Mood: Nervous 😞
My first radiation treatment was on the December 19th and it went well. My actual time on the table was about 15 minutes as they have a large area to treat. I don’t feel anything during the treatment and much like during an MRI, I have to lay completely still. I don’t have full mobility in my left arm so they made a mold that they place under my arm to help me get into the proper position for my treatment.
My second radiation treatment was yesterday, December 20th and I am still doing well. I am getting used to the routine when I go to my appointments and I was told that I will meet with my doctor every Monday. I won’t blog every time I go as I have 25 treatments over 5 weeks. They told me to expect some redness and for the fatigue to return about halfway through the treatments. 23 to go….ugh
What is the success rate of radiation treatments? “It appears that external-beam radiation therapy is a superior treatment in some cases. When patients are treated with modern external-beam radiation therapy, the overall cure rate was 93.3% with a metastasis-free survival rate at 5 years of 96.9%.”
Radiation therapy uses targeted energy (e.g., X-rays, radioactive substances) to destroy cancer cells, shrink tumors, and/or alleviate certain cancer-related symptoms. It may be used:
- As a primary treatment to destroy cancer cells
- In combination with other treatments to stop the growth of cancer cells
- Before another treatment to shrink a tumor
- After another treatment to stop the growth of any remaining cancer cells
- To relieve symptoms of advanced cancer