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Anyone having right breast radiated and holding breath?

Posted by marshgirl24 @marshgirl24, Dec 2, 2024

Today I started my 3 weeks of radiation and I was surprised/dismayed that I had to reach a certain lung capacity and hold it. It took forever and I think my lungs are pretty good! During my simulator appt, I'd been told (when they were having me hold my breath for an x-ray) not to worry. I wouldn't have to hold my breath during treatment. Yet here I am. I went online and it looks as if this breath protocol is used with the left breath to raise it away from the heart. But I'm right breast. It was a long, uncomfortable appt without the comfy angled back rest I see in the ads. I'm beginning to feel that a woman's comfort is not taken into consideration for some of these treatment factors. When I showed the NP the screen shots I had of a woman comfortably angled having her treatment, she just said, we don't have that equipment.

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marshgirl24 | @marshgirl24 | Dec 3, 2024
In reply to @dlst "It seems weird that they don't have it more together on explaining the radiation treatment process...." + (show)
@dlst

It seems weird that they don't have it more together on explaining the radiation treatment process. I did not have to hold my breath - not sure why, but was told it wasn't necessary. On the other hand, despite being comfortably positioned, some of the treatments took so long that my arms fell asleep and I wasn't allowed to move them. I also wish I had known ahead of time that the marker used for the simulation would rub off on my clothing. I would have worn a black bra and top. Also, I was allergic to the little stickers they put on during the simulation. I got a bad rash, so I had to take them off and then keep marking the spots with a magic marker until they could do the tattoos. I could have told them I have sensitive skin and might have a reaction, but no one bothered to even tell me I would get stickers until they were sticking them on. All that said, everyone was pretty nice and I would still prefer lumpectomy and radiation to a mastectomy, especially since my tumor was so small - 2 mm. I am glad I still have most of my breast, including my nipple, and still have sensation on that side.

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I've mentioned that to the head of the dept. The patient needs more education and it can be done nicely as the process moves along. It also demystifies some pretty fearsome equipment. The blue ink didn't get on my clothes. That's really too bad. I'm wearing a lot of white shirts during this process. They are so busy where I am and run a quick pace. Today we were clicking along. Then everything got quiet. I lay there for about 10 minutes. They came back in and said I was in the wrong position! (which they had put me in.) Moved me down about four inches. So I guess they radiated my liver instead of my breast. They made an arm adjustment that was even more uncomfortable and we were off to the races again. Yes, I'm with you re: the lumpectomy and radiation...but it shouldn't be uncomfortable. These facilities have a mission statement and they really should live up to it.

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flatland | @flatland | Dec 4, 2024

I did three weeks of radiation this past summer, and was not asked to hold my breath, just hold very still. But of course the positions of our tumors is so varied, it’s not surprising to hear differing treatment solutions.

On the positive side my treatments were brief and I had no side effects from the radiation. I wish you the same. Good luck!

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maggieb892 | @maggieb892 | Dec 4, 2024

I agree that the arm position is painful. My radiation started about 6 weeks post surgery. I had a lot of cording and scar tissue that need to be broken up. That caused most of the pain for me.

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1 reply
marshgirl24 | @marshgirl24 | Dec 4, 2024
In reply to @maggieb892 "I agree that the arm position is painful. My radiation started about 6 weeks post surgery...." + (show)
@maggieb892

I agree that the arm position is painful. My radiation started about 6 weeks post surgery. I had a lot of cording and scar tissue that need to be broken up. That caused most of the pain for me.

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Today I had a break through with that painful arm position. My doctor came through the area when I was talking to the two techs about yesterday and that position. Couldn't they bring my arms down a bit? At the time my arms were just about fully extended, grasping those two dowels. He said, well, let's go in and see. So he came into the treatment room with us. They got me set up and he checked it out and agreed that it wouldn't hurt the positioning at all to give me a little more slack. The session went so well. I'm very relieved.

