Hi, WTY.. Happy Birthday
I would like to share with you and everyone what my radiologist said about my recurrence to skin. ( he thinks it might have been a chest wall recurrence had not there be an expander ).
Anyways, the surgeon at Ceder Sinai recommended radiation. So i went to see the radiaolgist who is down to earth and old school. He said if there is still active cancer, a non skin sparing mastactomy surgery would not be an option for me unless there is enough skin to close the wound. When there is active cancer in my skin, it prevents the normal skin from healing. If we need a skin graft since i initially had a skin sparing mastectomy, the cancerous skin won't accept the good skin. i guess the bad one will eat up the good one. but again he would not want to give me radiation unless there is no other option. Twice radiated skin is not fun !
So he told me to get a PET scan and if PET scan is negative for the suspious thickening in my skin ( not sure if its the fold of the expander ), then i need to see a surgeon who will perform an excisional biopsy on it. If both negative, i can be a candidate for non skin mastectomy. If positive, i need to deflate the expander and get radiation.
In your case it sounds unlikely surgery is an immediate option. My guess is they will still have you on chemo maybe another regime to see how well you respond. Radiation is reserved unless chemo does not work.
Hugs to you and hope you have a wonderful birthday !!