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Do I Need A Second Opinion?

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Subject: Do I need a second opinion?
Date: 06/06/2008
I had a suspicious lump and bad mammogram 2/08. A needle biopsy showed cancer. I am uninsured, so I had to pay for any treatment I needed. I had a simple mammogram with sentinal node biopsy 3/13/08. I had one positive node so was expecting to get chemotherapy. When I went to see the oncologist the first time, she implied since I had a positive node I would need chemo. She tried to get online with a program called Adjuvant! but the computer was down. The next visit she priced the two treatment types, A/C for 4 treatments at $2000 a treatment for a total of $8000 or another ,carboplatin/cyclo.. at $3800 per treatment or a total of $17,000. She then gave me the Adjuvant! chances i.e.the chances of me being alive in 10 years with all the parameters of my tumor, size, positive nodes, etc. The odds just weren't that better with chemo and hormone therapy versus hormone therapy versus doing nothing.. She did it for no positive nodes. I pointed out I did have a positive node , she said that a node less than 2mm was counted as a negative node. She ran the program again for me with 1-3 positive nodes and the mortality was essentially the same. My tumor was E+ so I am on tomoxifen which is thank goodness a generic drug. I am still paying medical bills, so I am delighted if I don't need chemo. I just hope I am doing the right thing. And if I should have a recurrance....I'll worry about that when it happens. Any advice from anyone?

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  1. Do I need a second opinion?
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