I hated radiation, but I took it as a necessary evil. It goes quickly, and I Had the best, kindest techs.

@A MyBCTeam Member: As Melissa said, radiation is quick and painless - the worst part for me was holding my arms up over my head (while laying down) as I have pain in one shoulder. I am very fair and thought I would be crispy quite quickly, but it was not too bad, just looked like a bad sunburn by the time I was done. I did not need any prescription or heavy duty creams, just kept moisturized with a gentle body lotion. I did find I was quite tired, but that could have been the daily travel to & from the cancer center (45 minutes each way) combined with the effects of radiation. Compared to some of the parts of the journey, radiation was easy-peasy!

Good luck with your surgery.

@A MyBCTeam Member: I did 25 rounds of the "daily deep fry" - the treatments are quick and painless. You actually spend more time changing in and out of your gown and waiting in the waiting room than you do on the table. At about 3 weeks in my skin started getting pink and uncomfortable (it's kinda like getting a bad sunburn and then continuing to lay in the sun every day) and by the end - not gonna lie - I was pretty dang crispy. But not everyone reacts the same. I found calendula cream to be the best treatment along with doing cool saline wraps. It gets a little worse for 10 days or so after treatment ends, then you peel & heal and you're good to go. I am a year out now and my skin is slightly discoloured still, but it doesn't bother me.

Good luck on your excision - hope all goes well!💖

@A MyBCTeam Member: I had a lumpectomy followed by 2 re-excisions - third time was the charm. I only had 1 millimeter clear margin, but my surgeon was satisfied with the results. After healing, I had 20 x radiation treatments - 16 to whole breast + 4 boosts to the area where the tumour had been. I honestly thought that I would need a mastectomy after the second surgery, but due to my ‘young’ age, the surgeon recommended one more try before resorting to removing the breast.
Since your second surgery was very close to clear, your third time is likely to be successful as the surgeon knows where to remove additional tissue.

@A MyBCTeam Member: I agree with LynneC - having to go every day is the most annoying/tiring part, but at least you're in and out quickly 💖 I will give you a heads up that radiation is very precise - they take exact measurements to ensure the radiation is hitting where it should, and to ensure that the smallest portion possible of your organs is hit. To do that sometimes they will have you hold your breath- since inhaling relocates your organs slightly. Most of the time you spend on the table is the techs adjusting you "just so". The actual "zapping" is maybe 2 min tops - usually in 20 or 30 second intervals with breaks in between. If you do have to hold your breath, they will test you beforehand to see how long you can do so comfortably, and they'll work the zapping around that. And the techs talk to you the entire time so you know how long each breath hold/zap is. You've got this 💖