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Hello, I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer. My DH and I met with the breast surgeon tonight and my treatment options are a lumpectomy w/radiation or a mastectomy. How in the heck does a non-medical person make such a choice in two days? Thank you.
Hello, I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer. My DH and I met with the breast surgeon tonight and my treatment options are a lumpectomy w/radiation or a mastectomy. How in the heck does a non-medical person make such a choice in two days? Thank you.
I realize that considering the fear tactics that most doctors employe, I am totally wasting my time, but I would be remiss if I did nto reply to this post.
There is no rush. Chances are that your "cancer" has been growing for years before its detection. You are not going to die in a week if you take a good long time to consider ALL of your options before subjecting yourself to the assault of the knife or some god-awful form of poisoning.
You owe it to yourself to investigate ALL of the options so that you can make an informed and intelligent decision about your health. There are about a jillion cancer treatments out there which have been PROVEN (yes proven) to be more effective than surgery and radiation or chemotherapy. But the american medical association does not get rich on them. If you are smart (and I believe that you are), then I strongly urge you to put your fear aside and take a deep breath and clear your head and really THINK ABOUT THIS before you subject yourself to the horrors that you describe.
If you have any interest in discussing this further then you are welcome to message me. If you do not, I wish you all the best in your unfortunate journey.
Hello, I've just been diagnosed with breast cancer. My DH and I met with the breast surgeon tonight and my treatment options are a lumpectomy w/radiation or a mastectomy. How in the heck does a non-medical person make such a choice in two days? Thank you.
Having just gone through this, my first piece of advice is to take your time. You don't say what type of BC you have or how advanced it is but given your choices, it sounds like you are pretty similar to where I was last May. In addition to talking to your breast surgeon, you also need to talk to a plastic surgeon to really ascertain what might be best for you. I chose to go with the mastectomy because of the size of the area of cancer, my relatively young age and the better potential for reconstruction (I am scheduled for recon surgery on Dec 2nd). From my understanding, radiation does damage the skin and can make reconstruction later (if needed) very difficult. It is not an easy thing to go through, I know. Another site to visit that helped me alot is located here: Breastcancer.org Discussion Boards - breast cancer discussion forums
I will say please listen to these ladies, take your time, research, research and more research. Get a second opinion. My mother was diagnosed last year with IDC and the lumpectomy didn't yield a clear margin so they ended up doing the mastectomey with 6 months of chemo. I felt like she was rushed into the surgery as well as her chemo options.
Do you have a copy of your pathology report, if you do it can go along way in helping you to make your decision and the more info you have when you go on a website like the breastcancer.org site the more the wonderful ladies there can help you. They are a wonderful support system in a most difficult time. Best wishes and god bless you.
As somebody who has been diagnosed with DCIS, gone through a lumpectomy and then a 33-day regimen of radiation, here's what I can offer:
Your treatment options may depend on a lot of factors some of which are:
1. The Stage at diagnosis - will include the size and affected areas. The success of a lumpectomy I was told depended on how well they can obtain clear margins around the lesion they will take. Lymph nodes may or may not be affected.
2. Your family history - my surgeon would have recommended a mastectomy if the probability of recurrence on the same breast and/or on the other breast is compounded by family history.
3. Herceptin receptor results - will tell you whether you will need Tamoxifen following lumpectomy to prevent recurrence; mastectomy prevents recurrence, for obvious reasons. You should ask for this test to be run from the pathology results of your biopsy.
4. The availability of treatment centers in your area and the expertise of radiologists to provide the type of radiation you will need. There are several types of radiation (e.g. balloon bracheotherapy, etc.). The type of radiation treatment will vary in terms of duration (33 days once a day with the last 7 days being higher dosed booster doses, or twice a day doses for 5 days, or some combination thereof lasting somewhere in the middle). The type also will depend on your ability to present clear margins as some methods have very very strict guidelines as to whether you are a good candidate or not. A good surgeon will NOT push these guidelines. Not all radiologists are trained to administer all types of radiation therapy. Not all facilities are equipped to provide all types either.
5. Your financial ability to cover the cost, and what your insurance will cover. Many of them do not cover the balloon brach at all.
Every woman does not have the same reaction to rad. Some burn more than others, despite careful administration of Radiagel or Euceryn. It has nothing to do with the amount of pigment on your skin either. It will not leave a scar, and the "burn" or "tan" marks will fade over time. The area where the lumpectomy and consequent radiation will feel alternately numb and sore which I was told was normal,way into the first year after your lumpectomy. You will be followed closely by your surgeon/oncologist with visits of 3-4 months apart on the first year, followed by 6 months annually until it reverts to annual on or about the third year, if everything presents normal.
All your mammograms will be digital diagnostic for 5 years as opposed to routine mammograms and they will continue to closely monitor the lumpectomy site with special markers. Note that your insurance will be billed as diagnostic and you will have to pay for this, unlike a routine mammogram which most insurance carriers consider as preventive.
Again, as the posters who have chimed in here have advised, do your research and ask a lot of questions. Be your best advocate. Present the results of your research to your doctor and go over each option one by one. Ask and ask and ask...why this, why not this, what happens if this...
Good rundown bibit. Sounds almost exactly what the doctors told me when they were describing my choices. I got hung on #1 though because of location, size and aggressiveness.
