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Medical Forum / Diseases and Disorders / Breast Cancer / December 2004Sister-In-Law
Hello Folks, I recieved good news from my sister in law, Elvi. She went out to John Hopkins yesterday and had a lumpectomy, and removal of 4 lymph glands under her arms. She said, the lymphs were clear, and is awaiting lab results...... Elvi was very upbeat, and so, since she has not got on to this group, I am her speaker. so to speak. John Loomis thanks for your thoughts, and ideas. John, that is exactly what was done to me as well. After second lumpectomy margins were clear. I have appointments set with radiologist & chemo docs for 27DEC04. My surgeon says radiation treatment is SOP but doubts anyone would recommend chemo. He said, in fact, that if chemo is recommended to seek a second opinion! Also no tamoxifen or other drugs. I'll be interested to hear Elvi's experiences. Please give her my encouragement. Kathy aka smiley In God We Trust > Hello Folks, I recieved good news from my sister in law, Elvi. She went > out to John Hopkins yesterday and had a lumpectomy, and removal of 4 lymph [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > John Loomis > thanks for your thoughts, and ideas. Smiley: Sounds like we are in same boat. Did your doctor say anything about MammoSite instead of the 6 week's worth of treatments? That is what I want but have not gotten an answer yet. My primary doctor is not happy about the wait and said if I do not hear by 1st he will call surgeon. I put in another call today so maybe hear tomorrow. Glad no tamoxifen ordered, maybe I won't either. Was yours estrogen receptive? Mine was too small to diagnose. Keep us posted. Peggy > John, that is exactly what was done to me as well. After second lumpectomy > margins were clear. I have appointments set with radiologist & chemo docs [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > > John Loomis > > thanks for your thoughts, and ideas. Hi Peggy, I had mentioned this procedure to my surgeon before the first surgery not knowing what it was called because something similar was available for prostate cancer as well. Just looked at the website & the demo. It is offered about 60 miles away from my home. What more do you know about it? Do you have 2 appointments a day for 5 days? Does insurance cover it? How long is each appointment? i.e., how long is the balloon left in each appointment? What side effects are there? What is long term experience as compared to the external radiation? How long has it been around? It doesn't look like something I'd like to do really. It reminds me of the needle biopsy. Maybe if I knew more about it. I'll go read the rest of the site. Kathy aka smiley In God We Trust > Smiley: Sounds like we are in same boat. Did your doctor say anything > about MammoSite instead of the 6 week's worth of treatments? That is what [quoted text clipped - 34 lines] >> > John Loomis >> > thanks for your thoughts, and ideas. Hi again, OK, it's only been around since 2002. That isn't very long. And from the web site... a.. Local recurrence rate = 0.0% at two years of follow-up. My comment: Local. What about other occurrences? And is that an issue with traditional radiation therapy? patients did experience minor breast-related side effects, such as redness, bruising, and breast pain. All of these are common side effects of breast surgery and/or radiation therapy and usually last for only a short time. You may also have some drainage from the insertion site, which is normal and will decrease over time. The catheter will typically be in your breast for 7 to 10 days. Radiation therapy with the MammoSite usually will last no more than 5 days. Radiation therapy with internal radiation is an accepted treatment for breast cancer and is covered by most insurers. Specific coverage for the MammoSite will depend on your individual health plan. ...end of info from the web site I don't know. Sort of creeps me out. But maybe when I find out about the traditional radiation therapy I won't be so happy with that either. I'm concerned about being tired for 6 weeks.  SignatureKathy aka smiley In God We Trust > Hi Peggy, > [quoted text clipped - 56 lines] >>> > John Loomis >>> > thanks for your thoughts, and ideas. <regarding mammosite> > And from the web site... > a.. Local recurrence rate = 0.0% at two years of follow-up. > > My comment: Local. What about other occurrences? And is that an issue > with traditional radiation therapy? Radiation is a local treatment: It can only wipe out cancer cells in the area that the radiation directly reaches. So conventional radiation doesn't directly prevent non-local recurrences either. Chemo & hormone therapy are systemic (reach all parts of your body, more or less, and can therefore hinder distant cancer cells from thriving); radiation and surgery are local. (Of course, local treatments limit distant metastases in the sense that if a tumor growing locally is undetected, it can spread to a distant spot, so if you wipe it out local before it spreads, you prevent metastases -- not what you were talking about really, though.) > I don't know. Sort of creeps me out. But maybe when I find out about the > traditional radiation therapy I won't be so happy with that either. I'm > concerned about being tired for 6 weeks. Some are tired, some not so. At least one woman on my breast cancer survivors rowing team started learning to row while she was going through radiation -- doesn't really suggest a high level of fatigue in her case <grin>! Ann T. Remove 'dontsendspam' from address to reply by email |
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