Fighting cancer is full of a series of decisions where you’re trying to ensure the rewards outweigh the risk. Its a set of choices where both options suck, but one sucks a little less.
In theory, deciding to do Chemo is an easy choice. Because with Triple-negative breast cancer, its basically the only way to get rid of any cancer that has spread. But Chemo drugs come with a series of risks – allergic reactions (been there, done that), nasty side-effects (thank u, next!), and infections from a compromised immune system (folliculitis, you were an itchy bitch). But one of the scariest risks of chemo is future occurrences of cancer caused by the chemo drugs. The likelihood of developing a new cancer as a result of chemotherapy (often Leukemia) is low … less than 1%, but still, yuck! So the choice to do chemo might be an obvious one, but it comes with a hefty set of baggage.
Another decision is regarding Surgery – when to have it, and how much to have removed. Any surgery comes with risks – infection being the biggest. But with lumpectomy/ mastectomy surgery you’re deciding about how much of your own body you’ll be keeping, knowing that the parts you’re keeping have a high risk of cancer recurrence. With lumpectomy/ mastectomy surgery you’re also having lymph nodes removed which comes with another set of risks including lymphedema. You’re balancing feeling like “you” with future cancer risk, plus a whole host of other complication risks. No matter which path you choose, you wind up feeling like maybe you made the wrong choice (and don’t get me started about the reconstruction choices/tradeoffs!)
Finally, comes the choice about Radiation … and the impetus of this post. I haven’t talked much about about Radiation here, but essentially, its a treatment where energy waves are precisely directed at the places where you had cancer. These waves cause the DNA in cells to get messed up – normal cells have the mechanisms to repair these DNA breaks, but cancer cells don’t. So, with radiation, the cancer cells are “zapped” while the regular cells get broken but then can fix themselves. Like chemo, radiation comes with future risk of cancer in the locations where you received the radiation treatment. Its only about a 0.2% risk of cancer caused by radiation, but still – the thing you’re using to fight the cancer is also increasing your risk of getting cancer again.
So, last week I met with my radiation oncologist, Laura Willson. I had thought going in to this appointment that she wouldn’t make a call about radiation until after surgery, when pathology from my lymph nodes would *hopefully* confirm that the cancer hadn’t spread. But, she said that due to the size of my tumor at diagnosis, Radiation was the recommended course of treatment, regardless of what was found during surgery. So, come spring, once surgery and recovery is done, I’ll finish treatment with 6 weeks of daily radiation therapy – ensuring that whatever teeny tiny minuscule cancer cells might remain in my chest and surrounding lymph nodes will get zapped for good.
Unfortunately, I’m going to need radiation – adding 6 more weeks to my treatment plan and increasing my future risk for cancer just a wee bit more
Fortunately, I now have clarity on the full scope of treatment between now and mid-June and now its just about getting that shit DONE.
Fortunately Unfortunately 