Should I stop radiation??

It sounds like you are being fried alive! It makes me wonder how this can possibly be good for you. Go with your gut.

Full disclosure: I did not do rads but this is one reason why I chose a second mastectomy over a lumpectomy. All of the current treatments are terrible (in my opinion).

Oh boy do I remember how that feels. I can't tell you what to do. But I can relate, in that I faced 33 rads with the last 7 being 'boosts'. My skin was all red and bumpy, with quarter-sized blisters under the breast and under my arm.  - When the boosts were over, the boost area was redder and it covered about 1/2 the nipple, which seemed to take it the worst.

I'm sorry that they are doing it to you now. That they are doing it to anyone. The after-effects have been long-lived and the trauma deeply long-lived. I'll say it, I hated every single minute of it. Would go, cause they told me to, then sit in the car and cry. My skin is relatively fair, they said thats why the blisters were so bad. It's been two years and I think that the darkened and peeling skin is all gone, but recently, the scar area lumped up and hardened, they called it a necrotic cyst and my BS drained it. 3 weeks later, it's infected, sore and I'm on antibiotics.

Maybe I'm not the best example, actually the onc once told his students as he lifted my breast, "This is a worse case sceniaro". I didn't mind him showing it, but his words made that day suck.

I did it because I felt like they knew what they were doing. Thing is; did they? did they really know? I have to answer, no. They haven't had it done to them. They never had to face it themselves, even my female surgeon (we graduated HS together), she's treated thousands, but she's never had to face it herself. She didn't tell us all what to expect. She told us a lot, but the thing is, they really can't judge how you or your skin are going to react, or what you might face in the future if they don't do the boost. I would rather take my chances in taking all the rads if it means I'll never have to face BC again. So I did it. It sucked and I hated it, but I did it - in the heat of summer too. Kinda like taking bitter medicine, but you take it cause it's proven to do some good in a lot of people. It may be just the trick to keep it abated forever, it might not. I chose to risk the additional damage and crying sessions, in an effort to  1. Finish what I started. and 2. Kill the SOB bad cells so they CAN'T come back. EVER AGAIN.  They must choose to do the boosts for a reason. Maybe your onc can explain why and that would help.

The last day of rads was celebrated by all the tech's that had treated me. I even exchanged gifts with a few of the really nice ones that had made me feel better on bad days. Since then, I haven't seen one of them. No one ever called, no return visits. It was a bit of a letdown and rather depressing cause you've been seeing all those nice working people every work day for weeks and weeks, then it felt as if my 'friends' dropped me. Felt lonely. Was really a good decision to go back to work (when I could wear a bra again). The co-worker commraderie helped with that abandoned feeling.

I admit, I wear my feelings on my shoulders and as a result, get hurt easily. But, that's just me. I'm GLAD it's over and hope I never face it again. Loosing that small lump section of my boob and then the rads was a horrific experience and counseling with a survivor has truly been a life-saver. Plus the ladies in here can help you feel connected and there's always someone who has had it a lot worse. It helps me put my woes in perspective, seriously.

Good luck, you can do it. it's almost over, and if you would like some fresh Aloe, PM me and I'll send you some large leaves. I grow it, and I split it open and put pieces on the burned spots. It really feels good and helps the skin heal.

((((Hugs)))), ~Connie

Hey,  even tho I had 35 treatments ( last 8 were boots) I had to lay out for 2 weeks because my underarm was so burned the skin was coming off 10 layers at a time.  And that ws at about 3 weeks in.  My last treatment was Sept 30, 2009,  My breast is still red, lumpy, looks horrible and I still get sharp pains throughout the breast.  I have also been very short of breath, doing almost nothing.  I believe I have radiation pneumonia.  When I tried to talk to the rad onc and his nurse, they pretty much just said go to your PCP.  I am thinking, you guys caused this you should fix it.  I am now very unimpressed with my rad onc, and if I ever have to do this again, it wont be at the same hospital.  Oh, also, after the first four days of being on that table for 45 min a day (should have been no more than 10) I developed severe muscle and nerve spasms, So I was out two weeks for that, and my arm is still not doing well, several months later.  Oh well, its over for now, now we just wait and see what the future brings.

I had bilat mast, so the issue was not burnt nipples. However everything was going great until #26 of 33. When I woke up that morning several chunks of skin came off, stuck to the sheets because the skin had suddenly broken open. They did not stop treatment, they just gave me silvadene and we kept on going. It was awful and oozy and painful. I would read the posts from women having similar issues discussing the pros and cons of various bras to wear during this time.....it was one of the moments that I was grateful for no breasts.

The thing that amazes me now is how quickly it all healed once I was done. Within 3 weeks you could not tell that the entire area of my chest had been a giant bloody scab. In fact now it is only a little tan looking. I do have those zinging pains periodically but think they are nerves regenerating still from surgery.

Revriki, you're coming down the home stretch girl...you can do this and we're all here to help you cross the finish line. When you can, let the air get to your chest. I also found that a 10% solution of vinegar and water on a washcloth was soothing. Tylenol or Advil helps with the pain and can reduce swelling. Hang in there and remember to breathe................................

I had the same kind of thing, but 100% of the skin of my left breast burned off.  A year later the radiation damage (readionecrosis, where the radiation kills the blood vessels so the tissue dies) causes severe pain, swelling and constant abscesses, to the point I had to have a mastectomy so that I could function as a human being again.  If you feel you should stop--please do so.  The radiation damage is permanent and cummulative.  The sooner you stop the better off you will be. 

I HATED RADS! Every friggin day, and I wish I had never done them. I kept going in there, and begging them to explain how radiation can do me any good, when radiation causes cancer. They were very nice and patted me on the back, gave me hug and nuked me again. I wish I had stopped but I kept believing them. And I had it "easy" . I did not burn too badly. But the area of the boost left a very hard knot. All my follow up thermographs showed that my breasts were still affected by the rads, almost 2 years later! It had me so upset. I wanted this stuff OUT! So I kept looking for ways to cleanse my breasts. Deep tissue massage and some ultrasound helped a bit, but FINALLY I think I found the answer. Iodine. If only I had done the iodine instead of the rads! Iodine is essential for breast health. It consenstrates in breast tissue and the lack of it has been found in women with breast cancer. Since I started on the iodine, about 4 months ago, my breasts have finally started to repair. The hardness is softening. The lumps and pains are gone, and the hard knot from the boost is breaking up. I will get another therm in Jan. but I know I will fianally be seeing blue and no longer seeing RED about his whole thing. Oh, and I just went to a holistic dentist. When I had to have more xrays, I freaked out, but she just cannot do any work without them. She is however, very cautious. She also told me there is a supplement, that she said I could get at Fruitful Yields called NAC, N-acetyl-cysteine that is supposed to get rid of the effects of radiation. She says you need to take it 3 times a day for about 6 months. I hope you will give it try. As I said, I have been dealing with this crap for 2 years. I wish I had known then what I know now. I would have never exposed myself to this barbary. And don't get me started on how they zapped my thyroid! And like I said, I was lucky, I did not have a lot of skin damage. I have darker pigmented skin. I also had a surface tumor so rads did not zap my heart or lungs, at least I think. But they ruined my sweat glands and my thyroid. Thanks for letting me rant!

For info about iodine, check out the iodine, thyroid and breast cancer thread, and also the info at breastcancerchoices.org