Questions To Ask Radiation Oncologist For External Radiation

MAbound said:

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When I met with my RO prior to external radiation, he was pretty thorough and detailed about his treatment plan and then had me sign that he did so and that I understood and agreed to it. The issue for me wasn't so much what questions to ask, but being able to understand what he was proposing. I didn't know until we met what method was going to be used for radiation delivery, but fortunately I had read up on the possible options so that I was prepared to understand what he was explaining to me. That's where'd I start if I were you. Just google pelvic radiation delivery options and a lot should come up.

Undergoing external radiation itself is pretty easy, but I'll admit to crying through the first treatment because I was still worried about all of the potential side effects, especially the late-occuring ones, and still doubted my decision to go through with it. I have no regrets now, but I understand your fears and won't dismiss them. Agreeing to radiation or saving it for recurrence feels like a big gamble whatever you decide. It will help you to read up on the different delivery methods because they've gotten pretty good at aiming to minimize risk these days.

Start taking a probiotic now, stay on top of vaccinations, expect to need to keep drinking a lot of water, have Immodium on hand in case you have diarrhea (for me, my chemo constipation continued, so I kept taking Miralax), protect yourself from people who might have colds, flu, or Covid (it can take 6 months after radiation for your immune system to get back to normal), and expect to need to deal with some more fatigue. 

I'd call your doctor to clarify about the 4-6 weeks. I started my radiation 4 weeks after my last chemo infusion, so maybe it's supposed to be 4-6 weeks after surgery if you don't have chemo. 

Thanks for your insights.  It is a very difficult decision to make right now as I am stil so overwhelmed by all this and it's not like a pill you can stop taking if you change your mind or have bad side effects.  I feel it will cause me so much worry and doubt about what may hapepn becuase of the radiation in addition to worroing about recurrence and every 3 month checkup and I do believe stress is a cancer driver to some degree. 

I am the type of perosn who overthinks everything and unfortunately not a one day at a time personality.  I am always thinking ahead and planning for every possile scenario.  I know I can work through the short-term side effects but it's all the long term ones I have frighnetened off and if I understood what I was told treatemnt does not change 5 year survival rate just recurrence rate whihc is hard to wrap my brain around. 

And it seems like everyone on here has recurred particulallry with grade 3 and in some of the FB groups I joined (which I have unfollowed becuase they were all gloom and doom) so is the 25-30% chance of recurring w/o radiation and 12.5%-15% with  radiation really viable numbers? 

Has anyone here declined radiation with stage 1b/grade 3 and if so how have you done? 

f I decline will my GO fire me as a patient?

My head is spinning. I am a fighter and a tough cookie but I did not go through this when I had breast cancer 6 years ago.   

This is a different ugly animal. 

Thanks.

Forherself said:

The above article from March 2021

It is hard to decide.  I shared this article earlier.  I think it is a very comprehensive article.  

Thank you.  I will copy and paste the link to read it full.  

cmb said:

Keep in mind that many women

Keep in mind that many women join the site when they are first diagnosed. If their initial treatment was successful and they do not recur, many of these same women stop posting to this site. So this board and others like it will always have more posts from those women who have recurred or were never free of cancer at all. Therefore, we can't say that most women with grade 3 cancers have recurred, based on who participates on this board.

I was Stage 3B with a different, rare grade 3 cancer and I haven't recurred so far. Was it the chemo or radiation or both that have kept the cancer at bay for almost 4 years? I don't know. I am, however, personally glad that I elected to treat this cancer aggressively. If it comes back, at least I won't have any "should have" regrets.

Making the decision to have radiation early on or save it for recurrence is a personal one that will vary by person. Women here have gone both ways with equally valid reasons. Once you learn more about the proposed process and understand what the possible side effects might be, you'll be in a better position to make a decision one way or the other.

Makes perfect sense.  I know the more I have I will be able to make clearer decision and feel that it is the right one for me.  I am still in emotional and information overload.  Thansk so mcuh.  I appreciate everyone here.