Hi Eileen,
Lee is getting 30 rads this time(IMRT). Last time- 9 yrs. ago he had mantle field (30 also.)
There certainly was a question whether he could receive the rad at all. He could not receive rad enough to have chemo/rad without the surgery but coukld have adjunctive rad after surgery. Without the rad, his prognosos was 30-40%. now we are told is more like 60-70%. After they reviewed his old rad records and port films,
we were told that that treatment was done very well and judiciously and not overkilled as many do, so we did have some room to play with. The irony is that rad the first time was not needed for cure and was done as a little insurance since he was so young. He had a 90% prognosos without it, but who knew? I guess we make the best decisions at the time with whatever info is available. It is our understanding that it is not the total # of treatments that is important, but rather the amount you receive. We also got a second opinion at Sloan to be sure he needed this radical surgery-they concurred.
Doreen