Met with my radiation oncologist, Dr. Plants, today. Really nice person. He spent a long time informing me of how things work, how it will go, what to expect.
Like other women have told me, side effects will be nothing like chemo. The two most common are redness and possible light irritation to the treated skin, much like a sunburn… and fatigue. Radiation is to begin 4-6 weeks after the last chemo (rather than 3 weeks)… the body needs time to recover from the chemo treatments.
There will be 33 treatments after all the “pre-work” is done. Next Monday will be a CT scan – from that the doctor will plan how to direct the radiation. It takes about a week to map out the plan. Then there will be a simulation to further plan the radiation therapy so that the target area is precisely located and marked. When that’s done, the radiation treatments begin… five days a week for 6 weeks.
Radiation works by targeting any possible cancer cells/tumors that can’t be seen. It also, in the process, kills normal cells… but since those cells are healthy, they will repair themselves daily! Any abnormal/cancer cells cannot repair themselves. (The body uses a lot of energy to repair the normal cells… thus, the fatigue.)
When radiation treatments are finished, all the side effects should disappear in about a month. From then on, I can start getting back in shape and back to “normal”… kinda… there will be many follow-up appointments, mammograms, etc.
Check-up with Dr. Covelli (surgeon) tomorrow… then I’m really on vacation!
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