I got a diagnosis of IDC (invasive ductal carcinoma-- breast cancer) at the end of February. Stage 1, less than 1.5 centimeters. Had a lumpectomy March 12. Didn’t have to have chemo. Due to some minor but annoying complications from the surgery I didn’t start radiation until June 10. I opted for 16 treatments, every day for five days per week, spread over three-ish weeks instead of 28 treatments over five weeks.
Had the last one today-- yay! The treatments were painless and nothing touches your body at all, although my boob is sore and the skin is tender. Ibuprofen helps. The people at the radiation treatment place were soooo nice. It was a pleasure to see them every day. I was in and out in about half an hour, and the radiation itself is only on for about a minute and a half in four bursts. (Setup looks like this.)
When I got the diagnosis, I didn’t know what to expect. I started reading message boards… got some good info, but also TMI sometimes. I’m glad this part is over. I dodged a bullet and got off a lot easier than many others (for which I’m grateful).
In two weeks I start on a five-year course of a drug called Arimidex, which is an estrogen-blocker similar in function to Tamoxifen, but for post-menopausal women. I hopehopehope I don’t suffer some of the side effects I read about when I was encountering TMI. My cancer was positive for estrogen and progesterone, so that’s the reason for an estrogen blocker.
I don’t have any (human) family to celebrate with, so I’m inviting this community of strangers wherever you are to have a glass, smell a rose, pet your dog, tell a joke, share a hug-- and that will make me feel good tonight.