As somebody who has been diagnosed with DCIS, gone through a lumpectomy and then a 33-day regimen of radiation, here's what I can offer:
Your treatment options may depend on a lot of factors some of which are:
1. The Stage at diagnosis - will include the size and affected areas. The success of a lumpectomy I was told depended on how well they can obtain clear margins around the lesion they will take. Lymph nodes may or may not be affected.
2. Your family history - my surgeon would have recommended a mastectomy if the probability of recurrence on the same breast and/or on the other breast is compounded by family history.
3. Herceptin receptor results - will tell you whether you will need Tamoxifen following lumpectomy to prevent recurrence; mastectomy prevents recurrence, for obvious reasons. You should ask for this test to be run from the pathology results of your biopsy.
4. The availability of treatment centers in your area and the expertise of radiologists to provide the type of radiation you will need. There are several types of radiation (e.g. balloon bracheotherapy, etc.). The type of radiation treatment will vary in terms of duration (33 days once a day with the last 7 days being higher dosed booster doses, or twice a day doses for 5 days, or some combination thereof lasting somewhere in the middle). The type also will depend on your ability to present clear margins as some methods have very very strict guidelines as to whether you are a good candidate or not. A good surgeon will NOT push these guidelines. Not all radiologists are trained to administer all types of radiation therapy. Not all facilities are equipped to provide all types either.
5. Your financial ability to cover the cost, and what your insurance will cover. Many of them do not cover the balloon brach at all.
Every woman does not have the same reaction to rad. Some burn more than others, despite careful administration of Radiagel or Euceryn. It has nothing to do with the amount of pigment on your skin either. It will not leave a scar, and the "burn" or "tan" marks will fade over time. The area where the lumpectomy and consequent radiation will feel alternately numb and sore which I was told was normal,way into the first year after your lumpectomy. You will be followed closely by your surgeon/oncologist with visits of 3-4 months apart on the first year, followed by 6 months annually until it reverts to annual on or about the third year, if everything presents normal.
All your mammograms will be digital diagnostic for 5 years as opposed to routine mammograms and they will continue to closely monitor the lumpectomy site with special markers. Note that your insurance will be billed as diagnostic and you will have to pay for this, unlike a routine mammogram which most insurance carriers consider as preventive.
Again, as the posters who have chimed in here have advised, do your research and ask a lot of questions. Be your best advocate. Present the results of your research to your doctor and go over each option one by one. Ask and ask and ask...why this, why not this, what happens if this...
Best of luck to you!
You are amazingly knowledgeable about this.
It concerns me, however, that no one appears to be considering alternative treatment. A point should be made that traditional allopathic treatment is not the only choice available. It would behoove anyone in the OP's position to consider ALL avenues of treatment and not exclude more holistic possibilities.
Thank you 20yrs...I'm a very inquisitive patient. I drive physicians nuts!!! For anyone interested and to the OP, here is the link of the radiology group who has treated me. Their About Your Treatment section explains each type of rad treatment extensively. Bring a printout to your physician so you have a point of discussion. As far as insurance is concerned, check that all your providers (facility and radiologist) are in network. Billed charges for rad can run anywhere from $400 to $700 a day, more expensive if the radiologist actually sits down with you, which is once a week. Do the math on that and it is one hefty sum.
Good luck with your treatment. I'm sorry you're dealing with this difficult diagnosis--just know that many women have been through what you're going through and we come out the other end, somehow, still in one piece.
It all depends if you want to preserve your breast, or would rather see it gone. I am assuming both treatments will provide best results in your case. I did not want that boob on my body for ONE MORE SECOND!!!! Keep in mind also you can choose to have a double mastectomy for prevention purposes. That was the one area where I held back on the aggressive attack--I chose a single mastectomy.
Keep in mind it is entirely possible to go in for the lumpectomy, and find out afterwards you'll have to go back in for a mastectomy due to what they find there.
I was offered several different options and chose to go with the most aggressive treatment available each time something was offered to me. I live very close to the hospital, have good insurance, went to a top cancer center in Boston, so I just entered automatic aggressive attack mode.
Because I chose to have radiation, my reconstruction was delayed, but I'm just finished with it and oh boy it is a wonderful wonderful thing. A tummy tuck was part of it and I feel like I have a better body. It's called a DIEP Flap and it is the newest, top of the line reconstruction available.
Good luck and you'll make the right choice for yourself. Cancer care is all about personal choices these days, and while it's scary to have to make the choices, at least we have some control over what happens to our bodies during the process.
Good post, clevedark. Having had some dealings with this as of late, my feeling is there's no guarantee the 2nd breast won't get it - but there's no guarantee it will. It's a fine line and a tough call and you have to do what you feel you're most comfortable with, sometimes w/ lumpectomies (and other surgeries) things look fine immediately afterwards but further pathology shows something different, sometimes the surgeons are surprised themselves. Have heard very good things about the FLAP surgery if you're a good candidate for it, the nice thing is there are a lot of options out there and like you said, we do have some control over certain situations. Wishing you well, Sunnydee, as you figure out what's best for yourself.
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Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
For anyone interested and to the OP, here is the link of the radiology group who has treated me. Their About Your Treatment section explains each type of rad treatment extensively. Bring a printout to your physician so you have a point of discussion.
