Declined Radiotherapy treatment

I am due to start radiotherapy next week    I am looking forward to having it as I was told it would clear up anything that might have been left behind after the surgery.   Is she scared. Is it for religious reasons   Do you know why ?  I was told you may feel tired and there is a chance your skin can burn.  But will recover x. 

Hi the radiotherapy prevents reoccurrence in the local area only. She may have decided that the side effects...tiredness and low white blood count and susceptibility to infection outweigh any benefits. I had radiotherapy in 2015 and it wasn't bad at all. Good luck

Hi there, so her mum has been through the same removal and never had radiotherapy and she has had nothing come back.

I oersonallu think she is worried, and is very stubborn and is more worried about missing work. But that's my own thoughts which is why I'm upset I am feeling the emotions she should be thinking of.

My mind is blown. 

Good news nothing has come back with her mum. We are all different    She may change her mind x good luck 

My sister had radiotherapy which ultimately weakened her heart. She died when she was sixty. Maybe your wife has heard that radiotherapy can do this?

I had chemo and radiotherapy and so radiotherapy felt like a breeze compared to chemo! I was lucky with no significant skin reactions. I worked full time throughout radiotherapy and asked for afternoon appointments so that I could fit in a full day before going. They did this for me and I had the same appointment time every day. Most places are also doing the reduced time radiotherapy, where they give you more radiation over fewer days. Studies have shown this is just as effective. Some people only get 5 days now, though I also got 5 days of boost to the area where the cancer was, so 10 days total. Mine was on the right so risk to heart was low.

It is a personal decision though. I would have taken everything they offered, I don't want to experience this again.

Hi there, yes it is very difficult.  I refused radio for BC.  I use homeopathy and I feel so well.  Obviously, not everyone is the same.  Look into alternative meds it may help. Good luck.

Hi 

I guess it would be a good idea for your partner to see this post from you and the replies.  She's obviously made her decision, but she has a reasonable amount of time to change her mind if she wants to, before it's too late to have radio.

The radiotherapy is the 'belts and braces' of the treatment to catch any cells which weren't removed in the operation that your partner had and we can only guess if not having the treatment will make any difference to her life expectancy.  Some people might be lucky (as her Mum was), but conversely others might not.

I was left sided breast and I couldn't do the breathe technique due to an injury I had previously in one of my arms.  This meant it should have been higher risk for my heart.  Despite this, I would NEVER have opted to not have radiotherapy even with this risk.   When I spoke to the radiotherapy team, they were fantastic  -and it just meant that they had to do more planning and on occasions it took longer to get me in position. I haven't had ANY issues post radio and had absolutely no issues during radio either.  I drove myself to and from radio daily for the 15 sessions which was a 60 mile daily round trip and only had a small amount of skin burn. I'm coming up to nearly 4 years post diagnosis.

I went to radiotherapy after work and the team will be pretty good at getting her in at a time that suits her. to avoid work issues  

Perhaps you could ask her to ask her team regarding recurrence risks for with radio and without radio - then she will at least have a % of risk in black and white?

Personally, as Beatthebreast says, I would have taken everything they offered!

Best wishes, Lesley

Me too   I would take anything they offered to prolong my life xx