Grandma's chances of third primary?

KTmarie

My grandma was diagnosed with her second primary BC in May 2010--IDC, ER+, PR+, HER2-.  She had DCIS (same breast) back in 1986 that was treated with lumpectomy and radiation.

 She's been on Arimidex since June to make the 10-12 cm tumor small enough to operate on.  The tumor shrank but has stopped responding to the Arimidex, so Grandma's surgery has been scheduled for October 11.

 Grandma is 77 and very active/in good health other than the cancer.  Her daughter (my mom) is fighting Stage III ovarian cancer and is a BRCA 2 carrier.  It's a safe bet in her doctor's eyes that Grandma is a carrier as well given her two primaries and a sister who died of BC, so  much that they're not bothering to test her.

Other than her one sister, the people in Grandma's family tend to live well into their 90s.

Here is the issue: Grandma wants a bilateral mastectomy.  But her breast surgeon says that since the period of time was so long between her first and second primaries, that there's a low chance she'll develop a third one in the opposite breast in her lifetime, and thinks Grandma should leave her other breast as is.  Grandma is now deferring to her doctor, even though she wants something different.

A huge problem is that Grandma let her second primary grow for two years before she went to a doctor about it.  She waited until her breast was literally deformed.  I'm really terrified that she would just refuse to deal with a third primary if it did happen in the other breast.

What do you all think?  Is there anything I can relay to my grandma to convince her to go with her gut?  It hasn't been enough to tell her "It's your body and your choice," or to print off medical research articles that show her gut feeling is statistically sound.  I'm just at a loss.

CoolBreeze

Women of that generation do what their doctors suggest.  They typically don't do the kind of research and opinion hunting that we do. You are unlikely to convince her to go against her doctor's advice.  My mom also had breast cancer at age 77, and she asked no questions, did no research.  What her doctor said is what she did and nobody could convince her otherwise.

I do think in this case your grandma's doctor is probably right.  She'll likely die  of age before cancer gets her again.  Make sure she gets her follow-up mammograms - offer to take her, make a fun lunch date out of those days.  That way, if the unfortunate thing happens and she  does get it again, it will be caught early enough.   

akram

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