-Cheryl- Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Hi guys, I went for my radiation treatment today and the doctor wants me to come in tomorrow to be re-mapped for radiation. He wants to zap me from a new angle, the site being my oblique area. The reason given is "We do this 3/4 of the way through radiation to save the esophageal tissue from too much damage." (I have a 1 in. tumor in my r. mid lobe and spread to the mediastinal lymph nodes) Swallowing has been very hard to do, not to mention painful lately. I asked if there had been "any change in the tumor at all?" He said "we won't know till the end of treatment." The x-rays taken are only to see if we are on target for radiation ports, not diagnostic. Can they not tell if the tumor is shrinking from these x-rays? Has this been anyone else's experience? Cheryl Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norme Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Cheryl, My buddy was remapped a couple times because of all the radiation he was getting. You can only go by what they think if best and hope they know what they are doing. We sure don't do we....but, we were never trained in that field....trust in God and in the radiation man.....God first..... My prayers are with you each night when I pray for I know how worried you are. Try and give yourself, lock,stock and barrell to the Lord and I think you will find peace and relaxation within yourself... Peace be with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrea B. Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Cheryl, My mom was remapped a little over halfway through her radiation treatments. For the same reason, they don't want to direct the angle continuously in the same spot. My mom had a CT scan around the same time (this was separate from the xrays they took to remap her) and it showed the radiation was working. She also had an enlarged lymph node visible in her neck and that went down, so we knew by this it was working too. If you have any doubts, be insistent with your doctor. You will be in my prayers that the radiation is killing all those cancer cells. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beckyg Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Cheryl, My radiation doctor said the same thing. They did remap me 3/4 of the way through, and the swallowing pain did start to ease after that. I did not have a CT scan until 3 weeks after radiation ended--they said it was because radiation continues to work for several weeks after the treatments stop. In my case, the CT scan showed no change in the tumor size. Also, you have probably learned here about the problems with surgery after too much radiation. I had never heard of that until I went back to Houston after chemo and radiation and was told that I had malignant pleural effusion, so surgery wasn't an option currently, and surgery might never be an option because I had too much radiation. I mention this just because you might want to check with your radiation doc and make sure everyone is on the same page about you aiming for surgery again after this treatment. It is a real shock to find out that the goal you have been aiming for is out of the picture because the doctors treating you all have different ideas about what happens to a Stage IIIA lung cancer patient. Becky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ginnyd Posted August 1, 2003 Share Posted August 1, 2003 Cheryl, Earl had 23 treatments straight on from the top and the bottom. Then he had 5 treatments on another machine that were shot at an angle. We were told this was to relieve the esophagus and spine from anymore radiation. I hope you are feeling better and that the radiation is a BIG SUCCESS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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