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Louise O'Brien · 10-23-2006, 08:45 AM

Thanks for all your comments. I was hoping to find someone in a similar situation.

To answer a few questions - It's not as if the oncologist is recommending chemo - he's telling me that I have no choice. I have to take it if I want Herceptin. Our government health plan won't pay for Herceptin on its own.

And why did I have a mastectomy if I was node negative? I didn't know I was node negative until after surgery. I knew the lymph nodes were negative but I also knew that the key test is on the sentinel lymph nodes and they weren't removed and tested until surgery.

I did not have a lump when I was diagnosed. It was a pattern of micro-calcifications that didn't look right on the original mammogram. Very trace and scarely noticible. They sent me for further magnification but avoided ultrasound as they felt it wouldn't show up as well. After my diagnosis, the recommendation was that - were I to consider a lumpectomy, I'd better have an MRI first to make sure these traces weren't scattered somewhere else.

Given the long surgery wait times in Ontario; the wait times for MRI's; the debate over how effective they can be and the fact that the cancer was invasive, and my cell grade growth was 2 out of 3 - I decided on the mastectomy. I felt I couldn't afford to wait. I wanted it out and I didn't want to worry that it might be somewhere else. I also had the top surgeon in our area (everyone told me how lucky I was to have him and not to consider switching) and while he wasn't making any recommendations, he wasn't discouraging me. I had surgery within a week.

Believe me, I've had some second thoughts about that decision since then but knowing now that it was HER 2, hope that I've done the right thing. I have to move on.

I'm now getting my head around the upcoming chemo treatments but I dread them.

10-23-2006, 08:45 AM	#5
Louise O'Brien Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 75	Need Help... Thanks for all your comments. I was hoping to find someone in a similar situation. To answer a few questions - It's not as if the oncologist is recommending chemo - he's telling me that I have no choice. I have to take it if I want Herceptin. Our government health plan won't pay for Herceptin on its own. And why did I have a mastectomy if I was node negative? I didn't know I was node negative until after surgery. I knew the lymph nodes were negative but I also knew that the key test is on the sentinel lymph nodes and they weren't removed and tested until surgery. I did not have a lump when I was diagnosed. It was a pattern of micro-calcifications that didn't look right on the original mammogram. Very trace and scarely noticible. They sent me for further magnification but avoided ultrasound as they felt it wouldn't show up as well. After my diagnosis, the recommendation was that - were I to consider a lumpectomy, I'd better have an MRI first to make sure these traces weren't scattered somewhere else. Given the long surgery wait times in Ontario; the wait times for MRI's; the debate over how effective they can be and the fact that the cancer was invasive, and my cell grade growth was 2 out of 3 - I decided on the mastectomy. I felt I couldn't afford to wait. I wanted it out and I didn't want to worry that it might be somewhere else. I also had the top surgeon in our area (everyone told me how lucky I was to have him and not to consider switching) and while he wasn't making any recommendations, he wasn't discouraging me. I had surgery within a week. Believe me, I've had some second thoughts about that decision since then but knowing now that it was HER 2, hope that I've done the right thing. I have to move on. I'm now getting my head around the upcoming chemo treatments but I dread them.