Starting Rads in March 2017

Cindy, now I can see your dx info! My phone is not as smart as they say it is. You had positive nodes as I did and that was why I didn't hesitate to go through with the radiation. Good luck on making your decision 🤞

I am coming to the end of my radiation. I have 3 of 33 left. There are 2 other women that I have come to know that have their rads done at the same time as me. I want to give them a card with my contact info so if they are interested we can stay in touch via Facebook, christmas cards or whatever. Is this strange? So bad with words, what should I say?

Cindy, I was like you as well. All on the fence about rads. But I met with the RO and I read the research myself and came to the decision that rads was necessary in my case. Chemo helps destroys cells that might have traveled. Rads kill cells in the location of the tumor. And from what I've read when there is a recurrence, it happens where the tumor was taken out. In other words, local recurrence. They are now speculating that when the tumor is removed, some of the cells with cancer get dragged along the exit path. Anyway, the newer studies ALL indicate that the recurrence rate when chemo is combined with rads is significantly diminished. And if you are borderline with having to have rads and maybe not having it, the studies should push you over into getting zapped.

My concerns with rads was long term she effects. Shitty skin now isn't my concern. I was worried about heart damage and lung disease and bone cancers. I discussed this all with my RO. Now, I think RO are less able to deal with patients. I mean they were trained to really focus on films and very few have protracted patient interaction, except in cancer and other serious disease treatment. So... he wasn't always fuzzy. What my RO was, however, is open-minded. He was willing to research more for me when he didn't have an answer to my question and he was willing to go to the conference in Texas and ask fellow ROs. He was willing to read the research I brought him. All of that. Very open-minded. So, I say ll this to tell you that if you have questions or concerns, bring them up. And make your doctors give you answers until you feel comfortable with the information they've given you.

Anyway, if you decide not to do rads or if even if you do, and for all of us, in 5-10-15 years cancer treatment will have taken another evolution. I figure by the time I get off of hormone suppression crap, they'll have figured out a way to permanently shut down rogue cancer cell production, or pretty darn close with immunotherapy. What I am trying to say... no matter what your decision, I don't think it's a life changer. It just moves the odds numbers around a bit.

Celia - hoping that loss of appetite kicks in soon!

MJ

My appetite was reasonably normal through the radiation regime. But for some reason I was super-hungry and ate everything in sight for about a week after I finished. Gained 5 or 6 lbs But otherwise healing well from the radiation.

I'm in similar indecision as Cindy. In my case tumor turned out to be 1.4 cm but the surgeon got good margins, over 3mm each direction. No lymph node spread (5 sentinel nodes were checked). Stage 1, grade 2, low mitosis, HER2-, 100% er and pr.. will definitely be on tamoxifen.

They are really pushing me for rads because I'm 49 and perimenopause and of course it is the standard of care. (Though here are major studies right now looking at post menopausal age 50+ women with early stage er+/HER2- who do lumpectomy and hormone ONLY, so some smart people must think it may turn out to be a reasonable choice to forego the rads)

My worries are about the long term effects of radiation induced second cancers like melanoma, angiosarcoma, and lung, fibrosis in lung, lymphedema (some lymph nodes do get hit even if they aren't specifically targeting them) and nerve pain/fibrosis etc that limits my arm/shoulder mobility.

They are telling me all those chances are very low, like 1/100 for some, 1/1000 for others, and the risk of local recurrence without rads might be 10% more for me (that rads would take me down from 15-20% chance of local recur to a 5-10% chance of localrecur) Such a hard decision!

WenchLori - How long did it take for your taste buds to come back? Mine still aren't normal and I'm 1o weeks PFC.

WenchLori - Good to know. So I just need to be patient! I already find that sweet stuff is not nearly as appealing as it once was which is probably a good thing....

WenchLori - I went to the dentist for a cleaning between chemo and rads and things went better than I expected! You'll be fine.

Bravepoint, I've got 3 fillings that fell out and 2 others that have broken off. I have very, very soft teeth and I wear upper and lower partials. I'm not looking forward to my dental visit at all! If I had my way I'd have them all pulled and have implants done. I'm checking into it once I get things started but after looking at what my BC has cost so far I'm not sure I want to know how much it will cost. I'm just glad we have awesome insurance!

I can't complain to much about my dental exam this morning. I've had 1 extraction and I'll go back to get 2 fillings next week. I'll need new partials with the new missing tooth. Uhg

Robin, welcome. Most of the ladies started wearing camisoles instead of bras. Maybe you can wear one under your bra or get a bra that's a size bigger around so it'll be a little looser and not rub so much. I had a DBMX so I didn't have a problem with the area under my breasts. Hopefully you'll be able to find relief soon!

Oasis, hi, how are you doing? I haven't had my exchange surgery yet. My PS says I can have it done at any time now and just to give him a call when I'm ready. Tomorrow is my mastectoversary and I had thought about having it done then but I decided I had my summer pulled out from under me last year and I didn't want to do the same thing to myself this year. So I've decided to wait until this fall when my pool was shut down and my garden was done for the summer. My implant made it through radiation with flying colors and I don't have any problem with my skin being to tight. I have noticed more tightness on my treated side since I started swimming, I guess I forgot I still have my pec muscles lol

Hi Lori,

My TE has shifted up and out, towards my armpit during my chemo days. It isn't comfortable but bearable. Met my PS today and gave him a flat NO for DIEP/TRAM flap. Told him I will take one step at a time even if I have CC or need fat grafting. For now, I just do not wish to cut any part of my unaffected body or get my muscles rearranged. He was very understanding and agreed to just take it one step at a time. I'm scheduled for the exchange on 2 August. Got a fill today and having some aching near the armpit.

Sorry to hear about the anti-depression meds, hope it is just the chemobrain. I too am heavily reliant on my calendar for reminders. I had missed a PT session on my left arm cording probably due to chemobrain