My Mother’s BC

[OFPF16]

I‘m trying to understand my mother’s treatment for stage I BC. She is 83 y/o and she was diagnosed in May with a 9mm tumor in one of her breasts. With only a scan to mark the tumor, she was sent to a general surgeon to remove the tumor as well as the “Main Breast Lymph Node” in the armpit. Is that normal to accomplish this surgery without information on the spread, if any? When the general surgeon performed the surgery including removing the “Main Breast Lymph Node”, the pathology showed great margins on the tumor and no cancer in the lymph node. They told her she was cancer free. But, they now they are putting her in a 5-day radiation study to radiate the area next Wednesday but that will only cover the first three days since they will not radiate on Saturday and Sunday. Plus they are radiating areas not near her tumor or lymph node locations. They put her a clinical study for this 5-day radiation treatment. They said they are radiating possible microbial cells. What are they radiating exactly. There was no post surgery scan to see if all cancer was removed. This all seems unusual to me. For background on me, I have advanced prostate cancer that has metastasized to 8 different bones throughout my body. I’m on Lupron, Abiraterone, and prednisone to stop the spread. I received scan throughout my diagnosis stage. I just found it odd there is a rush to remove her tumor without determining if it had spread. All comments are appreciated. Thank you!

[weathervane]

Does your Mum have a breast care nurse that can explain the treatment or answer any questions or contact the consultants secretary for a phone appointment. Here you have a mammogram after treatment . I hope you can get some help x

[OFPF16 in reply to weathervane]

Thank you Weathervane! I've talked to the nurses and my mom. I know she is in good hands so I'm not worried. I just like to educate myself with what's going on with her. Thank you again.

[weathervane in reply to OFPF16]

Best wishes to you and your Mum for a full recovery x

[Vgrady76]

As a breast cancer surviver myself, normally if lymph nodes are clear, there's only radiation treatment after, stage 1 doesn't require much more treatment.

[OFPF16 in reply to Vgrady76]

Thank you very much for the information. I really appreciate it.

[leebeth]

My husband and brother have advanced prostate cancer, and I recently was diagnosed with breast cancer. I am just learning, myself, but the first thing I have learned is that the approach and treatment is vastly different between the two types of cancer. While I can’t speak to this radiation study, your mother’s treatment as far as surgery and sentinel node removal. With clean margins, scans are not indicated.

Depending on hormone status, your mother might have had her tumor sent for oncotype f, and she might be on 5 years of hormone blockers but maybe not at her age. I am 70, and I know that I have 5 years of hormone blockers coming up.

Best of luck to you and to your mom!

[OFPF16 in reply to leebeth]

Thank you for your reply. My mom will be on hormone treatment for 5 years. I'm beginning to understand there are differences between cancer treatments, which I find interesting. Thanks again for your information.

[LJcjpe252tl]

Hi I had breast cancer five years ago. Same treatment as your mum. I now just take a tablet each day to block hormones and annual mammograms sounds like they caught it early which was very lucky.

[OFPF16 in reply to LJcjpe252tl]

Yes I like this treatment. My mom finished the 5 radiation treatments today and she is doing ok. She is sore and a bit red at the site of radiation. She’s in good spirits will start her hormone drug in about us days. Thanks!

[memama]

I am 10 years out from the same small early stage breast cancer. I too had the lumpectomy (cancer removed and lymph nodes checked but no cancer in them) followed by several weeks of radiation (Monday-Friday), then took Femara for 10 years.Testing the lymph nodes is how they determine if the cancer has spread. If they told her it had not reached the nodes then it was all taken care of by removing the cancerous tumor & surrounding tissue.

[OFPF16 in reply to memama]

The Dr told my mother that they found cancer microbes in her lymph note, so that’s why they removed it too. I’m glad she did well with her radiation so now she can rest easy knowing they got all of the cancer. Thanks for the information about your experience. It’s all very helpful!