Heart and lung conditions post breast cancer radiation

I have seen this as well, they focus so much on the potential benefits and just gloss over or don't even mention the possible side effects, some of which are permanent. I would have made very different decisions about my treatment, had I been honestly told what it could/would be like. For me one of the worst things was having proton beam ration on my lower spine. It was supposed to be for pain relief because of severe bone mets in the area. They said it would kill the cancer cells in the area and effectively stop the pain that was near constant. They said I would have next to no side effects because it was a low dose and a small area (a 2"x8" rectangle on a small person is not a small area). I ended up so sick from day 1 of it and it went on for 10 days getting sicker and sicker with each dose, vomiting and constant diarrhea that I could not control with even prescriptions and it continued for months after. I had to live off dramamine just to help take the edge off the constant nausea and everything I ate ran straight through me. I lost about 10 lbs in two weeks. I never really recovered, I can hardly eat anything now, I feel sick all the time. My stomach/intestines what ever it must have been also hitting in the process has not healed and it's been over a year now. My WBC and RBC are permanently tanked ever since, so now I have to constantly have risk of sickness and infection. I am permanently anemic now. They acted like it had next to no side effects, they said it might get a little red on the skin in the area and it did get very red and peel but that was the least of it and healed within a couple of weeks. They acted shocked that I was getting so sick from it and seemed to try to blame it on something else but it coincided exactly with the treatments and altered me for what seems to be the rest of my life. To top it all off, it didn't even help the pain in my back, so it was all for nothing and they made it sound so confidently great, like I couldn't lose.

I am facing this decision now. 30 yrs ago, I had a lumpectomy, radiation and chemo on left breast. In 2022 I had a mastectomy with no additional therapies. In May 2025, the cancer is back (same breast). Just had a lumpectomy, and will meet with my oncologist and radiation oncology next week. My breast surgeon said she is sure that radiation will be recommended. I am very gun shy about it, considering my history. I will ask about Proton Radiation and the potential for heart and lung damage. The "cure" is almost as bad as the cancer.