recently diagnosed

I had to have re-excision to get clean margins.  It's exactly like a lumpectomy.

The thing that concerns me most about your post is the "need" to make a quick decision. IMO, you don't have nearly enough information to make such a life-changing decision.  You don't even have the results of your biopsy. How does choosing LX vs. BMX without learning more about them even make sense? You'd spend more than 2 days choosing a car, wouldn't you?

There is no "need" to rush into surgery. Sure, you're going to need some kind of surgery, but you have time.  In order to know your options, you need test results. If this surgeon is pressuring you to make a fast decision, I'd strongly suggest you run to the nearest exit. Your cancer is unlikely to magically start running amok in the next 3-4 weeks. You need to have a surgeon patiently explain all your options in great detail AND give you time to digest all the information. Ask questions if you don't understand something. Take notes. Get a second opinion, or a third if you need to.  My point is, you need to be rock-solid sure of your choice and right now you simply don't know enough.

Do NOT let anyone push or scare you into a quick decision. You could regret it for the rest of your life.

Hi,

Sorry you are going through this worry! I agree with those who encouraged you to not rush this decision. So much will depend on the pathology report. Some types of BC are treated with neo-adjuvant or pretreatment before surgery to help shrink the tumor down. The pre-treatment will be guided by whether or not your tumor is Estrogen Receptor (ER) + or - as well as HER2 status. A few weeks to gather information will likely help you a lot. I don't come to this forum a lot so please message me if you return with information or questions and I will answer. I am sure you will get a lot of support! I am not a BC patient but a nurse helping research for friends right now. Remember that there really is some link to high-stress actually suppressing your body's own ability to fight this tumor ~~ so make sure you sleep, laugh and generally stay as generally rested as possible. One step at a time

Hi!

HER2 is a protein that is in everyone's cells. It tells cells when it is time to replicate. However, in some cases of breast cancer, the cancer cells have an overexpression of the HER2 protein. That leads the cancer cells to divide like crazy, and means that the cancer is very aggressive (think big lumps and a high likelihood of spreading to other parts of the body). Before the development of targeted therapies (like Herceptin and Perjeta), breast cancer patients with HER2+ cancer had bad outcomes. Five years after diagnosis, only 40% of HER2+ cancer patients were still alive. Today, thanks to Herceptin, the survival rates of HER2+ patients are similar to that of other breast cancer patients (over 90% of women diagnosed at Stages I and II are still alive after five years).

If your cancer does test positive for HER2, your doctor is likely to recommend that you do chemo before surgery. That chemo regimen will be accompanied by Herceptin and possibly Perjeta (since your tumor is at least 2 cm in size). (In the US, it is easiest to get Perjeta as part of neoadjuvant (before chemo) treatment.)

Hope this helps!

moody blues, I found this on the Susan G. Komen site. http://ww5.komen.org/BreastCancer/DecidingBetweenMastectomyandLumpectomy.html 

Survival

Overall survival with lumpectomy plus radiation is the same as with mastectomy.

Recurrence--

Compared to mastectomy, there is a slightly higher rate of the cancer returning to the breast (called recurrence or local recurrence) with lumpectomy. Any recurrence must be treated.

The risk of cancer spreading to other organs (called metastasis or distance recurrence) is the same for both procedures .

Moody - I was very grateful to be HER2+ because I was ER/PR negative. I wouldn't have had nearly as many good treatment options. Herceptin is a game changer. Not to mention Perject if you do neo-adjuvant chemo

Moodyblues, I just wanted to send you some well wishes for your appointment today.

moodyblues. I'm going in for a excisional biopsy surgery tomorrow. I'm also new here too, and I am scared and confused on what they will find. Good luck.

Thanks moodyblues. It's just the not knowing that is hard.

Your HER2+ status was discovered by the IHC test (ImmunoHistoChemistry). The ImmunoHistoChemistry test finds out if there is too much HER2 protein in the cancer cells. The results of the IHC test can be: 0 (negative), 1+ (also negative), 2+ (borderline), or 3+ (positive — HER2 protein overexpression).

Hope this helps!