just fished head radiotharpy for pre... - The Roy Castle Lu...
just fished head radiotharpy for prevation ,no side affects s yet has anybody else been through this
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My relative finished the same treatment in early October.
At the time the decision to go for prophylactic cranial radiotherapy seemed like a no-brainier (excuse the pun!) as the clinical oncologist suggested that it would reduce the likelihood of brain metastasis of the small cell lung cancer from 80% to 40%.
Now, with hindsight she is regretting having the treatment. Side effects include a total loss of appetite (she hasn't eaten a savoury meal in months and is living off sweet things and Complan), physical weakness, a notable deterioration in short term memory, and most disturbing a degree of mental confusion that borders on that of an Alzheimer's sufferer. Not all the side effects came on straight away, some took a couple of months to develop.
Was it worth all this to reduce an almost certainty (80%) to a medium likelihood (40%)? In my relatives case most definitely not - she is cursing the decision to go ahead and thinks the life she is living now is no life at all. If her quality of life post-chemotherapy was 80% compared with full health, then she is now at 40% and lays the blame squarely with the radiotherapy.
I hope you have none of these problems, but equally I suggest you are realistic in your expectations and don't assume after a couple of weeks that things won't change any further because the brain is a highly complex organ.
Good luck!
Edward
thanks for replay just hoping things stay as they are, no hair again
wish they would explain the worse that can happen and then you have a choice, but the way
they put it , its the best thing for you
hope your relative gets back to some normal soon best wish to her