Stanford Details

I went to Stanford on June 25th to get a second opinion about radiation. My doc here thought I might not need it. My treatment plan has been less than traditional and that has made it a little harder to make decisions on the next course of action. So, Stanford doc recommends radiation. There were many factors to consider. I had a chemo treatment before I had surgery. My lymph nodes were clear at the time of surgery but the chemo might have done that, there were some indicators saying that my lymph nodes may have actually had some cancerous activity. But it is impossible to tell now. Another things to consider are my age, that was a really big one when considering the occurrence statistics. My cancer was also poorly differentiated. Meaning my cancer cells were highly mutated when compared to my other cells. That's not good. However my HER2 was negative, that's good. So, after weighing all of the factors, radiation it is. I was prepared to take whatever opinion the Stanford doc gave. She only does radiation for breast cancer, I researched her and think she is one of the best in the world! This is what she has devoted her life to do! I loved how much information she gave me, how willing she was to answer any questions, the time she devoted to my case, and she talked with Heidi and my Dad too! Her resident was thorough and she took time to really feel for my lymph nodes. She gave me more information that anyone else has and I think I have gotten a lot of good information. I loved it! I feel good knowing that I am making a really good decision for me and my situation. People are asking why I even went for a second opinion and not just do radiation. It's really not that simple though. Clearly radiation can be dangerous in some situations and over treating cancer can be just as dangerous as under treating it. The decisions my team and I are making are a little different than many breast cancer cases because of my age. 40 and under is rare and a lot of studies don't include my age group at all. There are a lot of studies on survivors 10 years out, but not 40, and I would really like to make it at least that long.