Radiotherapy

I had a couple of setbacks before finally starting radiotherapy. My first decision was not to have chemo. Not only was I scared of it but I also worried how it would affect my little girl who had been through too much already . After initially knocking back chemo I met with my Radiotherapy Oncologist. We planned a date for me to get started and she explained to me the process. At the time I was told I would have it everyday for 8 weeks. Well, by that afternoon I had 6 phone calls from different Doctors. Apparently, there had been a meeting some time during the day to discuss my treatment and they had decided for me that I would have the genetics test and get those results before I started Radiotherapy. The first call was from The Genetics Councillor explaining the situation to me, an appointment had already been made for me to have the genetics test. It was decided for me by the "team" that I would have the genetics test, if I tested positive then I would have surgery to remove both my breasts before I started Radiotherapy because apparently radiotherapy damages the tissue of the breast and makes it difficult to reconstruct. I was fuming to say the least.:) So, I had the genetics counselling followed by the genetics test. See under genetics for more info. I also had chemotherapy, see under chemotherapy for further reading. Eventually, I started radiotherapy and completed it in August 2013. Radiation was easy compared to my chemo treatment. It made me tired and it did burn me, but it wasn't painful and it was a quick process. Driving backwards and forwards to the hospital everyday was very draining and frustrating and some days I had no choice but to take my little girl with me which was very hard because I would have to leave her in the waiting room by herself, that was the hardest part of my radiation treatment, she had just turned 6 .