Surgery Option or Not?
Hi Everyone, I was diagnosed de novo Stage 4 with breast, lymph node and bone/spine mets in Oct 2018. I've had really good response to treatment with Letrazole/Ribociclib/Denosumab whereby the breast lesion and lymph nodes are barely visible on my last CT/Bones scans in May, they've shrunken significantly. My bone/spine mets is relatively inactive and stable. All good, yay! :) So today I saw my Breast Surgeon for a courtesy progress check and she is now offering the option of surgery to remove what remains of my breast lesion and possibly "Level 1" lymph node removal. Am having an ultrasound next Thu to actually find out what is remaining, as not much is showing up on the scans and on physical exam today, she couldn't really feel anything either. She was rather taken aback at my response to treatment and said I had "responded remarkably well", double yay! :)
So my questions are:
1. Would you have the breast surgery? I'm told it would be "minor surgery"/day job, no drain, 1-2 weeks recovery, they remove the lesion with a wire, so no big cuts. I would potentially have shooting pains that last a few seconds from time to time, most likely forever, post surgery.
2. Would you have the lymph node removal? Depending on ultrasound results, but she's thinking to do only a Level 1 lymph node removal, which is the lowest level of that type of surgery. She said post surgery, I may get numbness in armpit/upper arm from nerves being cut, apprx 15% /lower risk of getting lymphodaema, may get some cording in my arm which could be resolved by phsyio.
She spoke with my Onco whilst I was seeing her. He's on the fence and said they decision is up to me. I would just need to go off the Ribos' for 2 weeks prior to surgery. Post surgery, I'm not sure what happens yet... may depend on the lymph node prognosis as well I guess. I may need some radiation therapy... chemo wasn't really mentioned at this stage. I was thinking (but to be discussed), I'd just go back on the drug therapy as per before.
I know there are no guarantees that the cancer would be entirely removed and it could come back in the breast/lymph node. And they of course can't remove it from my spine. The bonuses would be that I would get some definite pathologies post surgery of the lesions and potentially I wouldn't have to deal with large tumours in my breast/lymph down the track, and then just focus more on holding the cancer at bay in my spine. And I know it could eventually show up elsewhere as well. But removal, would be just that little bit less cancer in my body.
I've got to have some more discussions with the Surgeon and my Onco, but I'm leaning towards doing the surgery at this point. However, I'd really value any thoughts from anyone out there on this. Has anyone done this? What have been your experiences? What are the gotcha's I need to look out for? Or should I not do it? What do you think?
So my questions are:
1. Would you have the breast surgery? I'm told it would be "minor surgery"/day job, no drain, 1-2 weeks recovery, they remove the lesion with a wire, so no big cuts. I would potentially have shooting pains that last a few seconds from time to time, most likely forever, post surgery.
2. Would you have the lymph node removal? Depending on ultrasound results, but she's thinking to do only a Level 1 lymph node removal, which is the lowest level of that type of surgery. She said post surgery, I may get numbness in armpit/upper arm from nerves being cut, apprx 15% /lower risk of getting lymphodaema, may get some cording in my arm which could be resolved by phsyio.
She spoke with my Onco whilst I was seeing her. He's on the fence and said they decision is up to me. I would just need to go off the Ribos' for 2 weeks prior to surgery. Post surgery, I'm not sure what happens yet... may depend on the lymph node prognosis as well I guess. I may need some radiation therapy... chemo wasn't really mentioned at this stage. I was thinking (but to be discussed), I'd just go back on the drug therapy as per before.
I know there are no guarantees that the cancer would be entirely removed and it could come back in the breast/lymph node. And they of course can't remove it from my spine. The bonuses would be that I would get some definite pathologies post surgery of the lesions and potentially I wouldn't have to deal with large tumours in my breast/lymph down the track, and then just focus more on holding the cancer at bay in my spine. And I know it could eventually show up elsewhere as well. But removal, would be just that little bit less cancer in my body.
I've got to have some more discussions with the Surgeon and my Onco, but I'm leaning towards doing the surgery at this point. However, I'd really value any thoughts from anyone out there on this. Has anyone done this? What have been your experiences? What are the gotcha's I need to look out for? Or should I not do it? What do you think?
