Some advice for my mum

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Hello,

My mum completed neo adjuvant chemo last month. She had a very good response to it and is now waiting for surgery. We went to see her breast surgeon this week to discuss what she will be having. It will be a WLE in a few weeks. Mum seems happy but after we left she wondered whether she should have asked for mastectomy even tho the surgeon didn’t suggest it. My mum is a big worrier and she wants to have everything done possible to prevent a recurrence.
Should mum ask for a mastectomy for a peace of mind? Also mum had a SNB before she started chemo and it came back clear. I asked the surgeon does this mean her other nodes are definitely clear and she said yes. Does this mean there’s no point of asking for a node clearance? I have heard about the false positive result when you have neo adjuvant chemo but I don’t really understand it. There’s always that "what ifs " at the back of my mums mind and we want to make sure she gets the correct treatment.

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I thought I would reply as your Mum’s situation sounds exactly like mine 4 years ago.  Sounds like the chemo did exactly what it was supposed to.  I had chemo first to shrink the lump as it was big and was told that I would need a mx.  Ater chemo I had no lump left and my nodes were clear too.  So when I had surgery it was a WLE followed by radiotherapy.

I was told by my surgeon that there is no more chance of a recurrence with a WLE and rads than a full mx.  My husband also asked my surgeon what he would do if it was his wife and he said he would do the same.

AS you say there will always be “what ifs” but it sounds to me that the surgeon is recommending exactly the right treatment for your mum.

Hope that puts your mind at rest.

Sam