Hi I have DCIS and have had a wide local excision and now have to get radiotherapy. Tomorrow I go for my planning CT scan and am worried about the procedure. Would like to hear other’s experience of this scan.
Hi Caradomben and a very warm welcome to the online community which I hope you'll find is both an informative and supportive place to be.
It's natural to be nervous about a procedure that you don't know anything about. My radiotherapy planning session lasted about an hour I think. I first saw a radiotherapy nurse who explained what side effects I might have and gave me some general information about what would happen when I went for treatment. She also recommended that I applied a moisturising cream twice a day to the area that was being treated.
I then went into a room and had to lie on a 'table' while a scanning machine took various measurements. Two radiographers popped in and out of the room to place marks on me with pen so that they could take accurate readings. These marks didn't need to stay on as the type of scanning equipment they had at the hospital I was being treated at meant that the machine could work out where the radiotherapy needed to be delivered to from the scans it had taken and didn't rely on markers being left on your body.
I should say that while I was on the machine I was naked from the waist upwards, as you might expect. As it was the left side of my breast that would be receiving the radiotherapy they got me to practice holding my breath for up to 30 seconds. This apparently moves your heart out of the way!
The online community is divided up into different support groups, so I'm going to recommend that you join the breast cancer group as it's a great place to ask questions, share experiences and get support.
To join just click on the link I've created and once you've joined you can start a new post in the same way as you did here and join in with existing conversations by clicking on 'reply'.
It would be great if you could pop something about your diagnosis and treatment so far into your profile as it really helps others when replying to you and also when looking for someone on a similar pathway. It also means that you don't have to keep repeating yourself. To do this click on your username and then select 'Profile'. You can amend it at any time and if you're not sure what to write you can take a look at mine by clicking on my username.
"Never regret a day in your life, good days give you happiness, bad days give you experience"
