Chhavi Mittal shares she was lucky to dodge chemotherapy; know how it differs from radiotherapy and side effects to expect

TV actress Chhavi Mittal has been very open about her battle with cancer. She recently underwent a surgery for breast cancer and is currently recovering from the same.

While Chhavi has been quite active on Instagram, bravely sharing her post-op journey with her fans and loved ones, in a recent interview with ETimes TV, she reveals how she broke the news of her cancer diagnosis to her children and that she was glad and felt lucky she could undergo radiation therapy over chemotherapy.

Also read: Chhavi Mittal exclusive interview on her Cancer: I didn't want my daughter to see me in pain

"The cancer was removed from the body. Now radiation therapy will begin; it will extend for 20 sessions. I have dodged chemotherapy and I am lucky," she said.

Furthermore, she urges women to do breast self-examinations regularly. "Breast cancer can be cured if detected early. Symptoms include lump, discharge, inverted nipples," she shares.

Talking about her treatment, she says she is very hopeful. "It's all going to be fine," she says.

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"I am told that radiation therapy is advanced and no side effects will occur. Even if there are some, I am informed that they will go away in 15 days. The radiation sessions will happen every day and be completed in a month's time. Nothing will happen to me. God is with me. If he wasn't, I wouldn't have discovered the lump," she adds.

Image credit: Instagram/chhavihussein

Breast cancer is said to be the second leading cause of cancer death in women. In 2020 alone, there were 2.3 million women diagnosed with breast cancer and 685,000 deaths worldwide, reports the World Health Organization (WHO).

Diagnosing breast cancer is not easy. There could be symptoms that may be missed easily and often women are made aware of them in advanced stages.

That said, breast self-exam is extremely necessary. Regularly assessing your breast for lumps, discharges and other irregularities can help diagnose the disease.

Additionally, there are other tests and procedures that can help with breast cancer diagnosis.

Doctors may recommend breast exams in which they will check both your breasts and lymph nodes in your armpit.

Apart from that, a mammogram may be advised for better diagnosis. A mammogram is an X-ray of the breast that helps detect abnormalities. Breast ultrasound or a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are also common procedures that could help with the diagnosis.

However, the most definitive way to make a breast cancer diagnosis is through a biopsy, which includes removing a sample of the breast cells to determine whether the cells are cancerous.

Chemo- and radiation therapy are both treatments for cancer. Both these treatment procedures help kill or control the growth of cancer cells. While they share the same goal that is to shrink the tumors and lessen the pain and associated symptoms, they use different approaches.

Chemotherapy is a drug treatment that helps kill fast-spreading cancer cells in the body. They use powerful drugs that kill the cells. This treatment can be given in the form of an IV, which is a needle or a tube directly inserted into a blood vessel, orally or with an injection.

On the other hand, radiation therapy involves high-energy beams such as X-rays or protons to kill these cells. It could be done through an external radiation method, which involves a machine that triggers invisible high-energy beams into the tumor from the outside or internal radiation method, also known as brachytherapy, in which a radioactive object is placed inside the body near the tumor.

Systemic radiation is a less common method in which a radioactive substance is given in the form of a pill, or an injection or a port into the veins.

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While chemotherapy and radiation therapy help kill cancerous cells and stop them from becoming inoperable tumors, it can come with several side effects that can take a toll on one's health, interfering with day to day functions.

Some of the possible side effects include:

- Extreme fatigue and tiredness

- Nausea and vomiting

- Hair loss

- Gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea

- Changes in skin

- Anemia, which is low red blood cell count

Also, given that radiation is a targeted therapy, it may focus on a particular area where the tumor is located, which may lead to more side effects in that spot.