Would appreciate some advice

Hi, I hope you don't mind the male visitor. I'm looking for some advice for a friend. I spent a while reviewing posts but couldn't find anything relevant. Stage 4, lumpectomy followed by radiation, finishing in February. She's now experiencing a hardness in the affected breast, plus "it feels like I have a spiky rock in there". Is this scar tissue that may break down over time? Is it a permanent effect of the radiation? Anyone any insight? Any articles or resources that might be useful? Many thanks in advance.

Post Edited (We can do this) : 6/25/2021 11:57:40 AM (GMT-6)

Been there - radiation; have that - hardness.
It's sort of like cooking a piece of chicken in the microwave. It gets hard and stays that way.

I'm on my second trip down lumpectomy lane after 12 years, and I still have the hard slab of meat where the radiation cooked me first time.

The second surgery left me with an ugly breast I can't live with looking like it does, so I'm getting plastic surgery. Only, if it gets radiated again (not same location) it will get hard and I wouldn't be able to get the plastic, or it wouldn't be correctible. (Yes, I can get a second rad in the same breast - because the first one was only on the other side of it.)

Sinus surgery was years ago. It didn't help right away, but after a year I noticed I was having fewer chronic type sinus infections. It's not a fun surgery - breaking bone isn't pleasant! I wouldn't recommend doing it unless you get a second opinion. Some docs are doing it in office, but it's a lot more invasive than they advertise, and they may just be doing it to make money. Get a second opinion.

But radiation for breast cancer is not fun either. I suffered anemia, axillary cording and a lot of pain, but not much burning. I didn't have whole breast rads, just where the cancer was removed and a lymph node area. Unfortunately it also hit my stomach and a couple of ribs, which caused the anemia. My doc said later that the one rib would probably break sometime. Rads kills new cells, not just cancer cell, all of them.