Should I do Radiotherapy or not? I am 71 years old

Hi, I know your decision will be based on your personal situation, but I will tell you my story. I was diagnosed with invasive lobular cancer in 2021 at 75. I needed chemo, surgery (left breast mastectomy) and planned on more chemo, but no radiation. That is, until following my surgery, the tissue removed showed cancer had not been wiped out and the margins were slight along my chest wall. I was terrified. I did not read up on the chemo or options, but I did before the radiation. I was less scared after that. I kept eating well and exercising as much as I could. I had started PT after the surgery and it was managing to improve my mobility and was gentle throughtout radiation. My skin was toughened and slightly burned. (lotions helped) Each radiologist have their own suggestions. My pec muscle was also toughened and working that out took a lot of work and time. I had no issues with my heart or lungs. I think that more of my complications came from scar tissue, cording and banding which may have been negatively effected by the radiation but were there because of the surgery.
I don't know if this helps you, I have one story and there are many to be told. I wish you well in your decision.

Thank you Maggie.

I’ll share my story. I zambian 75; had a lumpectomy on right breast in April . wasn’t planning on radiation but tumor was larger than expected. 1.14 so did 5 days of advanced radiation in June
so far ok had some lymphedema but exercise helped eliminate it.

I am 75 not zambian

I am 78. I have stage 1C invasive lobular cancer possibly a secondary cancer from my stage 3c endometrial cancer 23 years ago. I am 7 weeks from my lumpectomy. 2 sentinel lymph nodes negative and clear margins. Have decided on proton beam radiation. It will be 2 weeks daily, partial breast radiation. Radiation oncologist said a 20% chance of recurrence if I didn’t do radiation and didn’t do AI, 10% chance if I did one or the other. OncotypeDx showed 4% recurrence risk at 9 years with AI. Radiation sounds like a better choice as my pelvic risk fracture is 30% due to the endometrial treatment and AI would decrease my BMD. Proton beam radiation, if applicable, has far fewer short and long term side effects. I will see!

Sounds like a good option!

I’m having brachytherapy for my lumpectomy. After pathology says margins are clear, they do this one time dose of radiation while I am still under anesthesia. All done. I had a lumpectomy before and had whole breast radiation which included 36 treatments. This is so much easier.

I’m in the same boat as you are. However I do qualify for the hypo fractional radiation which is a five day procedure versus a five week. Based on your age depending on the type of cancer you have etc. you may qualify for that as well.

At the age of 79 I had radiation 5 days a week for 6 weeks. I had very few problems. The chemo I had first made me feel awful after my lumpectomy in one breast and Herceptin plus Taxol . I decided not to take Al. At this point I'm a happy camper 82 year old.

I’d suggest you ask them for a clear understanding of your risk of local recurrence, distant recurrence, and possible new cancer occurrences. I’ve learned so much since my diagnosis June 2022 and realize that risks can be so different for each of us.
My story, 69 yo, DCIS, 1.6 cm, BCS, radiation, tamoxifen. I did 5 days of radiation using breath control (lifts the chest up with deep breath intake to keep radiation beams away from the heart/lung) and VMAT radiation (probably best to Google that, would take lots of words to explain). I believe I had 600 gy in 5 sessions, total 3000 gy. The lower the number of days the higher the amount of gy.
I do have some fat necrosis (dead cells, firm area) in about a 1.5” X .5” area. I’m choosing to ignore the lumpiness - it’s possible it will be absorbed over time. And about 2” of the suture line under my breast is corded. The goal is that the radiation beam will not touch the sutures, but I think it must have. Again, not too worrisome. I would do radiation again if I had to make that decision.
I can tell you about how tamoxifen therapy has gone, if that would be helpful.