April 2010 Rads Group

I am doing 28 whole breast and 6 boosts.  

I am getting alittle paranoid as they told me that they would be zapping a little bit of lung tissue 'cuz they have to.  S now after 4 doses I have a little cough ... psychosomatic?  I don't know.  I can't trust my brain any more....

Katie 

Sue - Yea, they said they would do their best to miss the heart !?!?  The machine is so specific and they take an x ray once a week.  I trust them, but it is nerve wracking!!!

Katie 

Mine is also on the left side. When I had my sim, they told me I would have to hold my breath during radiation. When I would breathe , the lungs pushed the heart in the path of radiation. Said they would talk more to me about this when I went on Monday.

I finally asked Todd the Tech why they bothered to put tattoos when he continues to draw on me daily.  He said the tattoos are reference marks and they would be able to find the real marks from those, but it is WAY faster to get me in and out with the Sharpie marker lines.  Harrummph.  They are pretty awful.  And he enhances them every day!  I have completed one week and have to admit that my bad boob hurts and I have a dull headache that is completely solved with Advil, but nagging.  Sorry for the whine.

Katie 

All done!!  Girls ... I did the 1 week treatment with rad 2X per day ... 7:30AM and 2:30PM ... Accelerated Partial Breast Irradiation.  Happy Dance!

At CT, I was tatooed with the standard 3 (both sides and mid-sternum) to align the machine when you first get set each day.  I had 2 X-Rays at each treatment (directly above and from the side) to make sure the tumor was aligned before they started.  At sim, I was given black sharpie in 6 spots and 3 were covered with the clear round tapes.  I was given the option to have these tatooed as well, but turned it down.  These were to mark the tumor bed and the edge of the breast tissue.  If these became light, they drew them back on.  Don't worry if you face the shower and they wash off.  They will still be faint if you do not use soap. 

Mine was 3-D conformal, so I got 3 beams aimed at the tumor bed in 3 different directions at 3 different time intervals at 3 different strengths.  I had a 4th one direct over the top at a short time aimed at the tumor bed.  This is all what the rad onc decides at CT with the physicist.  You are in good hands .... believe me.  Do your best to relax and hold still.  Use imagery, or pray, or something, to relax.  I finished yesterday and I can tell you that I prayed the entire time I was being treated and I did not hold my breath. 

Just relax ... I had a left breat tumor at 12 o'clock that was 2.3 cm IDC.  I had clear margins.  I was Grade 1, but this option is available for all early stage 0, I, and II breast cancers that have node negative status.  Please research your options before you settle for the standard of care - 33 weeks - that most doctors will push on you.  Believe me, I fired my surgeon and went to a different Breast Care facility that would give me this option.  Do your research.

Good luck everyone ... radiation is not that difficult.  Keep a positive attitude!

I did thorough research. 

Cwb is overstating the use of partial breast irradiation (PBI).  As the name suggests it delivers radiation to the area of the tumor bed and immediate proximity but not the whole breast.  The area of the tumor bed has the highest risk of recurrence but the rest of the breast has some risk of recurrence as well. The standard of care (not something I avoid but a minimum I would insist on when dealing with a disease with highly successful treatment options) is that PBI should be done on a clinical trial or only for patients with very low risk of recurrence (not all node negative Stage 0 , 1, 2).  Outcomes data is still short and limited but the best outcomes to hope for are near-equivalence with standard care, not improvement in outcomes. The advantage is that it is shorter and finished faster.

Accelerated whole breast irradiation is a more interesting option.  It uses only about 16-18 whole breast treatments and a few boost treatments with a higher dose per fraction.  The comparative data looks good and shows equivalence in outcomes with standard treatment.  Data is not as long but quite solid as this approach has been used in Canada for a long time.  Some American facilities do offer it to a wide range of patients.  I think this is likely to become more widespread in the USA in coming years.  

Hi, April Rads! I have just finished 9 days of treatment and finally feel the light at the end of the tunnel! Got sick the day before I started and center said come anyway. Only get marked with pen in 3 places quite quickly each time. Machine zaps from left side and then moves 180 degrees to zap on right.

Asked bs about irradation treatment. She said I wasn't a candidate. Asked onc. doc. about Canadian fraction.  He said 28 plus 6 was still the "standard of care" but eventually all might move to that. I hope not to be back for that! After a roller coaster ride the past 5 months or so, hopefully settling down. For those of us not in a major med area it takes much research, travel and soul searching to make decisions-at least in my experience.  I am still teaching and drive 40 min. each way at end of day. Still have option of taking time off.  Good luck to all!

Here is the link to the information on this website about the 1 week options for Partial Breast Irradiation.

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/radiation/new_research/20091013c.jsp

This is where I found information so I could ask questions.  Good luck everyone!

Hi April Rads Group, today I go for my first radiation treatment,  I wasn't told about a a sim or anything, so I'm assuming this will be the actual radiation. I will let you know how it goes.

I'm starting rads April 12th. 6 1/2 weeks...Glad to have the boards:) Hello all!

Went for my 1st rad this morning, but didn't get any rad. They checked all the lines and markings from the sim last week. Make more marks on me ( it does look a treasure map x marks the spots) and did x rays. I have to hold my breath during these short times to keep my heart out of line of rad. They were so nice, explaining everything as they did it. I have been so lucky to have wonderful drs. all thru this. They also told me that I would only need 16 instead of 33. That was good news today.

The waiting to begin is the hardest part. I speak from experience, as today will mark my LAST FULL BREAST TREATMENT (#25 OF 25, and then just 5 boosts)!!! Yeah!!!! But OMG, the waiting to get the rad show on the road seemed so difficult, lots of waiting for biop. results, genetic results, meeting with onc. to see if I needed chemo. first, check with breast surgeon to see how I was healing from lump and sentinel node surgeries -- so stressful! Hang in there!!!!!

Please do read our March board to help envision what to expect over the next month(s). I am SO glad to have this almost behind me, and you all will too.

With 30 treatments (and initally told it might be 33), I didn't count my days done -- there were too many -- just "Week 1 done" then "Week 2 done." Once I'd had #20, I switched over to counting down in the single digits.

Wishing you all the absolutely very best, As Dory in Finding Nemo said, "Just Keep Swimming."

My first treatment dared and done. 

I thought I was fine, but I arrived and started crying in my car.  I called my sister and pulled myself together.  I then went into the treatment place, and there was my husband--waiting to help me get through it.  He had wanted to drive me, but he had a meeting and couldn't get home in time to pick me up.  However, he managed to get to the medical center in time for my appointment.  So I was surprised to see him and in tears again. But it's done.  And surely will be easier tomorrow.

Hi Ladies-

I went for my "sim" on 3/30 and was marked in 3 spots with black sharpie, and those spots were covered with tape/stickers. I didn't realize it would take this long to get the process started...I am supposed to start this week sometime. Two of my stickers feel off in the shower last week so I was re-marked on Friday. I wish I would have realized how important these marks were...

I feel under-informed by my MD about the process so it has been very helpful reading these posts. How does one go about keeping the sharpie marks on the skin for 6 weeks??

Yea, 1st rad done today. Took 15 minutes and I was on my way to work. I will have to make sure the tops I wear to work don't show my beautiful makings. One line seems to be kinda high. I have to keep pulling the neckline up and it's driving me crazy. I think they will have to keep refreshing my lines, they do seem to fade. My sticky dots also seem to be very stuck.