Questions for oncologist

Your first visit your doctor will discuss your treatment options.  With early disease like you have he will probably give you more than one option.  Ask your doctor why he/she taking this approach and ask he/she if they have the current research that you can read.  This will mean they have read it too hopefully.

Right now there is not a set protocol for treatment for TN.  With disease like your that was found so early you will have a little more flexiablity on the approach they may want to take.  Most TN is Grade 3 and Stage II or higher when found and chemo ACT or ECT seems to be the first line of treatment still.  Some are adding Avastin in late stage trials.  You will found ladies doing many different protocols because the doctor's are still looking for the best way to approach TN.

Flalady

Sorry to hear you have stage 4.  I started at stage 4 so I don't know what happens with reaccurance but by stage 4 they believe the cancer is in our blood and lymph system.  Rads cannot get the cancer there but chemo can.  I was diagnosed in March with extensive bone mets and a teeny tiny breast tumor 6mm.  They wanted to start with chemo to get the cancer under control but did rads to help with back pain before chemo.  I have now completed my 10th round of weekly taxol and still have back pain.  But recent PET show improvement so chemo is working.  

There is much to learn but the best analogy I've been given is to treat it as a condition.  We are going to live with this condition like a diabetic and treat our condition accordingly.  I would recommend looking through the treads.  Once your ONC and you determine a treatment plan there will be even more to read.  Best wishes, Heidi 

Nanabolini,

Good question about rads and chemo.. When I started almost for years ago we did rads first than chemo.  Now thought is with TN is treat the whole body and than go back and do rads to clean up the area.  There are two sides to this whole rads thing.  I had a top breast surgeon tell me at a research clinic that when he goes back into the same area after rads that the tumor is caught in a web of damaged tissue and this will make it harder to get out.  But the other side for people like me who had chest wall recurrence the damaged for rads make it very hard for the chemo to get back into the rad area because of this tissue damage makes it hard for blood supply to move.

Let us kniow what you find out. I hope you find tx that you feel comfortable with and it kicks butt,

Flalady