Questions for the breast surgeon

phrogger78

I am meeting with the breast surgeon on Wednesday to go over the treatment plan. I am honestly clueless at this point as to what to expect and what questions to ask. I have been diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, and it has spread to at least one lymph node (breast and node were biopsied). We don't have any more information than that as the full pathology report wasn't back yet. My mass itself is relatively small, but the node is quite large. The general surgeon I saw today who is sending me to the breast surgeon is concerned it is an aggressive cancer. I can add more information as needed, I am not even sure what information is helpful.

inks

I would think the surgeon will decide if you will start with surgery or chemo. And depending on your age and other factors if you need genetic testing. Maybe they will order more imaging studies as well. They will go over your overall health and such. You will find out more at your appointment. Hang in there!

phrogger78

Thanks, the waiting game is hard. More because I feel like I SHOULD have questions for the dr. and at this point I don't. Each Dr. I have seen has asked for any questions and I am just blank. Slight over achiever here. I do hope we have a good game plan set tomorrow. Knowing what will happen next will be helpful.

muska

H Phrogger78, I am sorry you are on this board but you have good company here.

When you meet with breast surgeon s(he) will advise you on the type of surgery. No matter what type s(he) advises I would ask why. Why lumpectomy and not mastectomy? Why mastectomy and not lumpectomy? If lumpectomy is recommended, ask what the follow up will be like. Ask about about the likelihood of re-incision if you choose lumpectomy. Certainly ask about more imaging and whether it would help to assess the stage and extent of cancer. You don't mention prior breast history or condition of the other breast but if there were any pre-existing benign changes in the other breast, I would ask about them.

Finally, a question that worked well for me on several occasions, what would you do/recommend your wife do in similar situation? And don't buy the "that's your choice" answer, try taking that conversation to a different level where you feel the doc relates to you instead of citing statistics.

Good luck!

phrogger78

Those are great questions Muska. Thank you

LisaAlissa

Another question you might want to ask: "Can I record this?" It can be really hard to take in all of the information they give you when talking about your cancer (it's very hard to think about having cancer). So it can be very helpful to be able to re-listen to the consultation later.

If they won't let you record it, make sure you have another set of ears/notetaker with you. Some cancer centers will supply a notetaker.

HTH,

LisaAlissa

phrogger78

Oh recording would be great. As of now, my husband and my friend (a classmate of mine) will be at the appointment. My friend has had most of the questions and she dealt with her mothers breast cancer and went to all of her appointments so I have had her writing notes for me, but recording is a good idea as well.

SpecialK

Here is some info from this site that has listings of questions to ask.  Some may be redundant on each link, but the sum total should provide a good basis of appropriate questions to ask.  Wishing you the best.

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/dr_questions

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/expectations/questions

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/mastectomy/questions

http://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/surgery/lumpectomy/questions