Radiation after lumpectomy

@Romla great to hear your opinion of Jim Kollias, he's looking after me, surgery booked for 1 Feb. He is lovely and comes highly recommended by my GP who I trust whole heartedly.  Trust is important in these early days. 

@Anne65 interestingly St Andrews radiotherapy were switching away from Sorbolene to Cetaphil when I was finishing my treatment.Calendulais still being supplied - I have read online it’s specifically used for radiation burns and reckon your pharmacist should be able to get it for you if you are interested.That said many times have read people on here extolling Moo Goo.

@Anne65 Melissa Buchner has an excellent reputation and I think she works in conjunction  with Jim Kollias.@sister Jim Kollias was my surgeon and I cannot speak highly enough of him both as a professional and a human being.He works at the RAH and St Andrews as well as helping at BreastScreenSA which is where I first met him. His office staff are outstanding and they back Jim 100% and he them - all of them work incredible hours and make sure our healthcare is managed carefully and smoothly - a very impressive team.

@sister So good to hear from you & glad you are travelling well. Hope your cardio test went well & you are ready for your chemo to start soon. You have certainly had a worse run than me & I'm sorry to hear that. We all have to deal with the cards we are dealt & it sounds like you are taking it all in your stride! As long as we have good doctors & support staff around us who are guiding us in the right direction. I hope you don't have to have rad as i think you would have gone through enough with the chemo so fingers crossed. My surgeon was Dr Melissa Bochner & my rad onc is Assoc Prf Dr Martin Borg. They both work in South Tce next to St Andrews so I know the area well. Dr Borg works through Adelaide radiotherapy Centre & they have 4 rooms/centres around Adelaide so I had the initial visit the other day in Sth Tce & I will also go there soon for the setup/planning stage but I can have my rad treatment at one of the other centres that is close to my sister, which is who I will be staying with, so that is great to have that option available to me. Apparently the hospital I will be going to, Calvary Central Districts Hospital is newer & has great parking  but they all have the same equipment etc. Two of your doctors names are familiar to me, Jim Kollias & Scott Carruthers so maybe I have seen their names or heard of others who have used them. I'm sure they will both look after you....we have to trust these people!! Good luck & keep me posted. Thinking of you. xxxx

@Romla Thanks for the advice about the cream. My McGrath Nurse only told me yesterday about the Calendula cream & how they use it at St Andrews. I will be having my rad treatment through Adelaide Radiotherapy so I'll see what they stock! I guess you will be safe using anything that the medical practices provide but my McGrath Nurse said to stay away from Sorbolene as it is petrol based so not too good on the skin. I might have to go to the chemist & have a buy up but I will certainly look for the Calendula. Thanks for the tip!! xx

@Anne65  That sounds a good outcome! Am glad you have a SA support sister...what a drive!  Great you don't need 6 weeks too.  Things sound like they will run smoothly xxx 

Hi @Anne65.  Happy to know that you've got your direction sorted.  It is all about knowing where we're going, isn't it?  I was wondering how you were doing.  I'm due to start chemo in a couple of weeks and will be having some sort of cardio test today to check my heart before starting.  According to my onc (who I met on Friday), I can consider my cancer gone - the rest is just mopping up in case of any escapees.  Anyway, I'll grab what chance I've got as, like you, I don't want to find out in 5 years that I should have had the extra treatment.  I still don't know whether radiation will be needed but I've got the next 6 months covered.  Good luck with the rads.  BTW, who are your doctors?  So far, I've had Jim Kollias as surgeon and Tony Michele as onc - will see Scott Carruthers at some stage to discuss radiation.

@Anne65 St Andrews radiotherapy supply Calendula cream/lotion in th change rooms which was hugely popular during my treatment as always ran out unlike Sorbolene also supplied and I gather is specifically used for radiation burns from my reading.It can be purchased at the hospital .

