@mawmaws Radiation was planned on my right breast for DCIS after lumpectomy. If you google the damage radiation can do to healthy tissue, you will see a lot of possibilities, some say rare occurrences, but the more I investigate some are not as rare as you are led to believe. Of course, cancer is very serious and needs to be slammed! But I think with conditions with lower risk, we should weigh the odds instead of jumping on to the first suggested course of treatments.

@mawmaws

Advanced eternal beam radiation systems are able to shape radiation doses tightly to tumors while protecting healthy surrounding tissue. Ask your radiation oncologist what type of equipment they use for radiation therapy.

These targeted systems use a very tightly defined area and do not radiate outside those parameters. Much of the information you see about damage to surrounding tissue and body structures is extremely outdated.

I had stage 3 breast cancer. I also have asthma. I was worried about lung damage. The scans post radiation showed zero damage. This is because my hospital had the most up to date equipment - a linear accelerator.

If your treatment facility has old equipment check to see if another location has linear accelerators or linacs. Radiation therapy works. That’s why it is used. Cancer can be cured. I have family members who lived to their mid 90s after receiving radiation for cancer. Please make an informed decision with your oncology team rather than being guided by the opinions of nonprofessionals.