I DO NOT want 28 days of radiation and no boosts!

I was told by my radiation oncologist that the 16 day Canadian protocol is for early stage breast cancer only. 

I had a a healthy discussion with RO about this as I was bilateral. I wanted to do the 5-day therapy. One of the things that happens at radiation is we are already disease fatigued. We want it over. ROs are in a tough spot to get us through the "gold standard" protocol with all the stuff running through our heads. We can all choose what we want to do, but if you understand the science they abide by - when we don't do the full protocol, women pay with their lives. You don't say how old you are. I consuluted a couple of ROs and neither would have provided they 5-day brachy even though I was stage 1 and 7mm and 11mm tumors. The RO I went with said he wouldn't recommend Bracy if I were 65 as the 5 year survival is not as good as the gold standard. They know the science. They are passionate about the protocol, because they know the numbers. They know the stats on how things work out in the end.

As far as how many days, all I can say is cancer is sneaky and radiation is cumulative. Their math is based on survival stats of women like us. They are truly about our survival. I truly believe we are more about getting our lives back ASAP when we get to radiation and they have a tough job getting through to us. I know that was the case with me. And when it registered, I cried. It was the last thing in the world I wanted. And it sucked. But whatever the future holds, I swung with the biggest bat the smartest doctors on the planet offered. In the end, it's the gift of life to myself.

We should also remember, that there is extensive history with radiation that supercedes any of our chemo protocols. It hasn't changed much in a long time. The reason it hasn't changes is nothing has proven to be better. Going less will give you some defense, but not the "gold standard" of defense.