Back from my 1st oncologist appointment.

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/29/2007 5:17:48 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

fastest2@... writes:

My Doctor didn't give me a choice, per se. He said I needed a lumpectomy.

Then performed the lumpectomy and couldn't get clean margins. So, 4 days

later

I had a mastectomy.

He also wouldn't take the good breast. I see some of the group had options

like that but he said he would not take a non-diseased breast.

for some reason, perhaps my state of mind when the surgeon was telling me

that i had breast cancer, i never thought of having the other good breast

removed. i did have a mastectomy due to not being able to get clean margins.

i

had already had 3 lumpectomies in my poor breast (left) which they removed.

my other breast, they are making me go for breast MRI's to keep track of a

suspicions looking area which makes me pretty nervous. on a brighter note,

Friday i go in to have my " exchange " surgery. i will get my implant put in.

i'm

excited about it but a little nervous as well. i'm moving in the right

direction and i am thinking positively.

lorena

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you

really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think

you cannot do.

- Eleanor Roosevelt

[Guest guest]

Ann,

Although my cancer was within my left breast, I opted to have the right

removed. I'm adopted with no family history. I just felt it was the right

choice and have never looked back. My pathology on my right breast, although

didn't indicate cancer, did indicated some pre-cancerous type findings so I'm

confident in my decision.

Best,

[Guest guest]

I've never seen so many bald heads before, it was kinda liberating.

I think I will handle that part better now seeing for myself that

there is beauty in women without hair.

He is recommending 4 treatments of cytoxan (once every other week)

and then 4 treatments of Adriamycin given the same way as the cytoxan.

He also said I would have to come in the next day after each

treatment to get a shot of neulasta.

And then 5 years of the taxafin (spelled wrong, I'm sure)

I'm scheduled for a CT Scan (abomen and chest), a bone scan and a

muga scan. I also asked about the PET scan to see if they could tell

if there was any more cancer left. He said that wasn't the most

reliable test to determine if cancer is left behind.

Does anyone have any pointers to share? Are these all of the norms?

Now, I just nee to make the decision about another lumpectomy or the

mastectomy.

[Guest guest]

Dari

Actually, he said no test can verify that they remove all of the

cancer - surgery is the only way.

My surgeon has suggested a mastectomy, because I've already had two

lumpectomies, but he is willing to try again. Maybe, maybe not - I hate

that I don't know what the right decision is for me. I certainly don't

want the mastectomy to find there was no cancer - but then again, I

don't want to have the lumpectomy and find my margins are still not

clear. It is such a big decision, it's making me sick.

I just wish it would all just go away.

Thanks

Rose

>

> In a message dated 1/29/2007 3:41:59 PM Central Standard Time,

> rosemunch@... writes:

>

> > I also asked about the PET scan to see if they could tell

> > if there was any more cancer left. He said that wasn't the most

> > reliable test to determine if cancer is left behind.

> >

>

> Did he say what test was? Because I thought the PET was the way to

go.

> hugs,

> Dari

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

> He also wouldn't take the good breast. I see some of the group

had options

> like that but he said he would not take a non-diseased breast.

> At eh time, I was only considering removing both. But, he and two

other

> surgeons (not in the same group) said they do not take healthy

body parts. I was

> amazed to see as many women in here say they had that done.

> love & hugs,

Some of it depends on the doctor, but some of it also depends on the

patient's situation.

I just got my genetics results which said I had mutation on BRCA1.

Besides conferring a risk of up to 87% of having BC by age 70 (ok -

I'm in that group) compared to 7% for women without the mutation,

there's also a 27 % chance for me to have BC in the remaining breast

in the next 5 years. That's as opposed to around 3.5% for women who

have BC but not the mutation. There's a < 2% chance for women in the

general population to get ovarian cancer by age 70, but 27-44% for

women with BRCA1 mutation.

Before I knew those risks, I had intended to remain as intact as I

could. My surgeon, who was familiar with the literature and who was

pretty sure given my family history and pathology that I was BRCA1,

told me she had no problem letting me keep the healthy breast since

there are good screening mechanisms in place now for BC, but she

seriously recommended taking the ovaries because there is *no* good

screen for ovarian cancer. Now that I know my risks of developing

ovarian or a new BC in the other breast, I'm opting for prophylactic

surgery as well. I'm sure the doctor would have *discouraged* me

from removing now healthy organs if the test results came back

negative for mutations.

I originally thought that people undergoing the prophylactic surgery

were being too paranoid, but after seeing those numbers, I'm joining

them. I also wouldn't be surprised if my now cancer-free sisters

decided on prophylactic surgery as well, because at least they'd be

spared the chemo. There are no guarantees that they will get it, but

almost 90% chance of BC by age 70 is pretty darn high. My older

sister, who had a lumpectomy on the affected breast and has been

disease-free for 6 years, will likely not be undergoing prophylactic

surgery. She already had a hysterectomy for other reasons. And my

father's reaction was that he was going to start going for his

annual mammograms again.

Ann

[Guest guest]

Hi Rose,

I had cytoxan and adriamycin every 2 weeks together.

I didn't take tamoxifen since I'm er/pr-.

I haven't heard of cytoxan and adriamycin being given sequentially, but

that's not to say it's not right.

-

Rose wrote on 1/29/2007, 4:37 PM:

> I've never seen so many bald heads before, it was kinda liberating.

> I think I will handle that part better now seeing for myself that

> there is beauty in women without hair.

>

> He is recommending 4 treatments of cytoxan (once every other week)

> and then 4 treatments of Adriamycin given the same way as the cytoxan.

>

> He also said I would have to come in the next day after each

> treatment to get a shot of neulasta.

>

> And then 5 years of the taxafin (spelled wrong, I'm sure)

>

> I'm scheduled for a CT Scan (abomen and chest), a bone scan and a

> muga scan. I also asked about the PET scan to see if they could tell

> if there was any more cancer left. He said that wasn't the most

> reliable test to determine if cancer is left behind.

>

> Does anyone have any pointers to share? Are these all of the norms?

>

> Now, I just nee to make the decision about another lumpectomy or the

> mastectomy.

>

>

>