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23rd April 2025

What radiotherapy consisted of hadn’t even crossed my mind until the day of my planning CT scan – I had been too busy with the effects of chemo and hormone blockers. Then, with the usual speed of cancer treatment, chemo was suddenly over and radiotherapy was upon me within 2 weeks of my last chemo infusion.

I suddenly felt nervous about going into the unknown – a new hospital, different treatment. And one I had done much less planning for. Luckily for me, the Colney Centre at Norwich hospital is fantastic. The staff were lovely and explained everything in detail. It is the least invasive treatment but you still feel very vulnerable. After months of keeping my top on during chemo, suddenly you are laid out on a bed, boobs akimbo, whilst you are manoeuvred into an exact position ready for the treatment. It is very exposing and takes some getting used to.

As my lump had been on my left breast, radiotherapy has the potential to damage the heart. So you do a breath-hold technique to push your heart away from the radiation field. For each blast, the breath hold was about 25 seconds which doesn’t sound long but feels ages when you are there and counting. You also have to stay incredibly still so that the right place is targeted. I am a competitive beast, so worked hard to maintain the breath-hold for the full duration. You get a screen to use which follows your breath and shows you where to hold it, so I treated this as a little game (and I won!) The machines are a bit scary at first – like giant radiation robots moving around you. But all-in-all each session was only about 20 minutes and completely painless during the treatment. When you are in position and ready to be blasted, the staff all leave the room and the machine moves into action. You quickly get used to where it is going to be and how many blasts it is going to give. The staff talk you through it from afar as well. My treatment was in two phases – phase 1 they treat the whole breast (5 days) and phase 2 was the tumour bed – much more targeted (and quicker).

Driving to Norwich on a daily basis for 20 minutes of treatment was intense, so I decided to make the best of it and elongate my time there – day 1 I went for a short walk over to the UEA campus as the sun was shining. I met a friend for lunch one day. I also took advantage of the incredible Big C Centre at the hospital. The Big C is a Norfolk-based charity who support people diagnosed with cancer and they are simply amazing! At Norwich, the centre is a beautiful calming space where I was welcomed with open arms, provided with tea or coffee and a nice chat (or a cuddle with Dora the therapy dog!) They offer a range of complementary therapies, so I booked 4 of those in around the radiotherapy sessions. This meant on 4 of the 9 days I was in I was able to have a relaxing oncology massage, or reflexology session, before then heading into radio. I was noticeably calmer, which helped mentally with the breath-hold and with maintaining position for the treatment. I can only thank my lucky stars that I am here in Norfolk where the cancer services, both from the NHS and the brilliant cancer charities I have encountered, have been nothing short of excellent.

As with everything on this journey of mine, as soon as you get into a treatment rhythm and get used to the routine, it is then over and you move on to the next unknown. Radiotherapy for me finished on Easter Saturday, and marked the end of what I am calling the ‘active’ treatment phase – the regular trips to various hospitals, the intense treatment cycles. It is an important milestone, but it isn’t the end.

Lizzie Wright