RADIATION

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chickad52
chickad52 Member Posts: 497
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
What's the information about radiation causing cancer? This is scaring me!! If it causes it, then why do they use it?

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  • Marcia527
    Marcia527 Member Posts: 2,729
    #2
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    I guess it's the lesser of
    I guess it's the lesser of two evils. They give you treatment to get rid of cancer and sometimes you get other problems but not everyone does so you gamble. We gamble throughout life. Even getting in a car is a gamble but we still do it. So you do what you have to and hope for the best. My surgeon told me I needed radiation to kill any stray cancer cells at the surgery site. Chemo doesn't get in there too well because of the loss of blood flow.
  • chickad52
    chickad52 Member Posts: 497
    #3
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    Marcia527 said:

    I guess it's the lesser of
    I guess it's the lesser of two evils. They give you treatment to get rid of cancer and sometimes you get other problems but not everyone does so you gamble. We gamble throughout life. Even getting in a car is a gamble but we still do it. So you do what you have to and hope for the best. My surgeon told me I needed radiation to kill any stray cancer cells at the surgery site. Chemo doesn't get in there too well because of the loss of blood flow.

    YOUR RIGHT
    You are so right with gambles. Thanks for the info!! :)
  • tgf
    tgf Member Posts: 950 Member
    #4
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    chickad52 said:

    YOUR RIGHT
    You are so right with gambles. Thanks for the info!! :)

    Gamble
    Yep ... it's a big gamble. One day something is good for you and the next day it isn't. We could drive ourselves crazy (crazier?) if we believed everything we heard or read. Some times I just get to the point where I decide I have all of the information I can handle ... and I did that last week when I met with my oncologist. I was "kind of" asking about my prognosis and he told me there was a way to put all of the information about my diagnosis into some computer program ... or something-or-other ... and it would give me percentages of cancer returning ... expected lifespan ... or something like that ... but... the more he talked the more I decided I didn't really want to know because who knows ... he could have told me I'd zero chance of ever getting cancer again ... but then I'd walk out the door and get run over by a bus. So ... we never really know what's around the corner ... we just have to do the best we can ... and keep going as long as we can.

    hugs.
    teena
  • rjjj
    rjjj Member Posts: 1,822 Member
    #5
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    tgf said:

    Gamble
    Yep ... it's a big gamble. One day something is good for you and the next day it isn't. We could drive ourselves crazy (crazier?) if we believed everything we heard or read. Some times I just get to the point where I decide I have all of the information I can handle ... and I did that last week when I met with my oncologist. I was "kind of" asking about my prognosis and he told me there was a way to put all of the information about my diagnosis into some computer program ... or something-or-other ... and it would give me percentages of cancer returning ... expected lifespan ... or something like that ... but... the more he talked the more I decided I didn't really want to know because who knows ... he could have told me I'd zero chance of ever getting cancer again ... but then I'd walk out the door and get run over by a bus. So ... we never really know what's around the corner ... we just have to do the best we can ... and keep going as long as we can.

    hugs.
    teena

    Rolling the dice
    I agree with Teena, what we can do what we should or shouldn't eat, smoke, or do...changes regularly , plus all cancers are different different foods etc. for Estrogen positive than for neg. I am getting so confused. don't drink from plastic...but just drink water, not wine or is it yes a glass is good for you!!LMAO!! I can't keep up.
    I am not making sense but then it could be one of many many side-effects of chemo, dimentia setting in or maybe i have just gone crazy.

    I guess we just try to pick the least of the evils, do everything in moderation, and do the best we can to make the right decisions for ourselves.
    Love, jackie
  • Akiss4me
    Akiss4me Member Posts: 2,188
    #6
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    Don't let it scare you!!
    I am in 2nd week of rads and pray everytime I get zapped!! You see, they have to bend the beems to miss as much of my heart & lung as possible and still hit my breast. Since I am small boobied (is that a real word?) it turns out that 5% of both my heart & lung are getting zapped as well. Yikes!! This scares the beegeezes out of me. The alternative....43% chance cancer returns, which makes me having to go through more treatment all over. No thanks, once is enough (but I would if I had to). So I feel I have chosen the lesser risks. Besides, I told my husband, although I love him dearly and he is my world, I have to out live him because that is the only way I will ever have my one big shopping spree in life when I cash in his life insurance!! (ha,ha) Then I can purchase the monkey/chimp I always wanted to have for a pet. I know, I'm weird. :) Pammy
  • Christmas Girl
    Christmas Girl Member Posts: 3,682 Member
    #7
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    Risks...
    Even taking simply aspirin or Tylenol includes risks. Every decision we make along the BC journey is about weighing those risks, one against the other. Often, we choose the lesser of two evils, so to speak.

    Please don't be frightened of radiation, if it's highly recommended for you.

    Kind regards, Susan

    P.S.: Your dog is beyond cute! :-)

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