Radiation instead of surgery for positive lymph nodes

I seem to have replied to myself by accident below but I meant to radiotherapy not chemo and also that I am glad to hear you feel better after the surgery . Are you having the radiotherapy currently ? What puzzles me is how do they decide how many nodes to take and can radiotherapy totally kill any dodgy nodes if they do t remove them . Hope all is over and done with soon for you and you can feel better x keep in touch 

I think radiation kills everything, but for me I wanted to know if there was more cancer present, so I could get the most appropriate follow on treatment.

Yep radiation therapy, hormone blockers and ribociclib. 

I’m not having radiotherapy yet, but hopefully soon. For me they took out the level 1 nodes and maybe 1 or 2 in level 2. Everyone has a different number of nodes and I didn’t have very many. Hence the high ratio 2/8 and the need for extra radiation treatment. 

Sounds like we might be having radiation at a similar time ( if I am not having chemo ).. thanks so much for your reply and good luck wth treatment .. I am going to ask for some more reassurance at my appointment on Thursday x

I didn’t have a choice about which to have, as they just gave me both. However, in retrospect, (now I’m 4 years on), I would never have chosen the lymph clearance as this had caused the most severe pain. I’m still taking daily meds for nerve pain down my arm. Also the chance of lymphoedema is with you forever, so you have to be careful all the time that you don’t get a cut, sunburn etc on that arm, as it can’t recover. The radiotherapy is like a mini nuclear weapon- it kills everything in its path, good cells and bad. Hope it goes okay for you. X 

Thankyou for your reply . I am so sorry you are in pain . It seems there is no easy path whichever way . I have today started on the letrozole and vitamin D … it will be a couple of weeks until the radiation .. my nerves are in shreds I had a wobbler at the hospital reception today before I even went in .. they must think I am a nutter .. no one else seemed to be iin a state . Consultant said that if there were macros in my axilla that the radiation would kill it but there doesn’t seem to be any proof of this as those who spot ahve the surgery don’t know if there is or isn’t it’s a gamble … but I have to believe her as she is the expert .. i will have to get used to this … lots of best wishes to you and thankyou again xx 

I like your description that radiation is like a mini nuke and I hope it’s the case … if only they could know how many nodes are affected xx