Radiotherapy

Hi Lostagain

Everyones experience of treatment is entirely different.  I know of at least four other people close to me who have had totally different experience. But I can only tell you of mine.  

I had very little side effects from five months of savage Chemo apart from extreme tiredness - which was the major difficulty for me being an hyperactive person.  Surgery for breast cancer and nodes, I practically swam through.  Everyone has been saying during my treatment that I didn't look like I had cancer, that I looked well and generally apart from the obvious aches and discomfort I was well-ish.  Four weeks of daily radiotherapy which I found uncomfortable but nothing severe and I pretty much swam through that.  However since finishing radiotherapy I have been quite ill and in great discomfort and I am told that possibly the radiotherapy caused an infection and have had great discomfort for around five or six weeks.  I am just getting back on my feet now having finished radiotherapy end September.  

But as I said, everyone is different.  I hope yours goes fine. 

Hi Lostagain

Welcome to the forum and I am sorry to hear that you were diagnosed with breast cancer and that you had horrendous side effects from chemo.  Radiotherapy is nowhere near as bad as chemo.  Your breast may get a little red after a few days of radiotherapy so it's best to keep the area moistened. Use a body cream  on your breast after every session of radiotherapy. You may also experience some burning to the breast, if you do make sure to let your Radiotherapy nurse know and they can give you something to ease the pain.  Make sure you drink plenty of water before and after each radiotherapy session.

Wishing you the best of luck with it.

Best wishes

Daisy53

Hi Lostagain, I had daily radiotherapy for just under two weeks.  The radiotherapy was absolutely fine for me just a little tiredness which built.  However, I wasn't told to do any exercises or physio afterwards and ended up with a frozen shoulder which meant yet another operation so my only advise would be to make sure you have exercises to do to avoid any issues whilst your body recovers from the radiotherapy.  I really think you're through the worst of it now and will hopefully find the radiotherapy a breeze.  They will give you some really good moisturiser to keep the skin in tip top condition.

Hi hun firstly sorry you are going through this I know it’s absolutely rubbish, the last thing you want to do after chemo is go for more treatment, but my experience is slightly different to yours as I was only 15 mins away from my hospital that I had my radiation at , the radiation treatment itself is fairly easy (apart from the holding your breath thing ) but again not too bad compared to chemo , the hardest part for me was getting up and driving every day to the appointment as most people have had no routine for a while due to treatment, I was no different, and found this extremely tiring , also had some pretty bad burns develop after 15 rounds , but luckily I heald fast , if I could say anything it’s you made it through chemotherapy so if you can do that you can do anything, some find radiotherapy harder than chemo but for me this wasn’t the case , try to stay positive and be kind to yourself, take rest when you need too as it also causes extreme fatigue, I know this probably isn’t what you wanted to here but better to know that you are gunna feel rubbish but that’s completely normal, gud luck my lovely xxx

Do you mind me asking how long each of your sessions were? I am 3 days in to 15 sessions and trying to understand what to expect x

Hi,

My radiotherapy was a breeze compared to my chemo. My sessions only lasted a few minutes. Your not in me than 10mins. The longest part was lining your body up and marking the areas. 

I was tired and my skin remained intact. However my friends skin got quite red and burning sensation. The department give you cream to use before and after treatments if needed. A couple of weeks after treatment was complete I felt some discomfort under my arm and on breast.   Xx

Hi, sorry your chemo was rough, it's one of the worst treatments for most people. For me, radiotherapy was super easy, going to hospital every day for 3 weeks was a pain, but as had zero side effects at the time and was very capable of driving myself there and back.

I have had some late side effects, mostly swelling, but all quite manageable and more a bit of discomfort than actual pain.

best wishes