One of the hardest parts of dealing with cancer treatment is the fear of the unknown. I’m happy to leverage my experience to take away that fear as much as possible.
Here are 5 things I didn’t about radiation treatments until I started them, some photos, and a link to a video of one of my radiation treatments—yep I recorded one just for you!
1) Radiation therapy is used to kill cancer cells.
Sometimes women just have surgery and radiation. Sometimes surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation are all three used. Some women just have surgery. Â Every case is different and it is dependent on the type of cancer and the stage of cancer.
2) The primary side effects of radiation used in breast cancer treatment are fatigue and a burn similar to a bad sunburn.
I experienced some fatigue and some burning. The burning can cause the skin to peel. I did not experience peeling. When I asked my doctor why radiation causes fatigue, he explained that it is similar to when you spend a day in the sun and then you come inside and want to take a nap. When you’ve spent a day in the sun, you are getting UV radiation from the sun. It causes fatigue in the body whether you are getting it from the sun or from a machine.
The doctor recommended certain lotions to treat the burn but I found the power of community to be an even better resource because other doctors recommend other lotions. One friend going through treatment said her doctor recommended Amlactin and it was the best of all the lotions I tried!
I’ve recently had friends use Active Repair–a completely natural but very powerful healing gel. I didn’t know about Active Repair when I went through radiation but I wish I had! (This is now the only medication we use in our home for rashes, cuts, and burns. Use SAVAGE10 coupon code to get 10% off!)
3) In breast cancer, the radiation treatment treats the whole breast, not just the spot where the cancer was.
My “burn” was from the middle of my chest, across the breast, to under my arm. Â I had 30 full breast radiation treatments and 3 “boosters” that were focused right on the spot where my cancer was removed in surgery. Â That makes a total of 33 treatments.
4) Radiation happens daily.
I went Monday-Friday every day at 2:20 pm. Each treatment is only about 7 minutes in length, so while it’s daily, it doesn’t take too long.
5) Radiation isn’t painful at all.
I didn’t feel anything during treatment. The skin tenderness happens over time. Â Initially they cover your chest with different sharpie markings protected by clear stickers which guide the techs to line up the machine correctly. Sometimes they give you some small “dot” tattoos to replace the stickers. There’s a little “sting” when getting the tattoo, but other than that, there’s nothing painful about the actual radiation treatment.
Here’s a basic “photo tour” of radiation:
This is the dressing room where you undress from the waist up and put on a cape.
Waiting for my treatment
This was my own personal mold that is under the white sheet. This keeps my head and right arm in a special position that assures that the radiation goes where it needs to go.
The radiation machine
I’ve had so many people ask about radiation, that I decided to videotape one of my treatments.
If you want to know what a radiation treatment is like, you can watch the video!
If you or someone you love is facing cancer, here is a link to more of my cancer resources.
I would add that everyone’s experience with radiation will be different depending on their genetics, skin coloring and how well they tan. My experience with radiation was WAY worse than chemo, but I’m fair skinned, blonde, blue-eyed with red pigments…nearly the recipe for bad burns. :/ The process of getting radiation wasn’t painful for me but the positioning process was uncomfortable and in the later weeks, it was painful. I used to swear they stuck my right elbow into my left ear to get me in the right position. But I suspect the level of discomfort may also be related to whether you had a lumpectomy, mastectomy or reconstruction too.
One thing I did not know and you did not mention, was that with radiation you will receive a series of tiny tattoos…permanent tattoos. Mine are blue dots but I don’t know if that’s standard. Each time a patient climbs up on the beaming table, the table is positioned so that those lazer looking lights in the video match up with the positions of the tattoos. It must be done daily to ensure the beams are being shot at the exact spots each day. Sometimes, as tissue swells or shrinks they have to do things to keep that exact position in place. I can’t tell you how many times I was taped and strapped onto the table to keep those tats in line. lol
I don’t think people understand radiation as well. While movies have dramatized the chemo season of cancer, most ignore and gloss over radiation processes or complications.
