rads

Hi Alex,

While I cannot advise as to what you should do, I can tell you what my rads onc told me. She recommended that I have radiation, even though I had a  mastectomy.  Why? Because I had a 5cm tumor, another tumor in the same breast and 3 positive lymph nodes (one of them was 1cm and ready to spread to another - sorry, I cannot remember the technical term for this). She recommended due to my age (39), the size of my tumor and number of nodes to have rads. If I had had less than 3 positive nodes, even with the 5cm tumor, she would not have recommended radiation.

So for me, rads was recommended because: 5cm tumor + 3 or more nodes positive + age. If my onc hadn't so strongly recommended rads, I would not have had this treatment.

Good luck You.

Raye

I'll give you my honest opinion. I was no where near your shoes.... I had no choice with my treatment. I am glad about this, instead of thinking should I or not. Onc's opinions and second opinions can make anyone go batty. I though about IF i hadn't been misdiagnosed and caught my tumor when it was a hell of a lot smaller. I myself did not have lymph node involvment but my tumor was 8cm....it grew super fast but did not want to spread. I am NOT triple neg, but triple positive.

I think now if I had been diagnosed sooner, triple neg or not, I would want to hit it big NOW. I wouldn't want to go back and say should of...could of..thing. That way I have no regrets and I know I have done everything possible to get rid of it. Remember being triple neg, you have surgery / chemo/ rads and your done.

I also want to say, I think it is so important to trust your docs but unfortunatly for me I have learned that they are human too and do make mistakes with their recommendations and diagnosis. This is very hard and I wish you all the best in your decision.