mastectomy after stage iv

Hi.

I was diagnosed originaly with stage iv breast cancer, er/pr negative and her2neu positive. I immediately started taxol/herceptin -- got a good response except for some suspect nodules in the lungs and in the lymph nodes under my arm. I switched to taxotere/herceptin and am gettng a good response from that treatment to the lung nodules, the ones in my underarm persist and seems slightly larger.

My oncologist and I have been discussing the possibility of doing a mastectomy to try and get greater local control. At her office, we looked at two studies that seem to suggest a better survival rate with women who did mastectomy's even after being diagnosed stage iv. My doc explained that this is not a settled or standard approach. She knows that I want to be as aggressive in treatment as I can so she raised this as an option.

I thought I'd ask those of you who post here if anyone had done a mastectomy after stage iv -- or knew where I could go to get additional information.

Thanks.