Hi has anyone had radiotherapy for grade 1 node negative breast cancer 6mm mixed IDC/lobular. I have opted out of hormone therapy but would like radiotherapy which oncologist thinks is reasonable- I feel guilty that I am lucky to have a good prognosis and I am wasting peoples time xx I am 59.
10 Likes
Dear Janealexander1,
Welcome to the forum, please don’t ever think you are wasting anyone time, cancer is a very difficult with so much to take on board, you have made a decision to have radiotherapy instead of another treatment, I think this is a extremely positive decision.
I wish you well, with health and happiness going forward, please let us know how you’re getting on.
Hugs Tili 
5 Likes
Thank you Tili 
Hi! I was 2 months away from 64 (am now almost 67) and had stage 1, grade 1, 6mm tumor, clear margins and lymph nodes, hormone positive, HER2 negative, lobular and invasive. I had a lumpectomy in February 2022 and 3 weeks of radiation with 4 boosts about 8 weeks after surgery. Tried letrozole for 4 months (started June 2022) and it fried my brain. Took a 2 month break and tried anastrozole but 3 weeks in that also fried my brain. No aches or pains but did have neuropathy in my fingers which is gone now. Have not been on an AI since January 2023. Doing well and feel great. Time will tell what happens next, but I love feeling so good. My oncologist is understanding. Do what’s best for you. Here in the states they’ll put you on every pharmaceutical pill they can!
3 Likes
Thanks so much for letting me know this - they keep saying how small my tumour was and how I managed to feel it - I replied it’s because I am flat chested! And lucky I guess xx
2 Likes
Hi @janealexander1 I had Stage 1 Grade 1 Er+ HER2- IDC although it was 14mm (which included a small low grade DCIS). Had lumpectomy, 5 sessions of rads and put on to Letrozole. Personally, I would think that if you don’t want AET then rads is a must just in case there are a few stray cells lurking about. I’m 2 years on from surgery and almost 2 from rads and have had two annual mammogram checks which have been fine. I was 66 at dx and will be 69 in 9 days. NEVER feel guilty. You’ve been unlucky enough to be the 1 in 8 who has had to have treatment for this disease and you are taking considered steps to carry on with your life. Other things will pop up in life to challenge you so just deal with this one and move on.
5 Likes
Exactly a year ago a mammogram showed a 6mm tumour for which I had a lumpectomy and SLNB, came back clear margins and no lymph node involvement, tumour only 4mm but they reckon the rest was taken out in multiple biopsies. Results on tumour was stage 1, grade 1, IDC, ER+ 8/8. I had five sessions of radiotherapy and am now eight months into five years of Letrozole. Letrozole has been a nightmare with every side effect in the book but radiotherapy was easy apart from a small itchy rash. I go for my first year follow up mammogram on Thursday and a full body PET scan tomorrow as a suspicious lymph node has been found on a CT scan for something completely unrelated. Not in a good place right now.
7 Likes
I had an 8 - 10 mm tumour grade 1 stage 1 ER+ 8/8 PR + 7/8 SNLB negative . Mine was tubular also which rarely spreads outside of the breast . I tried hormone therapy though my Surgeon said he felt it would be reasonable for me to stop if I didn’t get on with it - which I didn’t and stopped after just under 5 months.
I did have 5 whole breast radiotherapy treatments - some side effects for a while including fatigue but all resolved after 3 months . On the one hand it seemed a bit of a waste because you can only have radiotherapy once on each side - though as I had such a a low dose compared to some others I would probably query that if it came down to it . But at the same time I’m glad I had it because I stopped the hormone treatment and I was told that radiotherapy cuts the rate of local recurrence by 50% .
Don’t feel guilty / that you’re wasting everyone’s time . I found that the way the medical professionals ( and I’m also one myself!) discussed it all with me really messed with my head . On the one hand it seemed like it was virtually nothing hardly cancer at all yet on the other hand I needed radiotherapy and hormone treatment as well as.surgical removal. Very confusing - did not compute . I understand it much better in retrospect and they see cancer everyday so if is very low grade they do minimize it to try to stop you going off the deep end about but to you it’s still cancer and you can’t not have some sort of emotional reaction to that . Also we all have choices to make when it comes to treatment and while I would never wish myself or anyone else to have a worse prognosis or a longer more difficult journey I think that when things are more severe the inward path / choices are clearer . Xx
4 Likes
i only had grade 1 cancer ductal with dcis around it and i decided not to take tamoxifen but i did have radiotherapy. in thise days 2003 you were told what to do by older men surgeons and oncologists. they got very cross if you didn’t do what you were told.
