r/lungcancer • u/rollerG12 Stage IVa NSCLC - Squamous - 28M • Jun 24 '25

Question Radiation Experience?

Hi all,

Does anyone have experience with radiation for NSCLC? How did it do for you? I recently completed an aggressive radiation plan with “curative intent” and I’m still undergoing concurrent chemo that is about half way done as of Thursday.

For those of you who did radiation, how long did side effects last? How long did it take for your tumor to shrink significantly? How long did the tumor continue to shrink?

I can tell it’s most likely working, as my pre-radiation symptoms have pretty much all disappeared and I’m only 2 weeks post radiation, but every now and then I still have a slight cough that pops up for a minute or two a day then goes away. Trying to convince myself it’s not the cancer growing back but just my body recovering from the harsh radiation plan 😅

Thanks!

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u/missmypets Jun 24 '25

In 2010, I had concurrent chemoradiation. I've not had progression or reoccurrence im the radiated areas. My largest tumor was 12x9x13cm.

1

u/rollerG12 Stage IVa NSCLC - Squamous - 28M Jun 24 '25

Thanks for your reply. How long did it take to see the tumor shrink significantly or completely be gone?

3

u/missmypets Jun 26 '25

My tumor continued to shrink and consolidate for two years after radiation stopped. Radiation destroys the DNA so the cell doesn't necessarily die till it ties to split to form new cells.

Edit to add: it took about two weeks for the esophagitis to noticeably heal.

1

u/rollerG12 Stage IVa NSCLC - Squamous - 28M Jun 26 '25

Awesome, glad you had such a great response. This is exactly what I was looking for, I think a lot of the time my expectations for response time are way too high and I think this helps confirm that.

Did you do any immunotherapy while getting radiation?

2

u/missmypets Jun 26 '25

No. Immunotherapy didn't exist in 2010.