Has anyone stopped Radiation and not finished treatment?

GingerAmy
GingerAmy Member Posts: 20
edited June 2014 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

I can't do this anymore. My skin is "burned" (improper term, I know) on my entire left breast extending to my armpit. The pain is constant. It itches, stings, is excruciating at times. My breast is swollen and hardened. I have 7 full breast treatments left with 8 "boosts" after that. I can't do it.

I work full time and cannot take a month off to endure this. After 5 treatments I had to take 5 days off due to massive swelling, redness, pain and hardening of the breast. Even though it's been a few months since my lumpectomy/sentinel node biopsy, I feel my body wasn't ready for this.

Does anyone have any advice, or stopped treatment? Know anyone who has, and the long term outcome?

I see my radiation oncologist today (as of course I'm supposed to have treatment). I am just looking for some help. Please, anyone, any advice?

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  • Jomama2
    Jomama2 Member Posts: 96
    edited November 2012

    Bump...

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  • dltnhm
    dltnhm Member Posts: 873
    edited November 2012

    GingerAmy,



    So sorry that you are experiencing this. I hope some will weigh in with their similar experiences to give you their perspective on the other side of this.



    Hugs. That's a lot for you to contend with.

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  • pupmom
    pupmom Member Posts: 5,068
    edited November 2012

    No, I finished all treatments, but they were not difficult for me. Maybe you should talk with your surgeon about a mastectomy if you don't finish rads. Lumpectomy + rads = same protection against recurrence as mastectomy. I would think that not finishing the rad treatment puts you at a higher risk for recurrence in that breast.

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  • Jennt28
    Jennt28 Member Posts: 2,021
    edited November 2012

    I quit after 12 of the planned 28 treatments. I had felt that it was the wrong thing for me and each tx just made me feel that even more so.



    By day 12 I had started to burn and the pneumonitis I got from Taxol started coming back. I did that tx and then asked to meet with the RO. I handed her the gown they gave me and quit. I walked away from there like it was the happiest day in my life. However, I then organised my BMX and recon as I had only had lumpectomy.



    Interesting that my PS says that even though I only did 12 sessions I got enough rads to affect me tissue wise like I had all of them...



    So, in the end I quit because I was not prepared to accept the short and long term SEs from rads. They felt "wrong" to me. Oh, and I was struggling to work full-time too...



    Jenn

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  • GingerAmy
    GingerAmy Member Posts: 20
    edited November 2012

    Thank you Jomama2 for bumping my thread :)

    Thank you dltnhm for the kind thoughts and hugs :)

    Thank you yorkiemom for the perspective on not finishing treatment :)

    Jennt28, a special thanks to you Laughing for sharing your experience. I saw my doc yesterday. He put me on Keflex (antibiotic, AGAIN) and Lortab (which, I don't know how I am going to take while I am working, but he is trying his best to help me I guess). I am on the same page as you, in as much as if this rears its ugly head again or I can't finish this (as I type my breast is stinging and I want to rip the skin off, but I digress), I am gettng a bilateral mastectomy. I'm so done with this torture. Doc told me yesterday that in 7 years he has only seen one other case like me. That's encouraging Frown. Ah well. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, this feels like it's killing me right now so I must be getting damn strong!

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  • debbie106
    debbie106 Member Posts: 3
    edited February 2013

    I had to delay radiation for my last week. Around the 32nd treatment my burns were so bad, I had blisters opening up. The burns were alwful. My skin peeled right off me. I did soaks and burn creams. Nothing like feeling like you are on fire for days on end. They delayed the rest of the treatments for about 2 weeks, then I finished my last 5 sessions. That was worst than going through chemo for me. I breezed through that. If is not good to stop radiation treatments if at all possible but if you get burnt too bad you need a break. 

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