Thank you
Hi Bluetit11
I had radiotherapy after a mastectomy 18 months ago, I had 15 daily sessions with the weekend off. The hospital was an hour and a half away on the bus and with it being around Christmas my partner was able to take me a few times to avoid the long bus ride and early start.
I can’t say I burnt, on the last day I did feel itchy, I used the moisturiser and steroid cream that the hospital gave me and continued with the exercises I was given after my mastectomy for over a year.
So you might say I breezed through it BUT it has left me with radiation fibrosis where the nerve endings have been damaged by the radiation and it’s so, so painful. It only started about 3 months after finishing treatment, I can only describe it as having tooth ache in every tooth except it’s in the breast, there’s been days when I’ve been unable to wear anything touching my skin and I’ve spent months in bed. I’m an active person, never been depressed in my life but this has really got me down. I’ve recently been prescribed gabapentin (after trying other medication) and it does take away some of the pain, but gabapentin carries its own side effects.
So if you asked me if I’d go through radiotherapy again, I’d have to have a really good think about it, however I attended a workshop at Maggie’s last year and out of 10 ladies with breast cancer I was the only one experiencing these problems, I do wonder if it’s because I had a mastectomy rather than a lumpectomy and had no tissue to protect the nerve endings (that’s just my theory).
Also the tattoos…. I can’t even find them, they were red dots and I’ve got loads of red dots, I’d struggle to spot them, I suppose every hospital is different though.
Radiotherapy does help prevent cancer from returning so that’s why I went along with it in the first place.
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Thank you
Sending love. I’m only a week out from 15 rounds & the muscle pain on my back & shoulder & down my arm is worse than it was after my mastectomy & node clearance. The thought of sudden pain months later is really hard to deal with so I really feel for you. Like you I’ve only ever been super active & it’s so challenging dealing with all the collateral damage from treatment but at least for me there was no choice given grade 3/stage 3 diagnosis but we are all so different in our experience & reactions to treatment. I do hope healing is headed your way v soon x
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Thanks. I saw the oncologist today and said I’d proceed as it’s only 5 days and I can’t tolerate Letrozale. Interestingly he said not to rely on Predict as radiologists don’t think it has enough data to be accurate yet (at least for my situation). He did mention the surgeons blame the oncologists for any ongoing pain and the oncologists blame the surgeons…
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Hi Bluetit11
Sorry you find yourself here. I was a fit 64 year old when I got the dreaded news from a routine mammogram. Didn’t have any symptoms, didn’t feel any lumps so it was a bit of a shock. Cancer mass behind my nipple ( which I’ve now lost) and 7 out of 12 removed lymph nodes were cancerous which makes me high risk of recurrence. I had surgery, 6 months of chemotherapy and 15 daily sessions for 3 weeks of radiotherapy and although I had some issues, compared to other ladies I’ve read about, I suppose I could say I sailed through. I’m having more problems with the cancer drugs that I’m on for 10 years than all the treatment that I received. So the answer to your question is yes, I would definitely have it all again. Not everyone has an issue with it and for lots of people it’s short lived and worthwhile. But I truly believe it’s an individual decision that only you can make. I wish you the very best whichever way u decide to go. Best wishes x
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Thank you
Hi bluetit11 - I also deliberated long and hard regarding radiotherapy. My tumour was less than 2cm and no lymph node involvement. Post-surgery the ‘missing area’ in my boob was minimal and my breasts looked relatively similar. I knew that Radiotherapy would effect the appearance and I was managing well on Anastrazole so really considered not having the radiotherapy. However, six weeks later, side-effects of the Anastrazole were starting to kick-in and I’d read that Breast Surgeons are far more likely to let patients stop the Endocrine Therapy if they’d had Radiotherapy so I went ahead with a five day course. The treatment itself was fine apart from one day when the breast became a humongous melon
. All was well for several months until I developed a seroma under the operation scar which had to be drained manually three times and then operated on. So now, 16 months after original surgery, 6 months after second surgery, and 13 months after radiotherapy, I’m left with a boob that is virtually half the size of the other one and still painful along the operation site. I’ve become familiar with whole ‘blame game’ between the Surgeon and the Oncologist and will never know exactly what caused this deterioration. However, now for the moral of the story - having tolerated Anastrozole for 18 months with increasing side-effects, I’ve been told I can stop it because I had the radiotherapy 
. I’m also getting used to lop-sided boobs and stick a chicken fillet in my bra on that side! They say it’s better to regret the things you have done, rather than the things you haven’t!