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sue417 | @sue417 | Dec 8, 2024
In reply to @triciaot "I did the breath hold radiation for the right breast. During the actual radiation session they..." + (show)
@triciaot

I did the breath hold radiation for the right breast. During the actual radiation session they had a little lighted graphic that showed me where the target intake of breath was. I needed to get a little mark within a rectangular target (See attached). It actually helped me push toward the deeper breath. They did not have this set up during the simulation and I was really concerned I was going to be able to do what they asked.
Every time I was able to lift my chest with a deep breath the radiation started and stopped when I breathed out. You know, the actual length of the radiation sessions is really short but it still took me probably 8-15 breathes to complete it. No one complained, I don’t know if that is typical or not. By day three I was feeling more comfortable with the system, and by day five I really felt more in control of it.
I was also surprised at the skinny little plastic thing I was laying on. But once situated on it, it didn’t hurt. Medical procedures don’t usually scare me, but I have to admit feeling unsettled and unsure of the radiation until the daily repetition made it seem like just another task to do.

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Hi
I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold my breath and was in a comfortable position during the treatment. Seven months post Treatment and now I have been told by my Respiratory physician I have some lung damage. I had asthma prior to treatment and was controlled with my inhaler. He had to give me a stronger inhalor I also have to take Cough syrup because I have a wet cough now. He said it shld heal on its own hopefully. WTH does that mean.

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3 replies
marshgirl24 | @marshgirl24 | Dec 8, 2024
In reply to @sue417 "Hi I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold..." + (show)
@sue417

Hi
I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold my breath and was in a comfortable position during the treatment. Seven months post Treatment and now I have been told by my Respiratory physician I have some lung damage. I had asthma prior to treatment and was controlled with my inhaler. He had to give me a stronger inhalor I also have to take Cough syrup because I have a wet cough now. He said it shld heal on its own hopefully. WTH does that mean.

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@sue417 I am so sorry to hear that. Of course that makes me feel better about the trials I've had with holding my breath (with the help of YouTube videos I did learn how to do it) but I'm so sorry you have to deal with an additional health issue. Hopefully your respiratory doc is right and it will heal. If you had asthma to start with, I am a bit surprised but there are so many factors involved. May time bring you healing. ❤️

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Rubyslippers | @triciaot | Dec 8, 2024
In reply to @sue417 "Hi I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold..." + (show)
@sue417

Hi
I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold my breath and was in a comfortable position during the treatment. Seven months post Treatment and now I have been told by my Respiratory physician I have some lung damage. I had asthma prior to treatment and was controlled with my inhaler. He had to give me a stronger inhalor I also have to take Cough syrup because I have a wet cough now. He said it shld heal on its own hopefully. WTH does that mean.

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Hi @sue417
I don’t know enough to help you with the lung damage although I have read that it often will heal itself. I don’t think the radiation damage has anything to do with the asthma as those are two different types of breathing issues.

My guess is how well the lung can repair itself is affected by the health of your body’s ability to either generate new tissue or have other parts of the lung work a little harder to adjust for the non functioning cells.

I know for myself that I try to do the the best I can to be healthy to help my body repair itself, but I do have my days of failure 🥴

REPLY
flatland | @flatland | Dec 26, 2024
In reply to @sue417 "Hi I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold..." + (show)
@sue417

Hi
I had right breast lumpectomy and sentinel node surgery. I did not have to hold my breath and was in a comfortable position during the treatment. Seven months post Treatment and now I have been told by my Respiratory physician I have some lung damage. I had asthma prior to treatment and was controlled with my inhaler. He had to give me a stronger inhalor I also have to take Cough syrup because I have a wet cough now. He said it shld heal on its own hopefully. WTH does that mean.

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After my diagnosis, and before any treatments had begun, they had me undergo a bronchoscopy (hope I spelled that right!) that ultimately discovered some weird node formation in my lungs, but no further involvement with the cancer in my breast. That was the good news, the bad news was the bronchoscopy really tore me up, leaving my lungs sore along with a wet cough that lasted weeks.

REPLY
1 reply
sue417 | @sue417 | Dec 26, 2024
In reply to @flatland "After my diagnosis, and before any treatments had begun, they had me undergo a bronchoscopy (hope..." + (show)
@flatland

After my diagnosis, and before any treatments had begun, they had me undergo a bronchoscopy (hope I spelled that right!) that ultimately discovered some weird node formation in my lungs, but no further involvement with the cancer in my breast. That was the good news, the bad news was the bronchoscopy really tore me up, leaving my lungs sore along with a wet cough that lasted weeks.

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Hi
Well that's a drag

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gloanne | @gloanne | Dec 27, 2024

I had lumpectomy on my left side…and was told to hold my breath during radiation…but they said they can’t guarantee that down the line I won’t have lung or heart issues….

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