Sorry that I have fallen behind in keeping this updated. Here is where we stand right now...
My mom completed her 6 cycles of chemo without a hitch. She has seen the surgeon. Her surgery, which WILL be a full mastectomy, will be on May 18 at 12:45pm. The reason that she is getting the full mastectomy is that, even though the size of the tumor has significantly decreased (to the point where it can not even be felt on exam) , the tissue that is still affected is over half the breast. So, the surgeon is taking the whole breast to help ensue that all of the affected tissue is removed and to also help reduce the amount of radiation that she has to receive.
We see Dr. Xu (the radiation oncologist) tomorrow, so we will know more about the dose, frequency and duration then. We will also know whether reconstructive surgery is an option at the time of surgery. That is going to depend on the dose of radiation and whatnot. If it is an option for the same time as the breast removal, she is leaning towards having an implant put in so that she only has one surgery to recover from.
