Almost finished chemo, radiation next.......anyone use the DIBH technique?

All the best in the planning session. It drags on and felt.like my arm was going to fall off from having it stretched and perfectly still as long as I had to but is bearable...

And I hope the Head Radiation Oncologist can give you the information you need. I was just as anxious after my initual.consult but he did have a proper look at the CT scans done during the planning session and that is where he could reassure me deap breathing one would not give me any advantages.

All the best

Jel.

hi Willow,

thanks for the cream tip, I have noted it down ready. Yeah it's the fear of the unknown that I struggle with. I accept that it will be mid 2017 before I start the disassociate some of my physical and emotional scars and give myself a break albeit with that little nag in my head still.

could you still drive? That is one thing I am worried about as I have a 7 year old that I usually collect from school 3 days a week. If there is a potential I won't be able to do that then I need to start putting plans in place to call upon friends to help.

The sleeping thing is going to be bad for me, I have struggled since my surgery as I sleep on my stomach!

thank you for responding, I learn so much from others experiences and always come away with good questions to ask my specialists.

take care xx

Our Jel, I hear you.

My initial meeting with the radiation team but my backwards about 3 months psychologically!

next week I have my planning session but I have been lucky enough to get a last minute appt with the head radiation oncologist just to see what her thinks with the DIBH technique and my options.

no black and white is what I have struggled to come to terms with, everyone is different, every specialist and hospital is different, makes it all the more harder for us to get our heads around.

good luck with your radiation, feel free to pm me and let me know how you are going.

xxx

I know a few women have posted about it on the main forum at some stage.

I too am about to start radiation and my left boob is in the firing line and did speak about it with the radiation oncologist in my hospital.

It is notnoffered in the oublic hospital but it is being offered in the orivate hospital he sees patients privately in.

We discussed it at length and he has told me options opened in my hospotal are radiation where I lie on my back or where I lie on the tummy which ismmore gruelling but heart is protected or can go in private and have the 'deep breath' technique in the nearby hospital.

While I am broke at the moment did tell him if there is any advantage to it at all healthwise I would go private and he assured me that after the mapping session he would have a better idea as according to him doing it while.you lie on the tummy is just as protective off the heart.

As I have managed to handle the planning session (and then some on the tummy) and the positioning that was required upon examining my scans he again reassured me tummy radiation will be just as effective and that there would be no advantage to going 'deep breath'. 

So I am now reassured as he is a professor and a head of the department in here and has been spoken off very highly by all my other specialists. So at least I am feeling a bit reassured I am doing the right thing ??.

But have got to say too many bloody decisions and dangers woth this darn BC treatment.  Inthought barely oulling through these 3 weeks post my last chemo was bad but then got the talk about radiation and all the sideffwcts and it has me ready to crawl into a very very very deep hole as I am going to have 9 weeks of the damn thing ????????

Jel.

Hi Christel,

I used the DIBH technique for left breast radiation. I thought with all my body has gone through/ is going through at least my heart will have less damage. I had read that breast cancer survivors more commonly die of heart disease than cancer so DIBH put my mind at ease a little. My radiation was done though Adelaide Radiotherapy. I was one of the first trials they did. I would also highly recommend using a natural calendula cream during radiation. I put it on every day at least 4 times a day and it saved my skin. I only started to blister towards the end and the radiotherapists used to comment on how well it held up. Pretty good considering I have pale skin that burns easily! I got home made calendula cream from my naturopath but you can get brands at pharmacies (martin & pleasance is good).

Radiation treatment is still uncomfortable of course. I couldn't wear a bra for 6 months and even now at nearly 11 months can only wear for a few hours a day. I wish I had had that expectation in advance. I think knowing the length of recovery helps reduce the fear. I still can't sleep on my left side.

I'm happy to answer any other questions if you have them.

All the very best xx

Hi Christel,

I am yet to have my radiation, but I am scheduled to do the Deep Inspiration Breath thing. From what I have been told it is definitely a better option if it is available to you? I have a friend who had it a few years ago when it had just been introduced, she was private patient, but I am being treated through public system (NSW Central Coast).

I can understand not feeling super excited, I have had similar reactions to certain news, where other people seem really excited, and im like, yeah that great...but...

Anyway all the best xx