Last round of treatment

Thanks for sharing Shell2021. I had lumpectomy and sentinel nodes removed 2nd November, diagnosed from punch biopsies stage 2 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma HER positive (I think?). Lump clearance was good, but all 4 nodes removed had cancer cells so back for 2nd surgery on 30th November for auxiliary node clearance. Of the further 10 nodes removed, only one had cancer.  Sent for CT Scan which showed all organs clear, but some 'fuzzies' on my spine.  Sent for bone scan. Breast cancer care nurse phoned last week to say appointment with oncologist should be next week. She also said report on bone scan shows secondaries on spine, pelvis and a left rib. Feeling rather battered and scared. Your post here has me feeling not so scared. Thank you. 

Hi Shell2021

Following chemo and two rounds of surgery (see profile) in 2019/2020 I had 15 rounds of radiotherapy, it left me a little sore. I had a relatively good time on chemo & surgery not too bad but yes you’re right radiotherapy is a walk in the park compared to what I went through prior to rads and what you’ve been through….your light at the end of that tunnel should be very noticeable.

Good luck all the same.

Sam 

Radiotherapy should be a doddle compared to chemo. I found it fine, maybe a little tired but I was also working full time. I had slight redness and a bit sore, plus hardening of the tissue around scar and darkening of the whole breast. All of that settles, though the hardening can take 6 months. My oncologist had said that you won't know what your breast is really going to end up looking like until 6 months after radiotherapy and I found that about the right timescale.

The radiation peaks at 2 weeks post-treatment and takes another 4 weeks after that to heal so I continued to use aveeno for that time to help moisturise the whole area while it healed.

Good luck, you're almost there!

Thank you for sharing as well brainybunch.. sending positive thoughts for next.week