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Thank you
I had 15 days of radiation after BC surgery. It was painless and no nasty side effects so yes I would do it again.
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Can I ask what your experience was with Letrozole and how old you were when you started?
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Thanks
I am 58. I was taking HRT until January and everything below was new.
Started Letrozole end of February on diagnosis. Took it until results appointment last week.
It gave me constipation, extreme hot flushes, vaginal dryness, feet that itched bad enough to wake me up if I’d worn shoes and socks at all that day. All of these were manageable or treatable. The feet require a daily antihistamine and menthol cream but aren’t just prickly.
These were the reasons I stopped taking it. Sore joints all over not improved by ibuprofen but especially my hands were so stiff and swollen I couldn’t open a bottle of water and was starting to lose the use of them entirely with constant tingling. I struggled to get out of the chair. Secondly It had a massive impact on my mental health. I know this is a worrying time for all of us but within days of starting it I got depressed (something that has never happened in other stressful times in my life). It was like a bank of grey fog descended and I couldn’t find any joy or laughter anywhere. Not even the grandpup. I planned to leave home without tell my family where I was as I was useless and going to be a burden. I had many dark spirals.
I just wasn’t me.
I stopped taking it last week and my sense humour was back in 2 days. The hands are much improved and I’m creaking a lot less. Hopefully full function back in a couple of weeks.
I talked it over with my surgeon last week who let me stop without replacement. Saw my oncologist this week and he said I wasn’t alone in this. Tamoxifen was ruled out due to my family history of non dissolving blood clots.
I wish I could take it but I can’t live 5 years like that. But everyone has different experiences and mine may be so extreme as I came of HRT and took a deeper dive into side effects, If you’re asking because you’re wondering if you should take it then I’d say try it and see how you react. Some people have very few side effects and it’s a very useful drug.
Edited to add Letrozole also gave me huge brain fog and memory issues. I couldn’t do basic mental maths when that’s always been a strong area for me and couldn’t remember even family names.
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@bluetit11, I know exactly what you have been through, like so many others, I feel sure you have made the right decision, life is for living-some day I didn’t know if I was Arthur or Martha, my poor family suffered as much as me.
Wishing you health and happiness going forward.
Hugs Tili 
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Thanks. It means full breast radiotherapy instead of partial but that’s n adjustment I’m prepared to live with.
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Hi - My cancer was very similar to yours. 3 nodes taken, tumour removed and a 5 day course of radiotherapy following. I was given Anastrozole anti-hormone which should have been for 5 years but the effects were horrendous so I’ve stopped taking it. I feel the benefits did not outweigh the side effects and feel so much better not being on it. As for the radiotherapy 5 sessions instead of a 3 week course - couldn’t be better and I didn’t have any issue with it actually preferring it to a drawn out 3 week course. In the last 6 months I’ve still been feeling numbness under my arm and occasional slight swelling in hand and arm at times but as long as I keep doing the stretching exercised everything is fine.
I do hope you have the same result if you choose the 5 day course of radiotherapy and can move on with life again after your operation and treatment. Best of luck to you 
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Thank you
I had 20 days of radiotherapy and 5 treatments targeted to the tumour area. I’d do it again. The tattoo has disappeared because it’s so long ago. I was very tired but I think that was partially the long drive to and from the centre. I was sore too - like sunburn - but no lasting effects.
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Thank you