Radiation or not

Good to know. Thank you! I am willing to keep going if there is some hope of feeling better.

Perhaps I am in the minority but I feel like less is more with cancer treatment. The entire endocrine medicine is an absolute no for me even at 64. If I had what I have now and I was 75 I would not treat this at all but do active surveillance. I am onboard with lumpectomy and proton therapy only, they have already said no to chemo so that was good but if they said chemo or endocrine I would do chemo! And if for some odd reason I can't do Proton then I do surgery only.

@frogjumper to me "less is more" in cancer treatment also refers to endocrine therapy that allows us to avoid chemo! We don't know your situation: Did you have an Oncotype? How responsive is your cancer to estrogen?

When you wrote you would prefer chemo to endocrine therapy I was surprised! Many of us have few side effects and the meds are supposed to reduce risk by almost half. I was 63 at diagnosis and am almost 72. I miss my letrozole: it made me feel safe.

I wanted to avoid radiation so I had a mastectomy. I suppose proton therapy might feel safer.

Anyway, curious why you are so opposed to hormonal therapy, to the point where you would prefer chemo to an AI! I am sure you have reasons....

hello Dear
I think Cancer is a kind of disease that wont give you so many options to be cured , you should leave yourself to your doctor and trust him .. If I had the choices I should never ever do Chemo since its the worst part !! if you havent done that so you have no idea what it is !

I dont know why your dr said no need for radiation ! because I hears its only side effect is that your skin will be irritated just this !

I was diagnosed 2 years ago at age 67 with IDC no node involvement- Oncotype was 12. My surgery was partial mastectomy with reconstruction. I had huge margins and grade 1.
My Radiologist advised that I did not need radiation - a second option concurred. My tumor was directly over heart - which gave me a higher risk of heart damage
So, I am taking Tamoxifen now after terrible side effects from AI’s.
My recurrence chance with adjuvant estrogen suppression is ~ 3%
Best wishes to you!

There is also the chance, likely, for lymphadema and fibrosis, from radiation. I have both, and it is terrible.

I had 16 proton radiation treatments after left mastectomy and 6 nodes removed. I was told by my surgeon and my proton radiation oncologist at the Mayo in MN that I would not have lymphedema. I don't. I did have mild cording in the axilla which PT cured. Had some trigger points in the pectoral muscle connecting to shoulder that were also resolved with 7 sessions of PT. I am positive that proton radiation is the BEST form of treatment.

I’m 64, had excisional biopsy for dcis on left breast. I decided to not do RT ( same reason as you- little benefit and I’ve been on mega vitamin D since I was 50 for osteopenia.) I’ve also decided to not do hormone blockers. I have so little estrogen as it is, and I still have hot flashes and major depression. Each woman’s situation is different; I am glad my surgeon and oncologist agree with the conservative approach. I am doing follow up imaging in 6 months.

Definitely on radiation, otherwise reoccurrence in five years is high statistics. And in our 70's is relatively young according to my pharmacist.