Looking for your experiences with Brachytherapy for Breast Cancer

Posted by staypositive @staypositive, Sep 7, 2019

Diagnosed 3 weeks ago with IDC, estrogen and progesterone positive and Her2 negative. Grade1. Only 3mm on ultrasound/3D. Fine needle aspiration under arm lymph nodes came out negative. So they say everything is in my favor...hoping so. Currently they are saying lumpectomy with Brachytherapy for 3-days after surgery next month. My son is soon getting married and have many events the week after surgery. Would like to hear others that went through this similar treatment on how you felt physically the week following the procedure?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Breast Cancer Support Group.

I had 9mm excised so they put me at Grade 2 IDC with no nodes, Estrogen & progesterone pos - Her neg. Had lumpectomy outpatient & took care of 6 month old grand-daughter. Just watched how much lifting I did. No pain. Had 15 radiation treatments. I was tired but you should do just fine. Just pace yourself. Good luck!

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@diane12

I had 9mm excised so they put me at Grade 2 IDC with no nodes, Estrogen & progesterone pos - Her neg. Had lumpectomy outpatient & took care of 6 month old grand-daughter. Just watched how much lifting I did. No pain. Had 15 radiation treatments. I was tired but you should do just fine. Just pace yourself. Good luck!

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Good to hear! Did you do whole breast radiation or internal radiation?

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Whole breast lying face down. Protected chest, lungs, & heart.

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@staypositive

Good to hear! Did you do whole breast radiation or internal radiation?

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Welcome to Connect, @staypositive. In addition to the experiences and support you're getting from Diane, I'd like to invite @tammyp and @kat9606, who had brachytherapy for breast cancer. Hopefully they will be able to share their experiences and recovery expectations with you.

When are you scheduled for surgery?

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Brachytherapy was my plan 2 1/2 yrs ago and I had the catheter inserted in surgery. After surgery it was determined my lump was too big and I did not meet the guidelines. It was removed 2 weeks later. Make sure your insurance will cover it prior to surgery.

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@colleenyoung

Welcome to Connect, @staypositive. In addition to the experiences and support you're getting from Diane, I'd like to invite @tammyp and @kat9606, who had brachytherapy for breast cancer. Hopefully they will be able to share their experiences and recovery expectations with you.

When are you scheduled for surgery?

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Thanks! I meet with surgeon on 10/2, and should then get surgery date.

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@marannolson

Brachytherapy was my plan 2 1/2 yrs ago and I had the catheter inserted in surgery. After surgery it was determined my lump was too big and I did not meet the guidelines. It was removed 2 weeks later. Make sure your insurance will cover it prior to surgery.

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Hoping all is going well for you. Good advice on checking insurance. So far they have covered everything, but better safe than sorry.

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I just had lumpectomy for Stage 1a invasive ductile breast cancer, Estrogen and Progesterone positive and Her2 neg. No node involvement and no cancer cells found in chest muscle. Tumor was 2.5cm and near the chest wall.I’ve decided on doing the Brachytherapy for radiation.

Looking for other people’s experience with it from the insertion of the Savy catheter, treatment, long term outcome etc. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Also, did your oncologist recommend chemo as well?

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Welcome to the Breast Cancer group on Connect, @2030. When will you start brachytherapy?

While @marannolson wasn't able to have brachytherapy, she did have the catheter inserted and can share that part of the experience with you. @staypositive, were you able to get brachytherapy?

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Hi Colleen, I’m scheduled to have the catheter put in today and will start treatments either tomorrow or Monday.

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