@ginny100 - Hello, dear Ginny; I am glad I could be of some help. I have a couple of questions: What areas of your body were scanned by the CT? Are you being seen in a Cancer Center?

I am happy you are being seen very soon by various specialists. As you may have read, LABC does require a multidisciplinary approach. I am happy you are considering getting Radiation treatment; however, I'd like to remind you that Chemotherapy is also a staple of LABC treatment, so I encourage you to ask the oncologist as many questions as you need to evaluate what the various doctors are recommending. Your doctor may tell you that there may not be real choices. The protocol involves 3 types of treatment - Surgery (if possible or useful), Chemo, and Radiation. You can request second and third opinions, but please don't wait.

Let me tell you about my own experience and how I handled things that I did NOT want to do:

I understand how hard it is to accept chemo and radiation. Initially, I refused radiation. I didn't want it at all. Period.

My family and the doctors involved in my care were surprised I did. You know what? I was, too! I realized much later that it was my way to regain control over my life. And I was VERY ANGRY ... After three weeks, I decided I needed to be more reasonable and rely upon the "numbers". So, I waited for the results of the surgical pathology and the DCISionRT Score (Probability of Reoccurrence in time). So, I established a threshold - I picked 20%. What that meant was if the surgical pathology showed invasive cancer or if the DCISionRT Score showed a reoccurrence of around 15% (I was accounting for a margin of error of about 5%), I would do the Radiation treatment.

My surgical pathology report did NOT show Invasive cancer; however, it showed my cancer was high grade, AND some of my tissue did NOT have clear margins. I talked to the surgeon. My choices were a mastectomy or Radiation treatment. Then, the DCISionRT Score came in, showing I was at an "elevated" level (15%) for reoccurrence without radiation treatment.
At that point, I gave my OK to radiation therapy.

Ginny, the above is only my story. But it should show that while we are all different, we all may have doubts, questions, and anxieties.

Please let me know what you think. In the meantime, I hope the new year will bring you great love, peace, and health.

HUGS,

Dee

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