Questions to ask the Radiologist?

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BG46TN
BG46TN Member Posts: 286
edited February 2017 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

HI!

I am meeting with a radiologist later today, I have a few questions of my own but was wondering what else I should be asking?

Overview: I am triple neg, diagnosed in Oct....I am almost done with chemo (2 more left) I will have a double mastectomy in the end of April, and have the BARD1 gene...

My MO wants me to have radiation.....my 2 surgeons were surprised and didn't think I needed it.

All the research I did on my own says that triple neg, no lymph involvement, double mastectomy and a lump smaller then 5cm doesn't require radiation....and doesn't raise your reoccurance % etc...

Is my MO just being overly cautious?

Of course I WILL do it if it will raise my chances of no reoccurance...I just want to know more information about it

I will have a 1 hour commute to get to the closest radiation center, so that will be a 2 hour round trip AFTER working all day plus the time to do the radiation (30 min total) ugh I"m tired just thinking about it LOL

Any advice? Or questions I should be sure to ask?


Thanks!

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2017

    Is your tumor close to the chest wall? I feel like sometimes they like to zap the incision/scar line too, just in case, but I don't know what makes them choose to do that, because lots of women who get mastectomies don't have to do rads. But in reading through the threads, I'm getting the impression that a mastectomy isn't a guarantee of having no radiation for whatever reason. I got a lumpectomy so I knew I would have rads, but was completely surprised by having one positive node detected during surgery. There were no clinical signs of that at all, even in the MRI. So I got the deluxe rads, with all the nodes radiated.

    Definitely let us know what the rad onc says!

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  • BG46TN
    BG46TN Member Posts: 286
    edited February 2017

    no its not close to my chest wall, its on my right breast, the side...it was close to the surface (I felt it) it has now shrunk so no one can feel it anymore :-) yay!

    I will definitely keep you updated!

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  • BG46TN
    BG46TN Member Posts: 286
    edited February 2017

    Well I met with the radiologist oncologist yesterday and I need radiation :( He said yes I do fall into the category that typically says "no radiation" having a mastectomy, no lymphnode involvement, tumor less then 5cm...BUT because I"m triple neg which is more aggressive to begin with and have the BARD1 gene he thinks I should have radiation. He says it will raise my "no reoccurance rate" 10%.....soo....

    It sucks that my ride will be an hour each way....but it will most likely not start until my summer break starts (I'm a teacher) which is good I guess.. I will have my surgery at the end of April, then recouperation...he said I can't start rads until my expanders are totally full anyway, so that will bring me to the end of June..*sigh*

    this process is soooo long! add in switch to implants and it will be next January...

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  • gb2115
    gb2115 Member Posts: 1,894
    edited February 2017

    So they are being careful!! Maybe use the time in the car to listen to some good books or something. Set a goal to treat yourself somehow along the way, to give you something to look forward to. There was a lady at radiation that I always talked to in the waiting room, who lived an hour or so away, but she had family in the city we live in. She was able to stay in town during the week and go home on the weekends.

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