Today Susie met with the Radiation Oncologist to discuss what will happen after the surgery.
After additional tests are done following the surgery to determine if there is lymphatic invasion, it will be determined if chemotherapy will be done. If so, that will happen first, then radiation therapy will follow.
The radiation oncologist will tattoo pin marks on the area to be treated with blue or red dye. This will allow them to target the location on the chest each time they administer radiation.
Susie will go in for treatment 5 days a week for 7 weeks in the doctor's office. Each appointment will be about 10 minutes total time, where only 1 minute is the actual treatment. This could be longer, depending on whether or not the nodes are positive.
The whole breast will be radiated roughly 28 treatments, and 7-8 treatments will be just on the localized area where the tumor was removed.
Every Monday, she will meet with oncologist for updates and discussion of progress for about 30 minutes.
The first appointment will be about 1.5 hours, after surgery, to review the pathology report from the surgery. At that point, the radiation can be set up, and then she will go for a CAT scan to check her lungs, heart, and general chest wall area for signs of cancer cells.
The radiation will slightly hit the bottom of the right lung, which will show up on future diagnostic tests, but will clear up eventually.
The skin on her breast will be irritated, not like a 3rd degree burn, but it will be red and can be treated with Lubriderm and aloe vera to keep the area well hydrated, and she will need to wear sunscreen every day and drink lots of water.
For the course of the radiation, she is not allowed to shave or use deodorant. On the upside, if she completes chemo prior to this, she won't have any hair to shave there anyway, so that shouldn't cause too much trouble. Just don't make her sweat! :-)
The radiation will have a tendency to lighten the scars, not darken them, so that is another bit of good news.
She needs to find out if she can apply ice packs to the areas if they get irritated.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Breast Cancer t-shirt
Common Breast Cancer Myths
The first myth pertaining to this disease is that it only affects women.
Second myth that is associated with this disease is that if one has found a lump during an examination, it is cancer.
Third is that it is solely hereditary
The next myth associated with breast cancer is downright ridiculous. Would you believe, that in this day and age, some individuals still think that breast cancer is contagious?
Conversely, some individuals foolishly believe that breast size determines whether or not one gets cancer.
Finally, another myth that is associated with this disease is that it only affects older people. This is not so. Although the chance of getting breast cancer increases with age, women as young as 18 have been diagnosed with the disease.
You can find a number of helpful informative articles on Breast Cancer t-shirt at breast-cancer1.com
Breast Cancer t-shirt
Post a Comment