Radiation therapy

[lisa]

We met with a radiation oncologist a few weeks ago who was pushy, saying I must do it soon as it had to be within a certain time frame after my surgery in order to work. We didn't feel comfortable with this doc so we decided to see one at Mayo, where I'm currently receiving my chemo. My medical oncologist knew that I was having a hard time dealing with the thought of long term side effects and was strongly not wanting radiation.

Hence we did not put our faith in the first guy. So, my med onc set me up with a gentleman who has spent lots of time researching radiation oncology and the side effects. We met with him this week and after he examined my records and me he showed me statistics and let me know that if my cancer had been ever so slightly higher up we would not have been even meeting. My cancer was in the area where the colon and rectum meet so it's been hard to say if I need what rectal patients do or not. Radiation hasn't been shown to help with colon cancer, only rectal cancer.

This doctor told me that he was ok with either choice I wanted to make after he told me all there was to tell. Then, he let me know he headed up the study that he had shown me and he has written many books and articles on the subject and his card says he is a Professor of Radiation Oncology at the Mayo. If you google him you'll find him and all of this just made me have more confidence in him and helped me feel ok about skipping radiation. I have told him I'll pass, thank you very much.

Oh, and BTW the first radiation oncologist was wrong, Dr Martenson says there hasn't been any proof to the time thing. There's more information including the statistics on my blog if you're interested www.lisaschaos.blog-city.com

Mostly, I wanted to say thank you to those who have been here before and alerted me to potential side effects and problems with radiation. Because of you I questioned and researched and didn't let myself be pushed. THANK YOU!!

[lisa]

I did the google search on the doc and found 89 articles on the following site if anyone's interested. http://www.jco.org/cgi/content/full/22/16/3277 on the right you can click on google scholars to see all of his articles, not all pertain to colon cancer of course.

[skier03]

Hi Lisa,

I just wanted to say that I am happy to hear that you've finally made a decision about radiation, and, more importantly, one that you are comfortable with.

I had a similar situation when I was first diagnosed (went to first radiation oncologist, was very pushy, said there were no alternatives, etc.). Then I went to another oncologist and spoke with my surgeon who spoke with several other doctors, and we all decided that there were other routes to take. Hence, I did not go through the radiation, and am very happy, thus far, with my decision.

I think the most important thing is to trust your doctor. I was confident that the new oncologist and my surgeon had my best interests at heart, and would not let me do something that would decrease my chances of survival. Hence, I am confident that although I didn't receive radiation, that I won't ever have to worry about this again. I'm happy that you were able to find a doctor that you trust and believe in as well.

Good luck with the rest of your fight! Keep us updated on how things are going.

Corinne