[swimangel72]

My tumor was measured at .9cm after my mastectomy - with a note that it might be smaller and we should refer to the original size based on the biopsy. The biopsy never made note of the size of my tumor - only the size of the samples. The radiologist originally said my tumor looked to be about .7mm - she called it a "nodule". I didn't want radiation - and opted for a mastectomy - without benefit of knowing my Fish report results or the Oncotype Dx. After my mastectomy I found out that the Oncotype Dx score was 22. My onc told me I'd be fine with just Arimidex for 5 years. A week later he realized that my Her2 status was "equivacal" and my breast surgeon never received the Fish report. When the Fish report was faxed, my onc had a shocked look on his face and said that this changed everything.....I was Her2++++ and would need chemo and Herceptin. This was a huge blow to me..........I had been reassured by my breast surgeon that getting a mastectomy would reduce my risk of recurrence to nearly 0%. Also my onc had first led me to believe that a Oncotype Dx score of 22 was "low"............a week later he said it really was "low intermediate" and that being Her2++++ made it more aggressive which made him want to treat it more aggressively. However, he never put me on the standard treatments - instead he put me on Navelbine for 4 months with Herceptin and now I'm on Herceptin for the remainder of the year. So I never lost my hair or had to worry too much about heart problems - but I do worry that this treatment was unorthodox. Even though two other oncologists told me this treatment was fine - that oncology was also an art, not just a science.........I can't help but be nervous about a recurrence. Still - considering how small my tumor was - and that I did get a mastectomy I'm not TOO anxious about a recurrence, except when I read reports like the one above. So it gives me some peace-of-mind that I had the mastectomy, even though I ended up with MRSA after the free-tram.

Actually - I worry equally about getting a different kind of cancer later on in life. My dad died from astrocytoma (a brain cancer)..........and even though I feel lucky that we caught my BC early, who the heck knows what else could happen? Then again - I could fall into the 2% category of the people who die in car accidents.........so I refuse to waste too much time worrying about cancer. I'm more worried about getting MRSA again when I get my abdominal hernia repair surgery next summer!