Pre cancerous breats cancer

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

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 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

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

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

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 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