Pre cancerous breats cancer

Samsungtech1

My wife was told by an Onc that she has pre-cancerous breast cancer in her left breast. Onc. Said masectomy, or remove tumor and get 37 radiation treatments.
Does anyone know if Photon treatment would work as opposed to these two choices?

Mike

debsweb18

Never hear of Photon treatment
I had radiation after my lumpectomy. If I had clear margins after my lumpectomy and didn't end up with a mastectomy and lymph node involvement, That's what I would have had. They place a device in the breast for directed radiation. It's twice a day for 5 days and you're done! It may not affect the skin as much in case of a later mastectomy.


Deb

disneyfan2008

I had DCIS...lumpectomy and
I had DCIS...lumpectomy and radiation...few nodes removed!

I have never heard of Photon treatment...

Perahps someone here will be helpful

Denise

Samsungtech1

disneyfan2008 said:

I had DCIS...lumpectomy and
I had DCIS...lumpectomy and radiation...few nodes removed!

I have never heard of Photon treatment...

Perahps someone here will be helpful

Denise

Pre-cancerous breast cancer
I was hoping I could find some knowledge, but after reading on this site it seems that they either remove the tumor or the breast. Then depending on what they do you get rads, and masectomy.
Is this it? I have metastic prostatic cancer and it went to my lungs and bladder. They gave me radiation and nodules went away. I am radioactive, but still alive. Why do they do the masectomy? Is it because it is by the heart? What if it is on the other side, my wifes is on the left. I want her to live, but why are they cutting on her and not on me?

Mike

mamolady

Mike,Different cancers
Mike,
Different cancers respond to different treatments. As the breast is not a vital organ, removing the tumor is a good option. If she has a mastectomy, they usually will not do radiation because they feel they have removed all the tissue that may be involved. They may do a lumpectomy and have to go back to get "clear margins". It all depends on the nature of the beast. If you have more questions, ask the doctors. Most docs want their patients to make a well informed decision.
I have never heard of the photon treatment so I would be less inclined to try it. I stuck with pretty standard treatment.
All the best,
Cindy

debsweb18

Let me try again.
Wow, must have deleted half my reply when editing. I had a lumpectomy then a mastectomy since my margins weren't clear. They had to also remove a lot of scar tissue from cysts I had removed many years ago so I would have been without much if I went back to clear the margins. I still had radiation (34 treatments) because I had a small tumor in 1 lymph node and they said cancers sometimes come back at the incision site. If I didn't have to have the mastectomy, I would have had brachytherapy radiation. that's where they insert a device in the breast and radiation is given internally through the device. I had a temporary device put in place during my lumpectomy. Radiation is then only for 5 days, but it's twice a day.
But no such luck for me!

I know my doctors prefer the lumpectomy if at all possible. I could have had a choice of mastectomy or even double mastectomy first if I wanted it. So a lot of it can be personal preference. Lots of difficult decisions to be made with this disease!

Hope this helps!

LC814

debsweb18 said:

Let me try again.
Wow, must have deleted half my reply when editing. I had a lumpectomy then a mastectomy since my margins weren't clear. They had to also remove a lot of scar tissue from cysts I had removed many years ago so I would have been without much if I went back to clear the margins. I still had radiation (34 treatments) because I had a small tumor in 1 lymph node and they said cancers sometimes come back at the incision site. If I didn't have to have the mastectomy, I would have had brachytherapy radiation. that's where they insert a device in the breast and radiation is given internally through the device. I had a temporary device put in place during my lumpectomy. Radiation is then only for 5 days, but it's twice a day.
But no such luck for me!

I know my doctors prefer the lumpectomy if at all possible. I could have had a choice of mastectomy or even double mastectomy first if I wanted it. So a lot of it can be personal preference. Lots of difficult decisions to be made with this disease!

Hope this helps!

lumpectomy ?
It seems that what you went through first is what I will be under going on Tuesday, and very nervous. my surgeon and onco, said that a Lumpectomy was the best option, but that they were going to put a device in, just incase my margins arent clear. two weeks ago I was Diagnosed with DCIS. they gave me so much info that my head is still spinning.
how bad was your recovery after the Lumpectomy? Any advice is greatly appreciated, feel free to message me.

