Radiation to Come

I met with a Radiation Oncologist today for a consult. I will be having radiation due to these risk factors:
   1. Being a young Breast Cancer patient
   2. Having 3 positive lymph nodes

I learned the type of radiation I would be having done & also where and why. I assumed that I'd have it done in my axilla due to the node removal, but since my surgeon removed such a small area and the cancer cells in the 1 lymph node in the axilla was minimal, I won't need radiation or boosts in my armpit. This is good news, because it won't put me at risk for lymphedema & that my cancer barely spread beyond the breast.

I learned that I will need 28 daily sessions 5 days a week of radiation to my clavicle and chest wall. I will be having it done to the chest wall post-reconstruction surgery. The radiation oncologist prefers to work after reconstruction & has a history of working with reconstructed breasts. (yay!) She said that the risk of Capsular Contracture (hardening of the implant) is low (1 in 1,000 patients) with the type of radiation I will be doing. The reason I will be having the radiation to the chest wall is that microscopic breast tissue cells could linger post-mastectomy & radiation will "kill" them. Also, I will be having radiation done to my clavicle, because those lymph nodes are the highest risk of reoccurrence & cannot be treated surgically due to being intertwined with neuro-skeletal arm muscles and tissues.

So, starting in June (around June 20th) I will be going to radiation daily for 5.5 weeks. This brings me to finishing my breast cancer treatment to approximately one year after I found the original lump. I cannot wait to put this behind me & have my 27th year be a much better one.

All in all, I was satisfied by this appointment. I plan to go to Virtua, but I was going to get a second opinion from Sloan & I am still waiting for Sloan to call me back with their recommendations for radiation. So far, no call & it has been a week. I feel like they are really slacking on their follow-through.