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Radiation was the easiest part of my treatment

First post and replies | Last post by janedoe7, 6 months ago

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Don’t be afraid of radiation. It was the easiest part of my treatment in my opinion. Yes, you have to go daily (5 days a week) but it’s quick and painless. Be sure to keep the area moisturized with aloe Vera and aquafor (or whatever moisturizer your radiation oncologist recommends). I did 3 weeks of radiation for HER2+/ER+/PR+ breast cancer and had no issues. I did a lumpectomy which is why I also needed radiation. I did not experience any side effects from my radiation.

By Iamasurvi... 6 months ago
I agree with you, and I did have a side effect. I developed radiation fibrosis, which was mostly alleviated with physical therapy. Even so, I was so concerned about radiation that I almost elected to have a mastectomy rather than a lumpectomy to avoid it. I worried about getting burned and being tired for weeks or even months, but like you I found the process quick and painless.

By janedoe7 6 months ago
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First post and replies | Last post by FOF101, 6 months ago

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Not as bad as expected

First post and replies | Last post by Iamasurvivor, 6 months ago

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I have been on it for 6.5 years

First post and replies | Last post by Iamasurvivor, 6 months ago

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Tamoxifen - It’s going to be “ok”

First post and replies | Last post by Iamasurvivor, 6 months ago

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No cancer and new implants all at once

First post and replies | Last post by FOF101, 6 months ago

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My lumpectomy was combined with replacing my breast implants. I had saline implants and since I had to do 20 days of radiation they would not hold up and had to be switched to silicone. My cancer surgeon and the plastic surgeon worked on me at the same time to remove the cancer and replace the implants. The surgery was easy and there really wasn’t much recovery time. My surgeon did a fantastic job of filling in the tissue he had to remove to get the cancer out. My scar is minimal and I’m very happy with my decision to do a lumpectomy.

By FOF101 6 months ago

Not as big a deal as I thought

First post and replies | Last post by janedoe7, 6 months ago

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Physically, my lumpectomy surgery was not as big a deal as I was thought it would be. I was up and around the house the next day. My daughter kept saying, "Can you believe she had surgery yesterday??!" Mentally, I worried that the surgeon would find more cancer once she got in there, or that my margins wouldn't be clear and I would have to have another surgery, but thankfully that all turned out fine. My breast looked pretty normal afterwards, except that there was some residual blue dye from the sentinel lymph node mapping. The dime-sized blue...

By janedoe7 6 months ago

Chemo was life saving for me

First post and replies | Last post by Iamasurvivor, 6 months ago

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Didn't hurt my implant

First post and replies | Last post by SharonT, 7 months ago

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I have had breast implants for many years. I was worried about what the radiation would do to my implant, which is under the muscle. Both the radiation oncologist and the plastic surgeon said that the radiation could cause the muscle to contract and squeeze the implant, which would be uncomfortable and make it so that I would need another surgery after treatment to replace the implant with a smaller one. I assume I would have also needed or wanted a smaller one in the other breast. But nothing happened to the size or shape of my breast. It look...

By SharonT 7 months ago

Yes, radiation for me

First post and replies | Last post by MindyLou, 7 months ago

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Due to my stage, radiation was a necessary part of treatment. In 2017, the standard of care was 6 weeks for my stage III breast cancer. I was offered a study at KU for 4 weeks, the standard of care in Europe. They were getting equivalent outcomes with less radiation (less side effects), however there was only a small subset of people in the study with positive lymph nodes. For that reason, I opted for the 6 weeks. I am the type of person who would likely berate myself if my cancer returned, thinking "if I'd only had the 6 weeks of radiatio...

By MindyLou 7 months ago

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