Anyone really unhappy with treatment?

Options
percy4
percy4 Member Posts: 477
edited July 2015 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)

I am having really unhappy feelings about my treatment. Because. Oh, well. I am reading a lot about the idea that low-grade DCIS and even that with microinvasion are things they would not have seen 30 years ago, and that could mean that we with low-grade DCIS and even micro may have had that go away from our own immune systems if they had not seen it. That, with a very minor diagnosis, we may have lived 30+ years without treatment, and that makes me wonder about what I wondered in the beginning. Was the radiation I got (with the possible tripling of lung cancer, spontaneously breaking rib bones in the future, lung fibrosis possibilities) really what I should have done? What we have now, with cancer, is cut, burn, and poison (chemo; I, happily, did not need that). I decided to do rads because, as of now, it cuts recurrence in half, but I was never comfortable. What do you-all think, the more they say it may be over-treatment? I can't take it back now, and felt I had to treat the cancer I had at this time with what was available at this time. Still; it worries me.

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • Meow13
    Meow13 Member Posts: 4,859
    edited July 2015

    I agree treatment seems barbaric we need better treatment.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • percy4
    percy4 Member Posts: 477
    edited July 2015

    I just ran into a guy whose mother had rads in the 70's. She was cured of the BC, but later died of fluid in the lungs from fibrosis caused by rads. I do get that the rads now are MUCH more refined, and that is a comfort to me, but; still.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 3,257
    edited July 2015

    This is the best we got guys so PLEASE don't beat yourself up about having a "standard of care" treatment for your DCIS. There was also a chance that it could have become INVASIVE and once that cat is out of the bag, you can't put it back. Then, after invasive BC, there is a 30% chance of it going on to become metastatic and we all know what Stage IV means, even now when they are living longer and productive lives. Ask anyone on that board if they would have had ANY treatment to prevent their fate and my guess is they would say YES to rads. It beats having rads for mets to your bones, no?

    So, my take on this is that we did what we know to be the standard of care. 30 years ago, no one knows how many of those undiscovered DCIS cases went on to become invasive...fact is they still don't know. But, it is the best we have. HUGS and know you did what you should do for you at the time.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Jelson
    Jelson Member Posts: 1,535
    edited July 2015

    Percy4 - I have sometimes felt lucky that my DCIS was grade 3 because I don't worry about too much treatment - only too little. There is something about rads that is not usually discussed and I don't know if it is meaningful or not. How much rads do we actually get -is it calibrated for different types of cancer? by size/ location? My experience was 2 what I would call zaps per visit. I had the standard plus boosts - but per treatment, only two passes of the machine. Sometimes people on the board speak about more zaps than that. I take comfort in only 2 though as I said before I don't know if that means less rads?

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • april485
    april485 Member Posts: 3,257
    edited July 2015

    kayb, that is absolutely true so no worries about mentioning it. And, I know that DCIS is the least likely to cause trouble with or without rads. I just don't want any of these ladies to worry that they did the wrong thing when clearly, they did what doctors recommend that we do with this stage of the disease. It is the best that we have available.

    I hate to think anyone is feeling bad about their choice.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories