STARTING RADIATION

Nickeming
Nickeming Member Posts: 11
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
AFTER FINDING AND REMOVING A VERY SMALL CANCER 1/3" AND LYMPH NODES REMOVED (2)AND THEY ARE CLEAR. THEY WANT ME TO HAVE RADIATION. I REALLY HATE TO DO THIS BUT I AM TOLD IT IS IMPORTANT. HAVE ANY OF YOU HAD REALLY BAD RESULTS. I HEAR IT CAN BURN YOU. WILL MY REMAINING BREAST LOOK AWFUL. HELP . I AM SCARED OF THIS PROCEDURE. MARLIECE

Comments

  • Roxi1
    Roxi1 Member Posts: 39
    #2
    Hi Marliece:
    Try the following link from the American Cancer Society. That may answer a lot of your questions:
    http://www.cancer.org/docroot/CRI/content/CRI_2_4_4X_Radiation_Therapy_5.asp?sitearea=
  • inkblot
    inkblot Member Posts: 698 Member
    #3
    If your cancer was DCIS or very small, then it's typically still recommended that you have rads to try to kill any remaining and/or escaped cancer cells. A bit of insurance, so to speak.

    I assume that your docs have not recommended chemo? If that's the case, you are fortunate in many ways. Still, the decision to have rads is a big one. Research and learn all you can about the radiation, how it's delivered at the center you'd be going to for it and make your decision after you feel informed and confident about the info you have gathered. Some rad centers have better, more precisely targeted methods of delivering rads today, than say, just 2 years ago and that impresses me. For those of us with left bc, needing rads, how much of it touches the heart/lung area is a concern and many centers can now avoid that issue altogether.

    Check it all out and talk thoroughly with your doctors and particularly the radiation oncologist .

    As far as your concerns about the radiated breast:
    We're all different in that regard and there's no way of predicting what your experience/result may be, prior to starting treatment. My experience wasn't bad at all actually. My breast looks and feels just the same as the normal one. It's remained the same size, with no residual darkening, shrinking or sweling. I chose not to have the tatoo, as marker for the rad field. Instead I was marked with a permanent marker, so have nothing remaining at all, except the small lumpectomy scar, which doesn't bother me in the least. I'm so happy to just be here and healthy!
    I am not my breast and my breast is not me. Just a small part of me, like a toe or finger.

    Hope that may help some.

    Love, light and laughter,
    Ink
  • Idalia
    Idalia Member Posts: 76
    #4
    Radiation turned out to be the easiest treatment I went thru (had lumpectomy, chemo and rad). It can burn, but you are literally radiated for seconds at a time. They will tell you how to care for the area, recommend/give you cleansers and creams and check the area every time you are treated. My skin tanned slightly and the skin on the nipple peeled painlessly. Some people experience swelling or tenderness. Your remaining breast should look fine! New things are scary, but radiation was not bad at all.

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