HER2 Support Group Forums - View Single Post - Radiation repercussions almost 10 years later

agness · 01-22-2016, 01:18 PM

Another thought, you can use hyperbaric oxygen to help heal and treat tissues affected by radition necrosis. Ten years is a long time but it isn't going to get better and why not try to do more.

Here are some links but you can also do a search for "pubmed hyperbaric lung" or whatnot

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy: Can it prevent irradiation-induced necrosis?

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...14488612001094

https://www.virginiamason.org/RadiationTissueInjury

I looked into HBO last year after finishing rads and got pushback. They seem to want to treat fibrosis even though the evidence says sooner is better. Maybe if I looked around then -- but you should so that now and your insurance should cover it.

Little do ROs say anything but the first 6 months after radiation are when the body does the most tissue healing and remodeling. There is a lot you can do in terms of lympatic massage, vibration (my body tipped me off on this one), myofacial release and craniosacral massage but they don't study it and don't tell you anything other than --- see you in six months. I think it is horrible and makes me angry.

I was able to participate in, at my financial expense, a study using proton therapy on breast cancer to treat the chest wall. I couldn't get her to treat less of my breast and damn I had a bad external reaction but my lungs and heart were spared, just a minor amount of my pleura was caught in range. It was the best I could do to reduce the amount of damage with a left-sided breast cancer and Herceptin. Too bad my brain mets screwed up her data.

01-22-2016, 01:18 PM	#12
agness Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Seattle, WA Posts: 285	Re: Radiation repercussions almost 10 years later Another thought, you can use hyperbaric oxygen to help heal and treat tissues affected by radition necrosis. Ten years is a long time but it isn't going to get better and why not try to do more. Here are some links but you can also do a search for "pubmed hyperbaric lung" or whatnot Hyperbaric oxygen therapy: Can it prevent irradiation-induced necrosis? http://www.sciencedirect.com/science...14488612001094 https://www.virginiamason.org/RadiationTissueInjury I looked into HBO last year after finishing rads and got pushback. They seem to want to treat fibrosis even though the evidence says sooner is better. Maybe if I looked around then -- but you should so that now and your insurance should cover it. Little do ROs say anything but the first 6 months after radiation are when the body does the most tissue healing and remodeling. There is a lot you can do in terms of lympatic massage, vibration (my body tipped me off on this one), myofacial release and craniosacral massage but they don't study it and don't tell you anything other than --- see you in six months. I think it is horrible and makes me angry. I was able to participate in, at my financial expense, a study using proton therapy on breast cancer to treat the chest wall. I couldn't get her to treat less of my breast and damn I had a bad external reaction but my lungs and heart were spared, just a minor amount of my pleura was caught in range. It was the best I could do to reduce the amount of damage with a left-sided breast cancer and Herceptin. Too bad my brain mets screwed up her data. __________________ Dx 2/14 3b HER2+/HR- left breast, left axilla, internal mammary node (behind breast bone). Neoadjuvant TCHP 3/14-7/2. PCR 8/14 LX and SND. 10/21-12/9 Proton therapy to chest wall. Dx 7/20/15 cerebellar met 3.5x5cm HER2+/HR-/GATA3+ 7/23/15 Craniotomy. 7/29/15 bone scan clear. 8/3/15 PET clean scan. LINAC SRS (5 fractions) Sept 2015. 9/17/15 CSF NED, 9/24/15 CSF NED, 11/2/15 CSF NED. 10/27/15 atypical uptake in right cerebellum - inflammation? 12/1/15 Leptomeningeal dx. Starting IT Herceptin. 1/16 - 16 fractions of tomotherapy to cerebellum, break of IT Herceptin during rads, resume at 100 mg weekly 3/2016 - stable scan 5/2016 stable scan 7/2016 pseudoprogression? 9/2016 more LM, start new chemo protocol and IV therapy treatment with HBOT 11/2016 Cyberknife to temporal lobe, HBOT just prior 12/2016 - lesions starting to show shrinkage 8/2017 - Stable since Dec 2016. Temporal lobe lesion gone. Using TCM, naturopathic oncology, physical therapy, chiro, massage, medical qigong, and energetic healing modalities in tandem. Stops at nothing. Mother of 2 boys - ages 7 and 10 (8/2017) and a lovely partner with lots to live for.