Liz

Samsungtech1

LC814 said:

lumpectomy ?
It seems that what you went through first is what I will be under going on Tuesday, and very nervous. my surgeon and onco, said that a Lumpectomy was the best option, but that they were going to put a device in, just incase my margins arent clear. two weeks ago I was Diagnosed with DCIS. they gave me so much info that my head is still spinning.
how bad was your recovery after the Lumpectomy? Any advice is greatly appreciated, feel free to message me.

Liz

Thank you
I want to thank all of you who took the time to try and help me, help my wife. Cancer is a bad tthing, but they really are making strides to pro-long or even put our lives back on track. It makes us a lot smarter, eating wise, exercise wise, and puts us all on a great path, if we are lucky enough, to a healthier, and happier life style.

Thank all of you for your input. You are just like my prostate cancer site, everyone is trying to help eachother. Thanks again,

Mike

debsweb18

LC814 said:

lumpectomy ?
It seems that what you went through first is what I will be under going on Tuesday, and very nervous. my surgeon and onco, said that a Lumpectomy was the best option, but that they were going to put a device in, just incase my margins arent clear. two weeks ago I was Diagnosed with DCIS. they gave me so much info that my head is still spinning.
how bad was your recovery after the Lumpectomy? Any advice is greatly appreciated, feel free to message me.

Liz

Liz
Check again with your doctors about the device they're going to insert. The device they put in me was with the idea the lumpectomy would be the only surgery I would need. The device was a placeholder for another device that they would put radiation pellets in. I would have internal radiation twice a day for 5 days. Since my margins weren't clear and I ended up needing the mastectomy they yanked (literally-didn't hurt tho) it out since it wasn't an option anymore. I ended up having external radiation M-F for 34 treatments.

I don't know of any device they put in in case the margins aren't clear. I know you're probably in a whirlwind right now and it's hard to understand and remember how everything was said. You are getting so much information at once. Hang in there, you'll get through it.

The surgeries (and I've had 4) is like being in labor (not really), just the part about not remembering the pain afterwards. The worst part I remember was when they injected radioisotopes in me before surgery. It helps them find the sentinel nodes. Nobody told me about that part. All I know is that my Mastectomy was 11 days later and I was back in the office for several days between surgeries working. It probably depends on where your tumor is and how deep they have to go. I had scar tissue near my nipple from a long time ago biopsy they had to cut out to get to the tumor which was under the nipple. My incision was around the top part of the nipple (where I had the earlier biopsy). The incision under my arm for the lymph node removal was much more sorer. In fact it's still tender more than a year later especially if I don't stretch it out often enough. They kept me in overnight with my mastectomy and the recovery was worse than the lumpectomy.

A caution-this was just my experience. Everyone's different and have different experiences. Some will be worse and some will be not as bad. But hope this helps. Keep us informed about your progress!

Deb

MsGebby

Not sure this helps
but .... my onco did offer mastectomy or lumpectomy when I was diagnosed. Mine was invasive cancer ... not sure about pre cancerous tumors. My thoughts (and these are just my thoughts) are to go with the lumpectomy. It preserves the breast as much as possible. There is a chance that clear margins won't happen (as with me) and that a second surgery called re-excision will be performed. In this surgery, the same cut will be used...no new cut will be done. Then the radiation.

I didn't want to have my breast removed. This is a personal choice. You can read about the these options on the internet. Again ... it is a personal choice. If you onco says that mastectomy is the ONLY way to go, then you really should go that route. If you are offered lumpectomy, then it is a safe and wonderful option.

Lots of luck to you and your wife ... Prayers being sent.

xoxo
Mary

Gabe N Abby Mom

Hi Mike,
I'm sorry you've
Hi Mike,

I'm sorry you've got the need to find us. You and your wife have certainly got a full plate.

As I understand it, photon treatment is the use of x-rays or gamma rays to attack the cancer. I think this is a fairly new treatment, and that not all treatment centers are able to offer it because of the expense involved in getting new equipment. I also think that photon treatment has not been well studied in breast cancer so the docs are not confident in it's effectiveness.

Anyway, here's a link you may want to look at.

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Therapy/radiation

Also, in the blue box to the left, click on cancer information. There is a lot of good information on breast cancer and treatment options.