I was 47 and i had a job and a mortgage and i didn’t want to lose my job. I had no lymph node involvement. Anyway 19 years later I got cancer back in the same breast, but I found it was a new different kind of ductal cancer.
i was convinced this time I would not cope as in 2022 I was 67. i was really gutted as i knew you can only have radiotherapy once. looking back maybe i wouldn’t have had radiotherapy in 2004 as it obviously didn’t save me from getting cancer again. Did it? It’s a bit of a lottery making guesses about what might happen in the next ten or twenty years - my life expectancy is 86.4 years without breast cancer.
My next birthday if I get there is 70. So i have roughly 16 years to go. That’s not long to go but will seem longer if I keep taking oestrogen reducing drugs that are now causing stabbing knee pains. plus my knee joint feels wobbly sometimes as if it might collapse under my weight.
I must stop being so negative! I am much luckier than a lot of women with breast cancer. I am tough thin and lug compost about. Seize the day and build up your supply of organic matter and do not think too far ahead.
The gospel according to Seagulls
9 Likes
Thank you for sharing with me - sending hugs
1 Like
That so resonates with me thank you - exactly how I feel xx
1 Like
xxOh Joanne thank you so much. The saga continues, Bart’s cancelled my PET scan again, last week the machine had broken down - ok I can accept things like that happen. This morning they said the doctor who injects the radiation stuff into your arm hadn’t come in. One of the biggest hospitals in the country and there isn’t another doctor in the place who can stick a syringe into a canular. I am in pieces. They’ve just phoned to book a third appointment and the earliest they can do is 3pm next Saturday so another week of stewing and on top of that I have my one year mammogram on Thursday. Sorry to moan but the not knowing exactly what they are thinking is driving me nuts.
Love and hugs flying your way x
3 Likes
Nannabee thinking of you
1 Like
Oh bless you, you are really going through it.
I have my first annual mammogram this week on Tuesday, like you very nervous.
I don’t know about PET scans, but when I had my Ct scan for radiotherapy planning something was seen on one of my kidneys, I then had to wait and have another CT scan with contrast dye, done on the same day as my second radiotherapy appointment, got the results from that on day five of radio (my last one), they’ve told me it is a benign cyst and lots have people have these things and don’t know, let’s hope yours is something similar, although I know that doesn’t help you at the moment, is their another hospital you could go to sooner to have it done?
Thinking of you and sending you the squishiest hugs
Xx
1 Like
Oh no… Back playing the waiting game again it’s just the worst game ever and so frustrating . Here always if you need to vent . Xx
1 Like
Please never feel guilty, having cancer of any description is a lot to get your head around. I had a grade 1A ER+, PR+, HER2- IDC tumour that was 24mm in size and hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes at the age of 54. Following my lumpectomy I was offered radiotherapy as treatment followed by Letrozole as adjuvant treatment and decided to take both options.
I recently discovered a lump on my shoulder and debated about going to my GP as thought I was wasting his time, luckily it turned out not to be cancer, but my GP reassured me that you are never wasting anyone’s time over something like this and in fact having taken the adjuvant treatment I had already boosted my chances of it not returning. I would definitely talk it through with your Oncology team letting them know how you feel. I wish you all the best with your decision and recovery.
Pleased to hear
Thank you so much for responding- I’m pleased you are ok xxx
Hi Seagulls, sorry to hear this. I had a diagnosis at 47 yrs of age ,stage 1 treated with lumpectomy. 7 mm no nodes ER PR positive and HERS negative. Had radiotherapy 15 sessions and took Tamoxifen for 8 yrs. I had a recurrence this year after 12 yrs and after stopping the Tamoxifen in 2021 and again in the same left breast. Again Stage 1, slow growing 9 mm this time with low grade DCIS no lymph node and ER PR +ve HERS negative. Had a mastectomy with no reconstruction. I am now on Letrazole for 5 yrs. Am now 60 yrs old. 3 months since starting Letrazole. Am taking Turmeric capsules to prevent aches and pains as another breast warrior suggested. I think it works. So no matter what treatment you had, sometimes ER+ve PR +ve recurs upto almost 30-40 yrs later. No reason as to why it recurs in some women?
Did you have a mastectomy in 2022? I hope you keep well
1 Like