Hi Guys,

I promised you an update after I saw the RO so here goes.

Went to see the RO that did my rads for the oral cancer unknown primary in 1997 and she said that there is less than a 1% chance that this breast cancer was caused by scatter radiation. She was less than delighted to hear that I have been having a yearly, and sometimes more often, CT scan of the chest and thorax and suggested that the pulmonary doctor use chest xrays unless CT absolutely necessary. She said that the government is going to issue new guidelines on CT scans.

As far as the breast cancer and needing radiation, there are 3 guidelines, size, grade and I think margins. I flunk both size and grade. Mine was 2cm and they want .5 cm or less. Mine was also high nuclear grade which is not good. However, she said that since mine does show up on mammograms and I get mine regularly, that she feels I can skip radiation this time and will use if I have a reoccurrence. Chance of reoccurrence without rads is 16%, with rads 8% and then you can�t have radiation again. So as long as mammo on the 8th is clear and he gets clean margins of 2cm on the other 2 sides when he does next lumpectomy, I am going to skip rads this time and hope for the best.

Take care,
Eileen