was diagnosed with stage 2 Right BC. i’ve had lumpectomy and full auxiliary clearance. 2 positive lymp nodes out of 19. so far i have had 7 rounds of chemo (4 EC and 3 paxitacil , 1 more chemo to go
Due to have RAD, but worried about after effects to lungs , breast shrinkage , burns etc. Thinking about just going straight to Endocrine therapy and opting out of RAD. my decision is scaring me due to fear of reoccurrence
Any comments by anyone that has had radiotherapy or about to
I had radiotherapy last year and I was in the same boat as you. I said I didn’t want to have radiotherapy. I was told by my oncologist that if you don’t have a mastectomy, radiotherapy significantly reduces the risk of it coming back in that area. So I agreed.
I found radiotherapy a breeze compared to chemo. I had ten rounds. My skin became slightly red and inflamed after the 4th or 5th treatment, which got slightly worse each time. However, by the end my skin was red and a bit sore but not as bad as I thought it would be. It took a few months for the skin to return to normal.
I had no issues with my lungs or breast shrinkage. I felt a bit tired for the duration of my treatment and that did last a while, although I’m also having immunotherapy and endocrine therapy so I’m not sure where side effects from one ends and the other starts!
During radiotherapy I made sure I was very well hydrated and moisturised every day, I used aveeno and it was very effective.
Hope this helps in making your decision. Definitely share your concerns with your oncologist .