starting rads feb 2017

Thanks M'ladies,

I love being part of this warrior pack of brave women .." The Crispy Critters 2017🥓"! We leave in the mirning so today pack some essentials and yes .. rest up ! 🌺💗

hello I hope I can post here. I just have a question. Finishing chemo in a couple weeks. I'm starting radiation probably last week of April beginning of May. I'm noticing in this group that all of you ladies had zero nodes positive and you're getting radiation I'm just confused why would people with zero positiv nodes getting radiation? Is it the grade and stage that warrant the rads? And how come no one has positive nodes

According to my MO and RO, after lumpectomy, radiation is the normal protocol followed by hormone therapy OR I could have a mastectomy. Considering my tumor was considered "boring" and "friendly type" I was surprised I had to go through all this. Very aggressive, in my opinion for a friendly tumor and favorable pathology report. Having said that, you never know what cancer cells are lurking about, and I'll do whatever I can to avoid reoccurrence.

I was told if I had a positive node I would need chemo.

Thank You all for the well wishes and cheers . I couldn't have done any of these without you ladies . I am so grateful for your friendships and support during these past 4 difficult months.

Mamasha, I am going to Carlsbad , CA . Taking a few grandkids to Legoland and going to San Diego to visit family there as well . I will enjoy thinking about things other than cancer this week . Next week , I will think about Tamoxifen ! But not unril then !!

Scaredashell, I was told that the percentage of recurrence was about 15% for me in doing no adjuvant therapy. If I chose radiation it would lower recurrence to approx. 6-7% and with hormone therapy following rads , I could lower the percentage to approx . 3% recurrence rate and drop the chances of a new cancer on the unaffcted side. However, nothing is 100% and nothing is promised either way ! I was told , it is possible I was cured with just the surgery, but those decisions are left ultimately for us to make . Had my margins not been clear and had there been node involvement , chemo would have been the treatment without question . There are also pathological reasons for rads and chemo depending on the histology of ones individual tumor , and also genetics . Many variables , I was told. There is just so much to learn and decipher what is best .This site has been my Godsend .

xOxO🌸👍

Happy Birthday Mamasha , lots of birthdays this month . I like pisceans. I am a Scorpio , we are compatible . My husbands was on the 9th.

This picture dipicts a complete birdsnest do on my head! I cannot believe I looked like that this morning at my last Tx. My hubs snapped it .. seriously ! That is what he captured! I had just banged the gong ! Lol.. I need to post a better pic of me. Edit

yay Patti1746

You are nearing home base. I am looking forward to my boob feelingblike a boob again . This pain for months of varying degrees is tiresome. Thank you for complimenting my crazy moptop. I guess I should be grateful I have it. Please stay warm snd cozy . Love you all

💗🌸💪🏻

Thank you .. I am celebrating !

Congrats Elem! You deserve to have an amazing time on vacation!

Scaredashell--I don't have lymph involvement but had 4 rounds of chemo because of my Oncotype Dx score so basically dropped my chances of distant recurrence with that in case anything went rogue in my blood vessels surrounding the cancerous cells. I only had a 3mm spot but it was Grade 3. Anyway, my MO said that the chemo gets more of the surface cells and can only penetrate so deep. The radiation is more targeted towards penetrating deeper into the breast tissue to prevent local recurrence.

Thank you scaredashell . That is good info you shated and sounds reasonable. I love the salty beach air and relaxing . My boob still feels sore especially the nipple but ,hopefully, it becomes a thing of the past quickly.

Pamela23, I plan to wait a week or two to heal as well . I did not do bracy, but I definitely want to give myself a break . I told them MO and he seemed ok with it. I probably won't postpone too long since I have an appt for bloodwork in early June , so I would like a clear pic of any side effects of tamoxifen should I have any!

Enjoy the day ladies

Hugs

Oasis2016 - My rad techs always offer a warm blanket, not sure if it would help or not. I use and find it works for me - Bach Rescue Pearls - they are homeopathic, dissolvable capsules, non-habit forming, alcohol free.

Pamela23 - I also want to wait until any healing from rads is well on its way before starting AIs. Right now, my appt is 1 week after final rad, which I think will be too soon.

Wish I had more time to reply - to all you ladies who are done with rads - Congrats & thanks for your helpful comments.

Hugs to all.

elem what a beautiful photo....almost seems fake! I hope you are enjoying time with your family and healing. How lucky to be able to pack up and head to the beach after ringing the bell! Totally jealous because the snow we got ended as rain so it made it impossible to shovel since it froze overnight. So please don't feel bad when your toes hit the sand...think of me on my new ice rink in my driveway!

Pamela, since we are on the stuff 10 years(unfortunately), I think you will know when is the right time for you.

Oasis, single digit treatments left!!!! Yay

Contiinured support and love to all you girls

Thanks again to those who patiently replied to my earlier question about any extended regimens with twice daily treatments. I went in again today for the follow-up with my RO. He gave me two options he's thinking over. One is the fairly standard protocol with 30 treatments, 1x/day. The other is twice a day, for 30 sessions so three weeks.

I'm not sure why last time he told me five weeks lol, other than my case is so peculiar it made his head hurt.

The twice daily route is supposed to be a variation for "re-radiation" cases like mine where I previously had full radiation to that same general area, and now am looking at doing it again due to another issue on the same side.