Any feedback or advice would be appreciated.
Hello and welcome @dibi
How is your healing going from your surgery? I found waiting for the pathology report a particularly tough wait ( amid a pile of tough waits in the cancer experience )
As to whether or not to have radiation, that is a discussion between you and your oncologist, as we are not doctors and there are so many variables to factor in when a treatment is prescribed and when deciding on treatment. You could ask about the benefits vs the risk. I understand that drive may not be desirable every day.
For myself, I had about a 30-40 minute drive every day for radiation for 5 ½ weeks. I did drive myself just fine but will say that the fatigue was cummulative and got worse even after treatment, before it got better. But again, everyone is different.
You may find soem helpful discussions in the Treatment and side effects forum as well.
I am sure you will hear from other members too.
Keep us posted on what you decide to do and how you are doing, as you are comfortable.
Lianne
I cannot say whether you need the radiation, but I did it with not too much problem. Some skin burn after the fact. I drove myself everyday and used it as my “exercise” parking a ways away. I’m 67.
@dibi Hi dibi,
I just finished 21 days of radiation treatment last week. I was also unsure about treatments. The deciding factor for me was when my medical oncologist told me that the cancer cells in my tumour were moderately aggressive (through the Oncotype score, my cells were a 19) and the chance of recurrence was around 20%. Also, that a recurrence could be metastatic cancer rather than just another lump in my breast. Since they couldn't run any test to see if there were still cancer cells in my body post-lumpectomy, the next best thing is to treat as if there are still some cells floating around that could develop into cancer. Basically, the chance of recurrence wasn't super high but if a recurrence does occur it would be really bad. That motivated me to “go all out” with treatment.
@dibi i plan to go for radiation after surgery. Want to leave no stone unturned. I think it’s just extra precautionary no matter what the percentage is.
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good morning,
just wanted to add a tidbit that I have seen other forum contributors discuss.
in some centres they are replacing the 16 radiation therapy appointments with 5 condensed visits.
that certainly saves on travel time and inconvenience.
perhaps you can see if this is an option for your situation.
good luck with your treatments,
cheers
su