Husband here looking for advice,

Hi there - sorry to say I wont be much help to you I am a newbie too. Have invasive breast cancer but having chemo first started yesterday then mascetomy then not sure about RT.

What you are doing is great - I would be a bit like her I dont take too much detail then I come on here and every knows everything about their stages and mm of everything - so you seem to have got some good information.

I would have thought you should maybe have more information I would definitely ask them what is the plan from here on in. I have found if you dont ask you dont find out. So go in with a small list and get all the answers.

Keep up what your doing - we might not always show it as we are sick but having a strong person by your side means the world.

Best of luck for the op next week!

Hi Munster
Sorry you and your wife have had to join us
The great news you have had is that no nodes are positive. If no cells have gone to the nodes then they haven't gone anywhere else either. The nodes are the first stop. You are correct that the oncogene test will decide about the chemo or not. It applies to your wife because she has no nodes positive. If nodes are positive, you need chemo. If not, the oncogene test is done and if it's below the threshold, chemo can be avoided.
The pathology report after the mastectomy will tell the story about the receptors (ER, PR, HER). The report will take about a week. The result will tell about the follow up treatment like if your wife is to take Tamoxifen or not.
Write down whatever the doctor says because it's hard to take it all in. And when the final pathology report is ready, ask for a copy.

Keep asking questions here, everyone is so good with replies. Your wife is lucky to have you "watching her back"

Jo x

I don't come on here much anymore but i just had to say that ms merrigan is an excellent surgeon and very gd at her job, ye will first meet with ms merrigan/ or her senior registrar and a few of the nurses 10 days to two weeks aft operation and they will give you the results of the operation, they will know the receptor status, the exact size of the tumours etc. at this stage, at the moment its only an estimate based on scans, you will then come back to meet the oncologist ms coat, who will give ye all the options based on your wife's cancer and what is the recommended course of treatment, they take all factors into account, age, general health, stage of cancer, grade of cells, receptor status etc. before deciding treatment, as the cancer is early treatable breast cancer they will leave some of the decisions up to yourselves or may even send samples to america to see if chemo would be of benefit, treatment could include some or all of the following hormone suppressants such as tamoxofin, radio thearapy, chemo, herceptin, trial drugs (biological or new chemos). sometimes the hormone suppressants are all that is required for early stage bc, but the younger the lady in question the more likely they are to recommend chemo for early stage invasive bc.

best of luck.