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Posted by Peg h on 5/1/2008, 3:47 pm, in reply to "I'm confused about Radiation?"
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Dear Suzanne,
Good for you....you are almost through with A/C. Believe it or not the rest will move quickly along. I followed the same treatment path as you for my IBC. There are always lots of questions re treatment plans. Even though I am an NP..oncology is not my field so I neede d to really search out answers to treatment options.
I will say ..there is a lot of misinformation out there re radiation therapy. I had lots of questions that were answered by my oncology radiologist. Another really great help with basic answers was found in Dr. Susan Love's Breast Book. It is important to gain an understanding of radiation as therapy vs radiation used as a diagnostic tool.
The whole process that is used in cancer therapy is extremely focused and studied. My tumor bed was left sided and close to the chest wall. My concern was the possibility of ambient radiation because of the proximity to heart. The radiation/oncology team decided to use IMRT which is highly focused (and specific) to prevent that possibility. Since my tumor had a high grade score and was aggressive the treatment plan was to aggressively treat. I have not found any data that supports the view that radiation increases the chances of recurrence. I hope that this helps you...however do bring your questions to the radiation oncologist and follow your instincts with the answers. Some good questions:
Statistically how will radiation be effective in my situation?"
"What harm could this do...short term...long term?"
"If I choose not to have radiation how will it affect my survival re this particular tumor?"
What are the statistics re this?"
Good luck in all of this and let me know what you decide
Hugs,
Peg
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