On Tuesday we met with the Oncology Radiologist, a very compassionate and caring doctor. He was excited about the new pathology report and told us it means her overall prognosis is better.
Here’s where the other shoe drops. We felt the thud.
Statistically speaking, he thinks the chance of reoccurrence without radiation is about 20%. With radiation that number goes down to 5%.
What? Why?
We were kind of blunt, such was our disappointment. He said it was a common question from people who are where we are, “Why radiate if there is no cancer?” He said that the pathology did not analyze the entire mass of tissue or lymph nodes, with this type of biopsy there is no way to possibly see all of the cells.Continue Reading