Recommendation of oncologist at Princess Margaret or Sunnybrook

If you can get in to see him, I'd recommend Dr. McCready at PMH. He's the head of the breast centre and their most senior breast surgeon, so I'm not sure of his current availability. If your wife's biopsy is being done somewhere else, I don't think PMH will take the referral until the diagnosis is confirmed. At PMH, once your wife has a surgeon, the surgeon will set up the appointment with the MO either prior to surgery (if necessary based on the biopsy diagnosis) or after surgery (for a more simple early stage diagnosis).

When did your wife have her biopsy? And what did the imaging say about the area of suspicion? Was it highly likely to be cancer? Most biopsies (70%-75%) turn out to be benign but obviously some biopsies are more concerning and higher risk than others.

pchyen, if you don't live in Toronto, I don't know if PMH will accept a referral. They do accept patients from anywhere, but this is usually for cases that are complex or that can't be adequately treated somewhere else. For more standard diagnoses, I think in the past they might have accepted patients from outside Toronto but I don't know if they do that anymore - there is just too much demand. A couple of years back I recall someone from Hamilton who had a recurrence and wanted to get a second opinion at PMH but they didn't accept the referral.

I don't know about Sunnybrook but they may have the same policy. Of course there is no harm in having your doctor send in the referral but be prepared that it might not be accepted.

Pchyen, I hope your wife gets a good result and does not have cancer.

However, if needed, I will second Beesie’s recommendation for Dr. McCready. Everyone I know gives glowing reviews about him. I requested a referral to him last year when I was diagnosed, but he was not accepting new patients at that time because of pandemic restrictions and changes. Dr. Wey Leong at Princess Margaret is very good.

At Sunnybrook, Dr. Clare Holloway is outstanding.

I'm sorry to hear that your wife has been diagnosed.

It is normal for the pathology lab to test for ER, PR and HER2 but sometimes it takes a bit longer to get those results, particularly the HER2. Without that information, you really can't go forward even with surgery because depending on the ER,PR and HER2, in some cases chemo will be recommended prior to surgery.

I hope that your wife is able to get into PMH - I really don't know if they will accept patients from outside of the city of Toronto unless there are circumstances which require their expertise.

Please keep us in the loop.

Yes, I agree that it's most likely chemo first, given the hormone status and the positive node. So rather than a surgeon, your wife needs to see a Medical Oncologist. Surgeons operate; MOs are responsible for everything else.

Great news on the CT scan. And good that your wife got the appointment!