@arpie & @viking1 Hi to you both & thanks for your support! I'm back from my rad onc appt yesterday in Adelaide - 5 hr round trip to see him but that's what you do living in the country! He is an assoc prf so knows his stuff so was guided by his thoughts. He didn't push me either way but after hearing all the pros & cons, I asked him what he would do & he said he would do the rad.! The only reason i was borderline having it was that my cancer was aggressive even though only stage 1. The risk of it coming back without rad would be approx 15% (depending what study you read) which is halved by having it. The chances of getting cancer from the rad is so minimal, he compared it to the chances of being struck by lightning. He has only seen 3 cases in his long career. So I am doing it & another advantage for me which may be the same for you @arpie, it that as I was borderline, I only have to have 16 treatments over 3-4 weeks unlike the usual 5-6 weeks & I don't need a booster so that would mean less rad for me so I should get through it well. As my cancer was on my left breast, I have to hold my breath for 30 sec during some of the rad doses to get my heart out of the way so it doesn't get exposed so i will be practicing that! I also have a 10% chance of carrying the BRAC gene as my mum died at 46 y.o.of ovarian cancer so they don't want to start the rad until I see a geneticist as if I am positive, they can't do the treatment so the rad onc is busy working out what to do with me! I will have to stay in Adelaide at my sister's for the treatment & then come home for the weekend so they said my treatment can be at another hospital very close to her so i can drive myself. I found the staff yesterday very supportive & helpful & one girl who explained the  cost of the procedure said that even though she has never done it, she hears patients say how easy it is. There is also a false skin called mepitel that they use to help protect the skin so that minimizes any chance of burning or irritation so there are a lot of advancements helping you get through it better. I feel very relieved with my decision. I am having the rad to give me the best chance of it not returning & I am only having a short treatment so compared to all you other ladies out there, I am very, very lucky. @viking1 Good Luck tomorrow, i will be thinking of you as you start treatment. Think positive & after each session, it will be one step closer to finishing & closer to killing off any left over cancer cells! Look after yourself, use lots of moisturizers, which I haven't bought yet, & keep thinking that we are all here for you so keep me informed of how you go. @arpie it sounds like the surgeon took a large chunk during your op so you may have clear margins, like I had. This may be why they think you may not need rad but as you have had node involvement, they may think it's a good idea to have it. If I had nodes removed, I would have definitely gone for rad without hesitation to minimise any chance of it coming back in the lymphatic system & spreading. Listen to the surgeon & the rad onc & be guided by them. I have been lucky that my team have told me what they want to do to me & would be best for me & I have come out of it so far extremely well. I would hate the thought of not having rad & then it coming back later maybe worse & I don't know how i would live with myself if that happened. It is a game of chance & you have to go with the best odds. Please keep me informed of your progress. @sister I have posted you in on this as I feel like we started this "journey" together being diagnosed & having surgery the same time & in the same hospital. I wish I knew you were in St Andrews as I would have tracked you down. I know you have not had as good a run as me & for that I feel very sad. We are like "SA sisters" & I want to keep in touch with how you are doing. We lost contact for a while as there are so many different places to post in this website & after my surgery i was so sore, I couldn't type & forgot to post my outcome on the website when I recovered! So I just wanted you to know where I am at now & I'm wondering the same about you & hoping your progress is going well. I think about you often & I hope you have finally seen the end of surgery & are making a good recovery. Thoughts to you all & thanks for the love & support from the forum & I reckon I have just written the longest post in history!!!! xxxxxxxx

@Anne65 I am wondering whether you went with radiation or not, assuming it would be starting soon/now if you had healed well? I've just had my surgery/lumpectomy last week, with one node removed (the tumours were about 11mm x 16mm and he took a larger chunk than initially planned, so that is good) - and I see the surgeon next Monday to discuss the pathology results, margins & further treatment.  In our initial appointment before surgery, I was been advised to have the radiation as a precaution, as my cancer was a tricky one & could spread ..... but depending on the margins and discussions with the team next week, who knows?  I may be given the option of not doing radiation - I find out next Monday.  All the best with your journey.