Ellen,
My mom, IIIA also, had the chemo, then surgery, and then radiation. They told us it was pretty common now to get that because they want to make suer there are no floating cells and focus on the area.
Radiation was not too bad for my mom. It is the type of thing that was 5 weeks and got much worse at the end, and when she it bottom, it was done. Side effects aafter a few weeks for her were trouble swallowing, esophagus pain and fatigure.