Freed from Radiation - Experience # (lucky) 13; Restaurant # 6 Jack's on Halsted

Last week we went to see Dr. Khan, who did my surgery a couple of weeks ago, and she presented us with the surprising and happy news that she did not think that radiation was necessary for me. Because my tumor was very small (4mm) and the margins free of cancer large (about 4 cm) they are pretty sure that they got everything out. In addition, the chances of recurrence in a case like mine are pretty low, maybe about 6% or so in the first several years. The tamoxifen that I'll be taking also combats recurrence (as well as cancers that might emerge elsewhere in the body, which I'm now more prone to). While radiation would cut the recurrence probability in half, since I'm already at 6% that wouldn't amount to much, particularly offset against the drawbacks of radiation, one of which is once you do it in one area it can't be done again. Needless to say, we were delighted to hear this news, and went out to celebrate with a really tasty fish dinner at a neighborhood restaurant, Jack's on Halsted. The grouper I had was delicious and Kate's salmon was very good too, but the desserts were really out of this world!

Anyway, Dr. Khan cautioned us to talk in more detail about this in more detail to the radiation oncologist, who I visited yesterday. Dr. Kiel presented roughly the same numbers that Dr. Khan did, and did not resist the idea of observation plus tamoxifen rather than radiation. She suggested that I consider getting an MRI to better ensure there is no cancer currently growing elsewhere in my breast. They do this by observing chemical and blood flow patterns, rather than the density of the tissue (as in the mammogram). The problem is, MRIs are not super refined in this area, so they are currently producing about 40% false positives. Hmmm.

In any case, the very good news is no radiation this fall, no more hospital visits for several months (except a few more for cancer school, to donate fluids to a breast cancer study, for the MRI, and for one other test -- ok, maybe that's more than a few, but it's better than every day which is what the radiation would have been!)