Who has chosen NOT to have Rads?

Hi Ninel,

When I started treatment I wanted rads.  I argued with my Onc and my bs about it.  They were both against me doing it.  In the end I decided that if I was indeed getting avastin in the trial I would not do the radiation.  I hope I made the correct decision.  My understanding is if you have 4 or more positive nodes you do rads. 

Teresa

Yet, this still does not touch women who had chemo first. That is what my rads oncologist is hating. He said, with women like me... in his field,... they have no idea really how many nodes were involved. I could have 100% response to chemo... all nodes clear AFTER chemo.. and all they new was I had 1 biopsied and test positive. BUT... might have had 21 positive for all they know. hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... gets even trickier for us gals as neo-adjuvant chemo is still pretty new as far as "new" in the cancer worlds goes....;

Laura

I'm to have radiation after I finish chemo. I had a lumpectomy though I wish I had known about Triple neg beforehand; I might have opted for a  bilateral mastectomy, even with all that I've read about lumpectomy vs mastectomy..the rate of return waiting for three years...all the stuff I've learned since I heard my dx. in July...I would not have had a lumpectomy.

  I've had two opinions  from different  Oncologist that Lupus and radiation can be a bad fit. My skin Lupus is on a slow burn.  I'm on Plaquenil and I'm not itching even  though every scar and scratch that happens to my skin turns dark now.

 I know the radiation can burn my skin, cause my breast to harden, darken and lift in my chest wall, so I though I am   not averse to having the procedure, I am going to think  about it a lot in the upcoming months..

bar62

I don't know alot of your personal situation but I had radiation and came through fine.  Yes, my breast is hardened but not horribly hardened.  More of the hardness is from scar tissue and not from the rads.  I wish the left one was as firm as the one that got radiation.  lol    A permanent slight tan, which is sort of nice but I never burned and never suffered any ill affects from it.  I'd take it 100 times over compared to the chemo.  Only pain about it was that it was every single day for 39 treatments.  33 regular and 6 boosters

I am also a triple negative but my Onc suggested I not have a masc or bilateral unless I was absolutely set on it.  He said we caught it early, you are young, otherwise healthy, we are treating you aggressively now and there's no reason to have it/them cut off.  I opted to take his recommendation and if it ever comes back, then I will deal with the other option.  There's no guarantee that having a mast. will prevent total breast cancer. You can still get it in the skin in the breast area.....not common but happens, that's what I was told. 

Was my own decision to not go the extreme and deal with it this way.......4 years clean and I feel great. 

Good Luck 

Ninel...  Thanks for starting this thread, and Otter thank you for the new guidelines.  I finished chemo 6 weeks ago and am meeting with a local rad onc (again) on Tuesday to make a final decision, which has been extremely hard for me -- harder than chemo, because I have professional and family voices on both sides of the fence.  I fall into the mast + 1 positive node category, and based on 2 unique factors about my pathology (won't go into here, but PM me if you want to chat about it), the major breast center where I'm being treated is coming down on the side of rads, although even they tell me it's not standard of care in my situation, and 90% of docs probably would not recommend it.  But, they say they are more aggressive than the others. 

I had a total of 16 nodes removed, so am soooo leery of developing lymphadema -- my biggest fear.  Otter, have you come across any stats on radiation SE's?   Even my top docs tell me stats are all over the place on this, as I've discovered -- but up to 48% (???) per an article on this site. 

The new guideline (which I hadn't seen) may finally influence my stubborn vascillation on this!   Deanna

Ninel,

I understand your confusion on this topic.  I also feel the same way.  I really wanted to do radiation but after talking to several dr's about it, I decided that I would not push the issue.  I had a lot of nodes removed and I knew it would increase my risk for lymphodema but I still was considering it. 

Teresa