Deciding on radiation or not

Great news!!!! I was similarly lucky with a favorable ONCOTYPE analysis. On Anastrozole for 18 mos. So far so good … with a two mos. Heavy side effect blip when pharmacy changed manufacturer… back to original manufacturer and all good.

Be aware of manufacturer and check each time you fill your script. I appear to have been sensitive to that change.

I had a small 1A IDC no nodes positive. They said bc of my “young age” 52 radiation was recommended. If I was 65 or older no radiation. It cuts the recurrence of the cancer by 2/3 so I did it. It was unpleasant but fine. 15 days.

That’s a very kind offer Cobb/Lynn. That is so great the Mepitel worked so well for you. I have emailed my doctor about Mepitel, or something stronger I can use. I will let you know if Mepitel is recommended for me. (It’s the chest wall plus axilla, so a large area.) I only have 4 of 28 treatments left so I should also be done this next week if I continue. So anxious about making the rash and burn pain even worse with the remaining treatments.

Thanks for letting me know about the pharmacy blip. My husband had a similar experience when his chemo pill changed manufacturer. He’s now on the brand-name and doing much better with side effects.

I am at the same point of decision ... rejected chemo and meds so now need to make a decision re radiation. The suffering women are reporting who have done radiation is moving my decision needle towards no, this is a real dilemma for me at this time

I am 71 this August and they are pushing for me to have radiation. What was your doc concern about radiation for a woman 65 or older?

I was stage 2 HER2- ER + I had been on Yaz birth control for over 30+ years. I have PCOS
I rejected radiation and the medication specifically endocrine therapy. My mammoprint came back ultra low risk and I couldn’t justify the risk of what radiation does to the overall body vs. the data of reoccurrence.
I did 100% diet change keto and low no sugar. That is my risk that I am taking, but I’m making ultra nutritional changes in my life. Along with exercise. I have lost a lot of weight. I believe the cancer is a metabolic disease. so much information out there I’m so surprised that more doctors aren’t talking about it as much info that is available out there.

My biopsy was ER & PR +ve HER2 -ve and PER scan showed zero tumors, only cancer in left lymph nodes and left axilla dissection removed the noted cancer. No primary source of cancer has been identified although docs believe origin is left breast. I have lost a lot of weight but comfortable with lost as I have also lost height; so new height and weight are good together. I understand the cellular argument and why docs want to do radiation just uncomfortable with side effects and will be 71 in 3wks 5days. Very physically active and as you have I have changed diet to low no sugar. Have HH so iron is closely monitored. The docs do not appear to be open to alternative treatments so hard to have an open discussion as a result.

I was told to have 33 bouts of radiation. Three days before I was to start it, I went to the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics for a second opinion and the oncologist there said, "If you had had your surgery here, you would not be radiated at all." When I asked why, he said it was because "You are a woman in your 70s." I went back to the Quad Cities and went back to the radiologist who discovered the tumor on 12/7/2021 and spoke with her (even though she was no longer on my team.) I had already been tattooed for the radiation. I decided to go ahead with it and I am glad I did, because I have been completely unable to tolerate Anastrole (A.I. inhibitors) and Tamoxifen, so the 33 radiation treatments---which were not that bad---are the only thing "protecting" me from a recurrence. My original Illinois oncologist refused to order me an oncotype in December of 2021, so I had no help there. It took until March of 2023 to get the oncotype from a Texas oncologist. It was 29, which is high, with a 36% chance of recurrence without taking A.I. pills or Tamoxifen for at least 5 years. I quit all adjuvant therapy pills on Aug. 30, 2023. I am now closing in on 3 years post surgery with radiation the ONLY protection I was able to tolerate (and it was nothing, compared to the Anastrozole, which put me in a wheelchair for 6 months when my frail left knee blew out from joint pain. I have osteo-arthritis and was in the nationwide MOST study for 20 years, so counting on me being able to tolerate a pill that takes all the estrogen out of your body was ill-advised at best and negligent medicine at worst. I am glad I had the radiation, and I thank the radiologist who discovered my 95% estrogen positive 11 mm. tumor on Pearl Harbor Day of 2021 for her sage advice. I had no chemo, but that was because my Illinois doctor didn't order the oncotype and only saw me 2x in 8 months.

I was 76 when I had 33 bouts of radiation. It was not bad. The A.I. pill Anastrozole, however, put me in a wheelchair. My left knee blew out on September 15, 2022, after taking Anastrozole since Feb. 1, 2022. I was simply walking along a Chicago street at the time. The pain was excruciating---like a meniscus tear---and I drove myself to Oak Brook Joint Pain Clinic and was injected with 32 ml of an anti-inflammatory and 6 ml of Durolane. Then I hobbled with a cane or was in a wheelchair until September of 2023. The radiation is the only "protection against recurrence" that my body was able to tolerate. Both I and my new doctor in Texas are happy that I had it, because Tamoxifen and any A.I. pills made my life a living hell with joint pain everywhere that was excruciating. As a member of the clinical trial called the MOST study for osteo-arthritis, which I was in for 20 years, a good doctor would have known that removing all estrogen from my elderly system was going to mean inflammation (i.e., pain). On Anastrozole I also had brain fog, teariness, mood swings, excruciating back and joint pain, blurry vision and then my already fragile left knee (bicycling accident) blew out and crippled me for 6 months. They didn't seem to give much forethought in Iowa City to the idea that some of us simply cannot tolerate the pills whose goal is to block or stop estrogen in the body. That was the reason I was given for not giving radiation to someone in her 70s. I feel like they should just give us a card that says, "Join the line marked 'waiting to die.'" Nobody pays much attention to you after you pass 69. I'd like to lie about my age, but that's not working. I'd also like to go back and never be the patient of the guy who crippled me. I hear he's finally retiring. Not a moment too soon.