And you may have already seen it...but in addition to all the discussion groups for the various types of cancer, CSN also has a discussion group for caregivers. You may find it helpful too.

Please come back and let us know how you and your wife are doing.

Hugs,

Linda

Kylez

MsGebby said:

Not sure this helps
but .... my onco did offer mastectomy or lumpectomy when I was diagnosed. Mine was invasive cancer ... not sure about pre cancerous tumors. My thoughts (and these are just my thoughts) are to go with the lumpectomy. It preserves the breast as much as possible. There is a chance that clear margins won't happen (as with me) and that a second surgery called re-excision will be performed. In this surgery, the same cut will be used...no new cut will be done. Then the radiation.

I didn't want to have my breast removed. This is a personal choice. You can read about the these options on the internet. Again ... it is a personal choice. If you onco says that mastectomy is the ONLY way to go, then you really should go that route. If you are offered lumpectomy, then it is a safe and wonderful option.

Lots of luck to you and your wife ... Prayers being sent.

xoxo
Mary

I had a lumpectomy. I had
I had a lumpectomy. I had clean margins and my node was clean, so, all I needed was radiation treatments, which started about 6 weeks after my lumpectomy. I am very thankful that I didn't have to have a mastectomy or chemo.

Your wife's oncologist will recommend what he or she feels is the best choice for your wife. But, she will have the final decision.

I am sending prayers and wishing both of you good luck,


Kylez

sdukowitz

I had stage 0 .... some
I had stage 0 .... some refer to that as precancer, but is cancer! My dr recommended lumpectomy but again each case is different ... I had no symptoms or lumps beforehand ...... Recovery was really not bad at all and the radiation for me was a shorter version ... four weeks and that went well too .... Maybe consider a second opinion if you have questions....... best wishes Sue D

Samsungtech1

sdukowitz said:

I had stage 0 .... some
I had stage 0 .... some refer to that as precancer, but is cancer! My dr recommended lumpectomy but again each case is different ... I had no symptoms or lumps beforehand ...... Recovery was really not bad at all and the radiation for me was a shorter version ... four weeks and that went well too .... Maybe consider a second opinion if you have questions....... best wishes Sue D

Options
Thanks again to all of you for your response. The treatment I was telling my wife about is called "proton theraphy". I asked her to get a second opinion because of the confusion from first dr. I told her I am going on the next meeting, with tape recorder. She is confused about the dr.s whole talk. The dr. Did not do a good job.
I am hoping for a clearer consultation. I guess I am really use to meeting with dr.s, surgeons, oncs, name it we meet frequently. So hopefully I can get a clear picture of this.

You guys are great. Thank You once again. Big hug from my wife and I.

Thank you,

Mike

MsGebby

Samsungtech1 said:

Options
Thanks again to all of you for your response. The treatment I was telling my wife about is called "proton theraphy". I asked her to get a second opinion because of the confusion from first dr. I told her I am going on the next meeting, with tape recorder. She is confused about the dr.s whole talk. The dr. Did not do a good job.
I am hoping for a clearer consultation. I guess I am really use to meeting with dr.s, surgeons, oncs, name it we meet frequently. So hopefully I can get a clear picture of this.

You guys are great. Thank You once again. Big hug from my wife and I.

Thank you,

Mike

You are a good hubby
You put a smile on my face because I could feel how protective and caring you are towards your lovely wife.

You are doing the right thing by accompanying her to this next appointment. Being there alone and trying to take in what the doc is saying is too hard on us.

Good luck at this next appointment. By that I mean .... I hope the picture looks much clearer and you and your wife will know what to do next.


xoxo
Mary

MsGebby

sdukowitz said:

I had stage 0 .... some
I had stage 0 .... some refer to that as precancer, but is cancer! My dr recommended lumpectomy but again each case is different ... I had no symptoms or lumps beforehand ...... Recovery was really not bad at all and the radiation for me was a shorter version ... four weeks and that went well too .... Maybe consider a second opinion if you have questions....... best wishes Sue D

Hi Sue
I hope you didn't
Hi Sue

I hope you didn't read into what I said about pre cancer. I honestly have no idea what this particular stage is. But I do thank you for educating me.

How were you diagnosed? My curiosity has got the best of me. I always try to learn as much as I can.

xoxo
Mary