Breast Cancer Treatment

BREAST TREATMENT

This is to help you make informed decisions about your treatment but should not be your only research on breast cancer treatment. You are talking about YOUR health and YOUR future so take the time to study everything you can before making a decision. It is your job to take all the information you gather and make what you consider the best decision you possibly can.

Start by asking your doctor every question you can think of.

Go to your local library and read every book you can find on the subject. Read all you can find on the internet. Go to cancer survivor groups and ask questions. And whatever you do make sure you have total trust in your doctor. If you don’t, ask around to find another one.

Local vs. Systemic Treatment: The purpose of local treatment is to treat a tumor without affecting the rest of the body. Surgery and radiation are examples of local treatment. Systemic treatment is given into the bloodstream or by mouth to go throughout the body and reach cancer cells that may have spread beyond the breast. Chemotherapy, hormone therapy, and immunotherapy are systemic treatments.

BREAST CANCER SURGERY:

1) Lumpectomy (involves removing only the lump and some normal tissue. Radiation treatment is usually given after this type of surgery. If chemotherapy is also used, the radiation may be delayed).

2) Partial Mastectomy (removing more of the breast tissue. And is usually followed by radiation therapy but may be delayed if given chemotherapy).

Side effects can include pain, temporary swelling, tenderness, and hardness due to scar tissue that forms in the surgical site.

RECONSTRUCTIVE OR BREAST IMPLANT SURGERY is not meant to treat the cancer but is done to restore the way the breast looks after a mastectomy. Talk to a plastic surgeon BEFORE your operation.

The thought of surgery of any kind can be frightening. But the more you understand, the less you will fear what is about to take place. A few days before your biopsy you will know whether or not you have cancer, but the extent of the disease will not be known until after the surgery.

You might consider giving blood ahead of time in case you need it during your surgery. Your doctor may want you to stop taking certain medications, vitamins, or supplements….some of them a week or two before surgery.

How long the surgery will take and how long you will be in the hospital depens on the type of surgery you have. A mastectomy with lymph node removal will take from 2-3 hours. After surgery:

1) You will have a bandage over the surgery site that may wrap snugly around your chest

2) You may have one or more tubes (drains) from the breast or underarm area to remove fluid that collects during the healing process…most drains stay in a week or two

3) Moving your arms around after surgery are important so they don’t get stiff

Women who have a lumpectomy or mastectomy are usually surprised by how little pain they have in the breast area. But they are less happy with the strange feelings (numbness, pinching/pulling) in the underarm area.