second opinion or not

lorettagrant

I'm glad you are here.

My sister had surgery Jan. 6. (ILC 2.5 cm lump and 2 'satelight' smaller tumors - as well as all the lymph nodes under her right arm). She was diagnosed with BC two days before Thanksgiving.  She has had 3 CT scans and a PET scan that show something but are inconclusive in her chest and abdomen. While she was in surgery I got an ammeded report indicating that that particular radiologist didn't think the chest thing was an issue. It says nothing about the pelvic area.  

I spoke with the surgeon briefly on the 6th - he indicated that they would probably wait 6 months and then do another PET scan. ???  At one point just before Christmas the "team" all thought she should have the 'shadow' biopsied - then her onco decided it was a fairly invasive process and did a PET scan instead - but that is still inconclusive.

 We are about 4 hours from Dana Farber in Boston.  They will not just look at the many CT scans and PET scan my sister has had. We'd need to go down for a consult. All the second opinion stuff I've seen looks like it is before treatment starts.  My sister has had the surgery and I expect will begin chemo in 4 weeks....  Should we persue the second opinion at this point?  It will, of course be up to her (she is single and I am her main partner in this). So far she has been a little reluctant to think about second opinions - not wanting to think about finding out bad news or just wanting to trust her docs - i'm not sure. Shoot.. I'm not sure about most of this stuff.

Really appreciate your thoughts.

karen1956

For peace of mind and make sure she is getting the right treatment, a second opinion might be helpful....I interviewed 2 surgeons, but only one oncologist.....both surgeons gave me the same recommendations...I hope you and your sister get the answers that she needs....

Fidelia

While it is difficult and time consuming and probably expensive - from everything I had read here I would certainly encourage your sister to have a consult at Dana Faber - the ladies here cannot speak too highly of the oncs there - it doesn't matter that your sister has already begun her treatment - it really does help to have a second opinion - someone else to review the reports and scans and apply their knowledge and experience to your sister's case - it will only cost a little extra time and money but will probably yield great benefit - no need to be afraid - greater knowledge usually results in more or better treatment options.

Fidelia

dlb823

Absolutely a second opinion.  You and your sister will find that not all docs think alike when it comes to treatment recommendations, such as which chemo regimen, and I would absolutely want to get input from a top institution like Dana Farber if it's within a few hours drive.  You can always take those recommendations back to her current docs for the actual treatment.

I also think if there is any question about what was seen on her scans, I would trust the medical team at DF to follow up what needs to be followed up, and not let anything slip through the cracks. 

Second opinions are not just given prior to starting treatment.  The larger institutions see people all the time who have had some treatment elsewhere, but just want to be sure their doctors haven't missed anything.  It's a very appropriate thing to do.   Deanna

suzieq60

Loretta,

Go for it, try and get it out of the way before treamtent starts as she will not feel so well to travel. I myself, am getting a second opinion from a different breast surgeon even though surgery is over and treatment commenced. I'm not happy with my pathology report and I do not like the original surgeon. One thing is that my onc (who we already know well) does not rely on the radiologists report. He reads the scans himself. He doesn't read the report until after he's looked at the scans.

Sue

Dawnmrn1

Go for the second opinion!  I live an hour from Boston and went to MGH for my second opinion, then the MGH onc, confered with my Dartmouth doc and I got the same Tx in NH that I would have got in Boston, but only 20 min from home.  Explore your options.  If you ask they will help.  good Luck to you both!  Dawn

karen_in_nj

I got a second opinion after I finished the main part of treatment - surgery, chemo, radiation. So it's something you can do any time. For me it was reassuring to get a "stamp of approval" from the closest big cancer center, and to know that there wasn't anything more I could/should be doing. I would definitely encourage your sister to go for it.

lorettagrant

THANKS.

We have an appointment at Dana Farber on Jan. 25.  Also, yesterday we finally got the pathology report and the margins were all clear from her surgery a week and a half ago.   They did find ILC and lobular carcinoma in situ which we didn't know about.  Now off to do a littlle research on chemo therapy.....