare ourselves to the experience and training of knowledgeable breast cancer doctors.  I'm not talking about the typical Internest or family doctor here, but those who do nothing but treat breast cancer at the top medical facilities.  They are the ones who treat hundres of patients a year and they are the ones who follow up with their thousands of patients from years to year.  They are the ones who see the recurrences, etc.  They are not gods, but they are certainly in a better position than most of us to determine what are the best recommended treatments.  At any rate, there are quite a few studies and papers out there who believe that those who receive lumpectomies AND radiation have better survival outcomes than those who do not receive radiation.  Until they perfect a more individualized approach, its a no-brainer that virtually all lumpectomy patients (with the exxception of those who are elderly or who have other serious health problems) should opt for radiation.  Its not even a question in my opinion. 

Interestingly,  I didn't bother posting it here, but I found some papers who opined that those who received full breast radiation were also better off because the mammary nodes were treated, nodes that are hardly ever removed because of surgical difficulties in doing so, but in a percentage of cases have cancer cells, even when the sentinel nodes are negative.  So there may be women walking around who assume they had negative nodes when in fact, if checked, their mammary nodes would have been positive.  At least radiation will take care of that problem, hopefully.

Hi:

I just read most of this thread, it took me hours, and I don't remember seeing this posted anywhere but I thought it might be helpful and if the moderators think it should be posted somewhere else, please do.  I just thought it was a good, logical explanation.  If I don't get into the new radiation study at RI Hospital with the 3-week protocol, I am planning to go to Dana Farber and see this Dr. Harris for my 6-1/2 week treatment. 

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/356/23/2399??eaf

Peeps

Dx 6/20/08, DCIS, 1 cm, IDC,1cm,Grade 2/3/1 of 2 sent nodes, no ALD, oncotype 20, ER+,PR-,HER-