Proton Therapy

I had proton radiation because my cancer was in the left breast and i have a history of heart disease in the family. With proton radiation, the beam stops at the tumor (or node if that's the target). With photon radiation, it goes through the body. In the past, many women experienced lung and heart damage from radiation, but new techniques have been developed to avoid affecting the heart and lungs.

That being said, I was very pleased to be accepted into the RadComp clinical trial and receive proton radiation as it was one less thing to worry about. I had a very good experience and no side effects other than typical skin redness that comes with radiation. I had no fatigue at all.

There's a lot on these boards about proton therapy if you use the search feature and type in "proton". I had proton radiation for left side and have no regrets. I am just a short drive from a center. My work insurance would not cover it, so I signed up for Medicare and they did cover it. Later, after I was done, I got a notice from the work insurance that they had re-considered after the hospital appealed on my behalf. The insurance companies sorted it out and I don't know who really wound up paying, but I still had a co-pay (Medicare) of several thousand dollars, which I was fortunately able to manage. It was probably my largest out of pocket cancer treatment expense.

They use this for all sorts of things other than bran cancer, so what you heard, Macdebbie, is wrong. Search around on the boards here, as quite a few of us have posted about our experiences. Again, I would suggest using the search word "proton" in the search feature. Best of luck to you.

at 70, I was diagnosed with stage 1 , grade 3 ( aggressive) 1 CM RIGHT BREAST CANCER.

sentinel + 2 nymph nodes removed , but none involved.

I opted for lumpectomy and Proton radiation for peace of mind.

no burning, no rash, no fatigue, no side effect of any kind, 10 sessions only, and everyone was so nice !.

from what I understand,, every proton center has the same attitudetowards patients. They do give free consultations and explain the difference between regular (Photon) radiation and Proton radiation. you can find it on the internet..

I declined a trial that would have computer flipped me into either the photon or proton groups, because I wanted proton for sure, but that is one way to get it paid for. I heard there was some talk that Medicare might drop their coverage for it, with the reason that "nobody else covers it, so why should we" argument. I don't know where that's gone, if anywhere at this point. As far as I know, Medicare still covers. The hospital seemed to do automatic appeals with your consent, but the problem with the appeals is of course, that you don't know what they will decide, but the bigger problem is that the appeals take so much time, that waiting for the response significantly delays the time you have to wait for your treatment and that is not a good thing.

My center had a thing where if you could not get it covered by insurance, they would let you do it for a flat $10,000. The full regular cost I understand is around $65,000. I think I still wound up with something like a $7,000 co-pay, even after it was covered. Check with your center, because they had financial people who will talk to you about all of the options, etc.