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Hi Donna,
I know that you have a difficult decision to make. Here are my thoughts:
If knowing your lymph node status would help you to make your decision, maybe you can schedule a sentinel lymph node biopsy by itself - I originally was scheduled to do neo adjuvant chemo (like you did) and the plan was to just do the sentinel lymph node biopsy by itself. This procedure can be over 90% accurate and is not very invasive - an outpatient procedure.
If your lymph nodes are negative (like mine were - THANK GOD), you may feel much more comfortable with just having the lumpectomy followed by radiation. You can even tell your surgeon to continue with the lumpectomy if your nodes are negative.
I have had excellent results with my treatments - I am 43 years old - had a 2.1 cm. invasive ductal carcinoma, ER and PR negative, Her2neu positive, high grade, negative nodes
My treatment was 1) Lumpectomy with Sentinel lymph node biopsy (I told the surgeon to do a complete axillary dissection only if the sentinel lymph node was postitive)
2) TAC Chemotherapy - 6 treatments every 3 weeks
3) 33 Radiation treatments
4) Just started Herceptin treatments - every 3 weeks for a year (No side effects so far)
There is so much research that confirms that a lumpectomy with radiation is just as effective as a mastectomy. I know that saving your life is much more important than saving your breast but I know that I am thankful that I decided on a lumpectomy. It sounds like so far you have made all of the right decisions. Please e-mail me if you have any other questions. Good Luck!
Take care,
Jamie
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