Question

If you don't have any cancer cells in your sentinal nodes, than you probably won't need chemo.  If they find cancer cells in your nodes, than it has moved beyond the breast and they will want to systemically treat any cells that have escaped.

Everybody who has lumpectomy gets radiation.  Did they mention hormonal treatment to you?

I work in a school too, and have a 12 year old. and a 23 year old.   I will need chemo as I'm HER2+ with multi-focal IDC, also DCIS with lobular invasion - all Grade 3 - but I had no lymph involvement.   Hopefully, you won't either!  Good luck to you!

I think in her original post she said HER-?  So, it will likely depend on lymph status for her.  I forgot about the oncotype test  - they didn't bother with me since I wasn't getting out of chemo anyway.

The time between diagnosis and treatment is the worst!  But, you'll get through it.  Read around - we are all in the process of doing just that!  It's not easy but it's not as hard as you imagine either.  You'll be fine. 

It is very overwhelming and you get so much info at once, when you are really not in a position to make decisions. I was already scheduled for a total hyst & oopherectomy when I got my bc diagnosis. Then, having to decide on lump or mast, recon or wait., what is chemo going to do, rads, work, sick time, money, hair, wig, bras...AAAAAGGGHHH! What I did was alot of reading on this board, but I finally had to just study each topic as I was faced with it. Then, when that was over, I'd deal with the next thing. And I had to admit that there was just no way I could know EVERYTHING. I HAD to trust those who God had placed in my path to care for me. That wasn't easy for me, as I like to be all knowing and don't easily trust the medical professionals. But there was much relief when I admitted my dependence on others, yet still researched all I could. My faith carried me during those early days and continues as I am now in chemo, and facing rads and reconstruction in the future. Best wishes as you begin this journey. You will be amazed at your strength and you WILL make it through these days.

Another thing that won't be known for sure until after the lumpectomy is the tumors size. They have an estimate now from the mammogram and MRI, but until the pathologist examines it they don't know the size for sure. For example, we knew that my lump was about 3 cm long from the mammogram and ultrasound, but it turned out that part of it was a non-cancerous cyst, part was DCIS (non-invasive cancer because it was still in the duct where it started) and the part that was IDC (invasive cancer) was less than 1 cm. Sometimes it goes the other way with some of the tumor not showing up on the scans.

The size of your tumor, lymph node status and, if you are lymph node negative, Oncotype all go into the decision on whether to do chemo or not.

You've gotten a lot of good info here already. They'll probably run your tumor through the oncotype test if your nodes are clear. For some of us, hormonals are our big guns, not chemo.

I just wanted to throw in my two cents about working (specifically teaching) through all this. I'm a teacher and they scheduled my radiation treatments around the school day. You can almost certainly work through that, I would think, unless there's something unusual about your circumstances. As for working after a lumpectomy/SNB, it only took me (other people are, of course, different) a few days to feel remarkably better. It's still (6 months out) very tender, but I had my surgery Friday at 6 p.m. and I was hosting my daughter's birthday party Saturday at noon. Not the ideal recovery and certainly not recommended, but physically possible.

Hope that helps. Post often and ask lots of questions. You're in the worst part now. It does get better and easier, but the only way around it is through. Hang in there. 

-Tricia