One the bright side, you do bounce back (energy wise) after radiation MUCH faster than chemo!
Tina, good additional info! I have heard about the tattoos but I don’t have them yet. I still have stickers on my chest that they line up to get me in the right positions.
I had my breast cancer radiation treatment for 5days, it’s uncomfortable, I had 6 tiny dots tattoos. It’s 2 months passed, lately I noticed my skin is getting darker. I used cream for 3x as my doctor prescribed. Now I’m just putting aveeno cream
Hang in there Petronila!
Jill – thank you so much! For those of us who are praying for you, it helps us picture you as we are praying for you!
You are so brave, friend!
Very good description! Lynn mentioned the tattoos. I opted for Sharpie marks rather than the permanent markings. I felt like I had been “marked” enough and I didn’t want to add more. 🙂 My radiation oncologist recommended Aquaphor for my skin. Some folks may have used it for kids in diapers. I tend to get sunburn very easily, and I was surprised to only get a couple of blisters from the treatments. I know it’s different for different folks. The techs covered my chest with a layer of some kind of bubble wrap during many of the treatments. I am not sure that I understand exactly what it was for. My skin stayed a shade or so darker in the treated area for about 2 years. Now it looks pretty much normal in color. The radiation treatment was a cake-walk compared to the chemo. I hope yours is effective and that you don’t have much skin irritation. I enjoy your writing and I continue to lift you up to the Great Physician. Fight on!
Karen, I’m using Aquaphor. It’s good stuff. Interesting that your skin stayed darker for two years. I had no idea it might be that long! Thanks for sharing!
Got my tattoo today. 🙂
How was the pain of the tattoo? I am starting my rads in Dec and not looking forward to more pokes???? Tyty so much for sharing your experience. This whole process is scary.
Signed : post lumpectomy 2 days waiting for path results and on to rads
Lois, it wasn’t bad at all. It’s the size of a pin head and was a little prick. Hang in there….this will soon be in the rearview mirror of your life!
Tyty Jill gonna be brave like you. Tyty again for your sharing and careing. Forward and onward ????
You’re very welcome! You’re not alone, Lois!
I Received 4 tattoos for my breast radiation and noticed when I got home one of those feels like a splinter poking out. Has anyone ever heard of it? Thank you, Sherry
That’s so odd! No, I’ve never heard of that. I have one tattoo from radiation but my skin is smooth.
How bad is the fatigue? Do you just go for naps during the day or is it debilitating? I’ve done 4 out of 6 chemo sessions. The first 3, I had nausea. The 4 th one wasn’t bad. Just fatigue.
Zahra, personally I did not find radiation difficult at all. An occasional nap here and there was all I needed!
I’ve done 10 hits of radiation. Chemo is over, I made it. 6 more hits of radiation to go. I’m olive toned and I’ve been using Cereve. So far it’s been going well
Sooooo glad! I found radiation the easiest part of my treatment for sure!
This is great information. I start radiation in a couple of weeks. Im still healing from 2 back to back surgeries to remove the cancer and cells
So glad you’ve found it helpful! Take care of yourself and give your body time to heal. Someday this cancer journey will be in the rearview mirror of your life.
Hi, I’m about to start radiation in the next 3 weeks for lung cancer, about how long does each session last for, I’m confused as all the doctors have told me all about my cancer, but not what to expect
Tim, I’m not sure for lung cancer, but I know my treatments for breast cancer were about 7 minutes in length. In fact, the video on this post was my entire treatment and that video is 7 minutes 40 seconds.
Thank you so much for posting the video. I finished my chemo on July 8 and meet with the radiation oncologist on 8/30. I had no idea what to expect and this at least gave me an idea. I will have radiation 5 day/week for 6 weeks.
You’re very welcome, Sharon! Sometimes it’s helpful to just see what it looks like!
Thank you for this information! I have a lumpectomy scheduled next week and the plan is to have radiation afterwards…of course that depends on the pathology reports from the surgery! I couldn’t envision the radiation treatment so your video calmed a lot of my fears.
I’m so glad it was helpful, Fran!