just diagnosed and so angry

I am so sorry you have to go through this stress and s**t yet again. On the positive side, your PET scan helped catch your breast cancer in early stage and this journey should be not as rough as your previous cancer treatments. I also had a wire placed just prior to entering the operating room for my lumpectomy. I was later stage than you so I had more involved treatment regimen (chemo). Do some research on this site regarding your radiation treatment protocol as there are shorter regimens available now than the traditional 6 week daily treatment. Best wishes and one day at a time.

Charlene this is the time where all of the old sayings come into play: "God doesn't give you more than you can handle," bla bla bla. Right now you're angry and you're allowed. Here is the saying that has helped me through so many health problems (and I have had many different sudden unexpected serious medical issues other than breast cancer):

"You play the cards you're dealt."

That is not to say you shouldn't be upset or angry. I went through that too. But the above saying is what truly helped me because it allowed me to get past the anger and "why me" and all of that. Scream, yell, cry, and then play the cards you're dealt.

The wire is no big deal. It is like a mammogram where the radiologist is taking xrays to see where the spot is they want to remove, and as soon as the radiologist finds it they stick a wire into the spot so the surgeon can find the exact spot (and you don't have to go through another surgery cuz they missed it!) They give you numbing medication. It felt like getting blood drawn just a little stick. No big deal.

As far as the radiation: Just because someone in a white coat tells you to do something doesn't mean you "have to". Even doctors sometimes argue about the best treatment for cancer. The doctor is not smarter than you; he/she has just read more clinical studies and has gone to medical school. Doesn't make him/her smarter than you. So educate yourself. If after you have educated yourself you decide on radiation, then you decide how much to get and how. Sometimes just realizing that you don't "have to" do anything makes you feel more in control. By the end you may do exactly what this particular doctor is telling you to do and in exactly the same way -- but it is YOUR decision, not someone telling you that you "have to" do something.

Also, are you at an NCI designated cancer center with a breast cancer specialist? If not, I recommend highly getting a second opinion there.

Sorry life is handing you this bag of cr#@ right now.

Charlene, I was diagnosed in May and had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy mid June. Prior to the lumpectomy, They took me to the nuclear medicine section and did two processes. First, the radiologist numbed the area and then I had a small plate mammogram to determine exactly where the tiny clip from the biopsy was located. The radiologist then inserted a tiny thin wire to guide the surgeon to the tumor. When she was finished I looked down and saw a tiny wire sticking out of my breast a few inches. I asked the tech if it just stayed like that and how did I put my gown back on. She said, Oh I have a cover for that I'll put on. She came back with an opaque plastic dixie cup which she taped to my breast. I laughed and said, Oh good, now I look like Madonna! After that, the radiologist did also inject 4 needles with the radioactive dye which would travel to the nodes so the surgeon could remove the sentinel nodes. It all wasn't really too bad in the big picture. Hope this helps, I, too, didn't really know the process and think it helps to know what's going on. Once the wire was in, I had no pain whatsoever from it. All was removed during the lumpectomy. I'm sorry you have to go through this again. I highly recommend you sign on to the Lumpectomy Lounge thread, and Summer Rads thread. Both can help you with a wealth of information and support. Dara

I know it’s not fair to have gone through your throat cancer ordeal only to develop breast cancer. But if not for the throat cancer--which necessitated the followup PET scan, your breast cancer might have gone undiagnosed until a later stage requiring more onerous treatment with a less favorable prognosis. If it turns out the tumor remains small, and your nodes are clean, you’d be considered Stage IA. Tumor size (as of now) T1a. You didn’t mention grade, but ER/PR+ and HER2- all combine to paint a picture of “as good as it gets” with invasive ductal carcinoma. They’re recommending radiation to “mop up” any stray tumor cells that might be lurking in the breast. It’s up to you, but it’s highly advisable unless you’d rather get a mastectomy (which for a tumor that small and non-aggressive seems like overkill, especially at our age). You might even be a candidate for the shorter partial-breast protocol. If the surgical path report confirms it’s under 1 cm and your nodes are clear, then they usually don’t even order an OncotypeDX test, as you’d be extremely unlikely to have the kind of fast-growing cancer cells that would respond to chemo. After your radiation, you’d be offered endocrine therapy to reduce the estrogen in your body, cutting off any remaining cells’ access to it. At 60, you’re postmenopausal, so that would be an aromatase inhibitor (1 tiny pill/day for 5-10 yrs) rather than tamoxifen. Even without functioning ovaries, your fat cells and adrenal glands make an androgen which aromatase (secreted by your liver) converts into estrogen.

If you had to get invasive breast cancer, that’s the best kind to have (not that there is any such thing as a good cancer). There’s a phrase I’d grown to hate, but when I was fretting to my nurse-navigator as to what a biopsy might show (I was BIRADS 4), she replied “it is what it is.” (The 21st century equivalent of “que sera, sera”). To use a different metaphor, you have to “play it as it lays.” Wherever the ball lands, that’s the only place from which you can take your next shot. Each step of the treatment journey is a new “lie” on the “course.”

As the chorus of the song goes (well, okay, the song I wrote back when I thought I might have brain or bone cancer a decade ago):

"Then the sun appears, and you dry your tears. You’re way ahead, just gettin’ out of bed.

You hope against hope that’s how it stays. You learn to love your days, and play it as it lays. Play it as it lays."

(no, I haven’t recorded it yet, but I hope to next month).

You have every right to be angry, but as you know, anger won't change anything and you just have to get through it, because really, what choice do you have?

On the plus side, radiation for breast cancer should be MUCH more tolerable as only the breast gets radiated (especially if your lymph nodes are clear which they probably are given how early this was caught). Some skin irritation (similar to a sunburn) is common, but I didn't even have that - just some swelling in the breast which resolved following treatment. Yes, there can be worse side effects but they are very rare. I would imagine the radiation for the throat cancer would have affected your ability to swallow, etc., but this won't do that, although it is still of course not fun.

And to Edwards question about having radiation more than once, you can't irradiate the same part of the body twice but as long as the radiation field for her throat cancer doesn't overlap with her breast she should be able to have it. I have a friend who had breast cancer twice, 8 years apart in both breasts and did radiation both times - once on each side.

I'm sorry this happened to you! I'm not surprised you're angry, especially given all you've been through.

I have a lumpectomy last year. I didn't feel the wires going in, and strangely enough, I thought they looked funny. First the bare wires made me think of an old tv antenna, then when they put the caps on to keep them in place, I said out loud, "I have an alien boob!". This past week I had a surgery on the other breast for some atypical tissue, and again got a wire. It didn't hurt either time. Prior to the operations, the wires were curled up under a gauze pad. Made it easy to get around.

Go see a Lymph PT and get measured before surgery. Very important. This is your baseline. In addition the Lymph PT can explain the SE's that may happen.

Also GO to the PT before & during your radiation. Measure, measure, measure.

Do not let them blow you off. You can never have that clean measurement ever again.

As far as "the wire", mine was done the day of my Lump. The day before I had an injection to mark the node.

I can definitely understand your anger. I was diagnosed with colorectal cancer and had LAR surgery on July 27th of last year. This year on the exact same day I had an ultrasound that showed a mass in my breast. A biopsy last week confirmed invasive ductile carcinoma. 2 completely unrelated cancers within one year and I'm months from my 50th birthday. It is safe to say that I too am feeling a little angry.