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Radiotherapy and control

L

Larajb

Member
Messages
6
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi
Hoping somebody can advise me. Was given breast cancer diagnosis on Wednesday 21/12/22 due to have surgery in January (lump removal & lymph node biopsy). Then radiotherapy does anyone have any experience of control during radiotherapy please?
Thanks and happy Christmas
Lara
 
Hi Lara
I had breast cancer in 2010. Lumpectomy with lymph node removal, then 6 months of chemo, then 3 weeks of radiotherapy. The chemo caused a lot of problems with control but this had settled down by the time radiotherapy began. I didn’t have any particular problems with control during radiotherapy.
Make sure your surgeon speaks to your diabetes team, to ensure good control during the op and later on the ward. Hospital ward staff have very poor understanding of Type 1 diabetes and the food is often unsuitable. Take your own snacks in with you.
Things went pretty well for me thanks to them following the strict instructions from my SDN.
I hope it all goes well for you. Not very pleasant but at least breast cancer treatment has a very high success rate these days.
I hope you still manage to enjoy Christmas and look forward to a very happy 2023.
 
I agree with @coffeandcake. For me, chemo (well steroids) were uncontrollable. BG in low 30s for a couple of days at the start of my monthly cycle after the infusion. Radio was a breeze - apart from the regularity of daily visits for 6 weeks.

Four years later I had major preventitive surgery for the same issue and the diabetes management post-op was laughable. I ‘sacked’ them and took on the management myself.

That was 6 years ago and things may have changed but I doubt it. Our conditions vary from MDI to very low level of intervention so in reality they have to apply a ‘one size fits all’. Understandable but frustrating if you are used to doing it better.

Also, food. No idea of a low carb meal from the kitchens. I did eventually discover that there was a small kitchen on the ward that could be used for this situation. Never got to try it though.

I hope it all goes well for you. Things are improving in treatment all the time so ‘stay positive’.
 
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