Yes, the patient is the one that ultimately does decide what treatments and meds they are willing to endure and have their body go through. All conventional cancer treatments take a toll and do damage to our bodies. For me personally, the only reason I'm still alive is because of radiation. Just finished radiation and chemo for my 2nd bout of breast cancer a few months ago, so the jurys still out on that count. Started AIs again on November 1st and will start CDK inhibitor on December 1st since new breast cancer is aggressive and stage 3.

I also have endometrial cancer that has returned 3 times and might be back for round 4 cause something suspicious showed up on my PET scan in August that is now being monitored. That sucker, if it is cancerous, managed to pop up and live through 3 different types of chemo that I had for the breast cancer this year. Had a PET scan this week and am still awaiting results. If the endometrial cancer is back then it's going to be nuked with 1 week of radiation. When I had chemo and took AIs for the endometrial cancer the 1st time it came back neither of the treatments did anything. The tumor grew larger and went from operable to inoperable based on location. That tumor was about 1 x 1.5 inches in size and appeared before I started having regular PET scans. What did kill off that tumor was a 3 week course of radiation. The 2nd and 3rd time the endometrial cancer came back it was caught earlier, was about 1 x 1 cm in size, and both times it was killed by 1 week of radiation. In my experience with my cancers radiation is what kills the cancer. I got pissed off with the new breast cancer because they insisted it was more important to do chemo before the radiation.

Anything medical is a "money grab" for hospitals, doctors, and insurance companies. If you have insurance and don't have big deductibles or co-pays then it really doesn't matter if it's a "money grab" for someone or some entity. All that matters is you get whatever treatments you need that are most likely to kill your cancer and hopefully keep it from coming back or extend your progression free survival time in a way you can deal with. Ask your doctors what the risks are and what your survival odds are with and without any of the treatments they recommend for you and ask how those treatments will effect your pre-existing lung and liver conditions. When you have that info from your doctors research it. Based on what you find in your research it might raise more questions to ask your doctors about and/or it will either confirm your doctors recommendations are right for you or wrong for you. Every cancer or recurrence you get is different from the ones before and needs to be analyzed and treated based on it's own individual characteristics. I hope for you that if your doctors do think radiation does give you the best odds that it won't mess around too much with your pre-existing conditions.

You have all the rights to refuse it. Don’t be intimidated by their blabla. You’re the one who decides

I agree I have talk w my doc an they reassure me I need it ...looks like a money grab to me seeing how my recurring score was 4

I would totally avoid radiation in this case. Some very big studies have come out in recent years that show radiation does not add anything to survival at all. This was for women with bc over a period of 9.6 years. Actually those who did do radiation had even a slightly lower (not significantly though) overall survival. Think about it. Many medical circles talk that radiation might be completely stopped in the future, unless for some very specific cases. I would not risk it.

Hi Kelly. I understand your concerns, especially since you already have lung and liver diseases. The AI response you received above is accurate that breast radiation can have some effect on your lungs which makes sense because our lungs are located behind our breasts. I'm not sure that radiation would have any possible negative effects for your liver. Have you talked with your radiation oncologist or your breast cancer oncologist about your pre-existing lung and liver issues and your fears about radiation? If not you should contact them both and see what they have to say. It seems like for most women that have a lumpectomy instead of a mastectomy that radiation treatment is strongly recommended to help prevent a recurrence. Good luck ❤️