Rads VS Mastectomy--please share RAD stories!

Hi LotusMama -- I second the congrats on the chemo doing its job!

Regarding radiation, I will respond that I had a relatively easy time with radiation, I completely agree about the emotional part of it ... it was hard going every day, especially feeling crappy near the end.  

I was really one of the lucky ones, I ran all through treatment, I was pretty fatigued, but not too bad (worked through it all, just took a few 1/2 days at the end).  I did get pretty bad dermatitis (ichy, red, hot, oozy skin -- and I couldn't use any lotions on it because they all made it worse) - but this cleared up within about 2 weeks after completion of treatment.  Six months later, I am pretty much all healed up and feel all better.  You should read through some of the posts from our May 2012 group -- it gives you a pretty good snapshot of what it is like for a variety of people.  

Best of luck in your continued treatment.

i've had both, and an aggressive pathology like you

i originally did a lump and rads bc i was told i would have rads anyway due to LVI, grade 3, her2 aspect of my tumor.  I live in Canada and they don't generally start reconstruction until AFTER rads so I decided to wait and do the bmsx later (just had the surgery 8 wks ago) so i could do recon at the same time

RADS was pretty easy, honestly! i had the worst time during chemo but i found rads to be quite easy.  I didnt burn and the only major SE I had was being very very tired especially near the end of treatment. 

BMSX - now this has been extremely tough for me, way way worse then the lump/rads.  I dont know what type of surgery you would consider but i was not a candidate for my own fat (DIEP,etc) so TE to implants was my only option.  I have had a terrible time with these TE's.  The surgery is a really tough one, for me anyway.  Some people seem to sail through the process but i am not one of them! Remember there are complications with any surgery and the re-coup time is considerably longer.  I bounced back from my lump in a few days.  9 wks later and Im still healing and i have another surgery in jan

it was a personal decision to do the bmsx and only you can make a decision on what is right for you.  I just wanted to tell you my experiences with both

Hi, I agree that only you can make the decision

I started off with partial mastectomy, chemo, and radiation.  I wanted a bmsx at the beginning but my surgeon said no.  One year later I ended up with cells in the other breast and ended up doing the double. Three  implant surgeries followed with failure due to the rads.  I have now had three flap surgeries using hip and abdomen.  I guess my only regret is not doing what I wanted in the first place.....I could have avoided the radiation.  Mentally I had a big problem with it.  Also, my best advice is to know all of your options.  My first plastic surgeon at Duke recommended what HE could do.....not what was available.  Good luck with your decision.

Radiation was a piece of cake for me compared to chemo. No problems then, no problems now. Glad I had and took that option.

I found radiation more difficult than chemo, too. Sometimes I wonder if the lumpectomy/rads option was the correct way for me to go. The first few weeks were just a fog so I followed the recommendation of the BS. Now I treasure every day and hope for the best.

You have a lot of good info here already. And as you can see, different options for different people. I unfortunately didn't have an option of lumpectomy because of multi centric tumors being located in different quadrants. Before sx, the MRI showed no cancer. My onc suggested I speak tithe surgeon about lumpectomy instead of mx, but the surgeon was adamant. And thank goodness she was, because the pathology found some cancer in different spots stilly the breast after neoadjuvant chemo. I was also 47 at diagnosis and her2 plus, but they knew I was stage 3 with nodal involvement. I hope you have no cancer left when you get your surgical pathology back, but just know that it can sometimes hide on the scans. Back to your original question, rads were not bad at all for me. They did takeaway lot of time, but what is six weeks compared to the rest of your life. My onc was hoping I could do lumpectomy so I'd still have sensation in my breast. I couldn't and don't regret it, but do miss the sensation. With the mastectomy, I. Am completely numb, not sure if everyone is or not. It's been a year and a half since surgery, I don't think I'll ever have feeling there. I was thinking of getting a bilateral mx for peace of mind, but I listened to my onc and kept one breast. I am glad I did because I do like having sensation in at least one breast. And I really don't worry about getting BCinthe other breast, just worry about distant metastasizes. Just weigh all the pros and cons and make the decision that is right for you.