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Why am I being told I need Radiation if I haven;t even had surgery yet?

chriskaput
chriskaput CSN Member Posts: 109
edited March 2014 in Breast Cancer #1
I am currently on 12 weeks of Taxol (finished 4 rounds of AC) to try and shrink my tumor to hopefully get a lumpectomy. If I haven;t even had surgery yet, why is my onco. telling me I will have 7 weeks of it? Not everyone I have spoken to has had radiation and chemo.
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  • BlownAway60
    BlownAway60 CSN Member Posts: 851
    #2
    I was told if you have a
    I was told if you have a lumpectomy that you will have to have rads. I had a lumpectomy and 7 weeks of rads. Since the whole breast is not being removed they want to make sure none of those little cancer cells are left to cause trouble later.

    Hugs

    Donna
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  • TraciInLA
    TraciInLA CSN Member Posts: 1,994 Member
    #3
    In Cancer Speak, "lumpectomyplusradiation" is one word
    The standard of care is that radiation always follows a lumpectomy -- doctors say it like it's one word: "lumpectomyplusradiation."

    Like Donna said, it's not possible for a surgeon to be 100% sure that he/she got every last possible cell -- even with great margins, it's still possible that microscopic cancer cells remain in the breast, so radiation comes along to zap them into oblivion.

    With mastectomy, some women need radiation, some women don't -- but it's a given with a lumpectomy.

    Hope that helps,

    Traci
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  • New Flower
    New Flower CSN Member Posts: 4,294 Member
    #4
    TraciInLA said:

    In Cancer Speak, "lumpectomyplusradiation" is one word
    The standard of care is that radiation always follows a lumpectomy -- doctors say it like it's one word: "lumpectomyplusradiation."

    Like Donna said, it's not possible for a surgeon to be 100% sure that he/she got every last possible cell -- even with great margins, it's still possible that microscopic cancer cells remain in the breast, so radiation comes along to zap them into oblivion.

    With mastectomy, some women need radiation, some women don't -- but it's a given with a lumpectomy.

    Hope that helps,

    Traci

    most people on this board
    had both Chemo & radiation, especially with lumpectomy. Having Chemo first means that your tumor is large, I am sorry for your situations, please listen to your doctors.
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  • mariam_11_09
    mariam_11_09 CSN Member Posts: 691 Member
    #5
    I was told if I had a

    I was told if I had a lumpectomy I would need radiation and if I had a mastectomy I wouldn't need rads at all. I had a mastectomy but because I had 4 positive lymph nodes (one with a mass) I now need radiation. So it really all depends on each person's situation.

    If you are having radiation before surgery it might be to continue to shrink the tumour. I know for some other cancers they do this but am not sure for breast cancer.

    wish you well.
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  • jackiejhm
    jackiejhm CSN Member Posts: 169
    #6
    New Flower said:

    most people on this board
    had both Chemo & radiation, especially with lumpectomy. Having Chemo first means that your tumor is large, I am sorry for your situations, please listen to your doctors.

    Well,
    I know my surgeon was concerned about my margins. I have (had) small breasts, and a large lump. So we talked about Chemo/mastectomy/chemo/rads. We ended up skipping the first chemo-yay( one awful go round was icky enough). But, she was very, very cautious about those cotton-picking-important margins, Bless her heart!xoxo
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