On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:44:57 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

Sorry bout all the political stuff but I expected to be in Wyoming
instead of in FL. You make plans and God laughs at you. Wife
suddenly is diagnosed with pre-breast cancer, YIKES. So, our Wyoming
plans for this yr are out as we figger out what to do. Her condition
is 99% survivable but it is kinda stressful.
OTOH, I did file a patent on a new mammography imaging system.

That's ****ty news. If your wife could use someone to talk to, let me
know. My daughter has no problem with acting as a 'mini' support
group. Good luck with it.
--
John H

"A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul."
-- George Bernard Shaw

On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:18:11 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch
wrote:

On Jun 30, 11:55*pm, Vic Smith
wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:44:57 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch

wrote:
Sorry bout all the political stuff but I expected to be in Wyoming
instead of in FL. *You make plans and God laughs at you. *Wife
suddenly is diagnosed with pre-breast cancer, YIKES. *So, our Wyoming
plans for this yr are out as we figger out what to do. *Her condition
is 99% survivable but it is kinda stressful.
OTOH, I did file a patent on a new mammography imaging system.

Damn. *Good luck. *I was a little worried when you first mentioned it.

--Vic

I has actually been really interesting (damn am I glad to be a man).
Husbands are s'posed to be really understanding and to try not to
influence her decisions, just listen. After a few days of this I cant
take it anymore trying to act like a woman. Men are SUPPOSED to solve
problems, it's what we do.
Sitting in a docs office she sees me doodling on the back of a
magazine.
She: NO!, you're not using this to design something .
Me: I can't help it. its how I respond to stress
She: You could be more understanding and stop asking the doctor weird
questions.

The problem is is that she is as skeptical of medical stuff as I am.
She just expresses it emotionally and I do it with numbers. Docs dont
want to figure stuff out, they just want to apply "The Standard of
Care", that's not interesting.
It really amazes me that women put up with this attitude of "She has a
tiny pre-cancer, lets cut her tits off" for so long (some women still
fall for that BS). Good God, I'm gonna look down every night and
thank God for being a man (till I get prostate cancer).

My daughter went through the mastectomy thing with both breasts. She's
happy she did so, and the numbers back up her decision. I'm not trying
to push it one way or the other, but I'd sure recommend an open mind
about it, especially around your wife.
--
John H

"A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul."
-- George Bernard Shaw

On Jul 1, 2:40*pm, Just John... for today!
wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:18:11 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch



wrote:
On Jun 30, 11:55*pm, Vic Smith
wrote:
On Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:44:57 -0700 (PDT), Frogwatch

wrote:
Sorry bout all the political stuff but I expected to be in Wyoming
instead of in FL. *You make plans and God laughs at you. *Wife
suddenly is diagnosed with pre-breast cancer, YIKES. *So, our Wyoming
plans for this yr are out as we figger out what to do. *Her condition
is 99% survivable but it is kinda stressful.
OTOH, I did file a patent on a new mammography imaging system.

Damn. *Good luck. *I was a little worried when you first mentioned it.

--Vic

I has actually been really interesting (damn am I glad to be a man).
Husbands are s'posed to be really understanding and to try not to
influence her decisions, just listen. *After a few days of this I cant
take it anymore trying to act like a woman. *Men are SUPPOSED to solve
problems, it's what we do.
Sitting in a docs office she sees me doodling on the back of a
magazine.
She: NO!, you're not using this to design something .
Me: *I can't help it. its how I respond to stress
She: You could be more understanding and stop asking the doctor weird
questions.

The problem is is that she is as skeptical of medical stuff as I am.
She just expresses it emotionally and I do it with numbers. *Docs dont
want to figure stuff out, they just want to apply "The Standard of
Care", that's not interesting.
It really amazes me that women put up with this attitude of "She has a
tiny pre-cancer, lets cut her tits off" for so long (some women still
fall for that BS). *Good God, I'm gonna look down every night and
thank God for being a man (till I get prostate cancer).

My daughter went through the mastectomy thing with both breasts. She's
happy she did so, and the numbers back up her decision. I'm not trying
to push it one way or the other, but I'd sure recommend an open mind
about it, especially around your wife.
--
John H

"A government policy to rob Peter to pay Paul can be assured of the support of Paul."
-- George Bernard Shaw

I appreciate all y'alls concern. We are about to go for 3rd opinion
(she negotiates all our car deals and stuff like that, can be very
hard nosed whereas I am a pushover).
In truth, she(we) are very lucky because her DCIS is so small (3 mm)
and very localized so she has several options. The standard of care
is lumpectomy followed by radiation. She is almost as skeptical of
authority as I am so is being very cautious about what they say. She
hit the ceiling when she learned of the false positive rate of the
MRI. Being a numbers kind of guy, I started collecting statistics and
here it is in a nutshell.
1. For a small Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS), 40% of women who have
one less than 2 cm diameter will develop invasive cancer over a 30 yr
period IF THEY DO NOTHING. If caught in time which is normal, these
are almost always survivable.
2. If one gets lumpectomy ONLY with clear margins, anywhere from
15-38% of women will have a recurrence adjacent to the same spot (note
that). I averaged 9 studies to get 33% chance of recurrence but I'll
give the surgeons benefit of doubt and call it 30%.
3. If one gets masectomy, recurrence in adjacent tissue is roughly
5%.
4. If one gets lumpectomy AND follow up radiation, there is roughly
12% recurrence.

Note that in every case the recurrences are curable in most cases with
98-99% survival after 5 yrs.
Looking at these numbers, most women opt for #4 because it is
minimally invasive with maximum odds. However, look at #2 and compare
to #1, it seems that lumpectomy alone does not do much, only reduces
recurrence from 40% to 30%. In other words, surgery with little
benefit. Then look at #4. It seems that radiation is what gives the
benefit. Unfortunately, there are no studies of radiation only for
small DCIS. In such a case, radiation only followed by mammogram and
MRI every 6 months might be a better option.
Based on what women have told her, doctors tend to minimize the
recovery times and trauma of masectomy and then to say how easy
reconstruction is. Women she has talked to say they would not even
bother with reconstruction if they did it again and I agree, why
bother with so many surgeries, neither of us are 18 any more. Thus
although masectomy gives the best odds, it is maximally invasive with
maximum recovery time. Although she will not express her decision in
numbers, I think this minimizing recovery will be the basis of what
she decides.

"Frogwatch" wrote in message
...
Sorry bout all the political stuff but I expected to be in Wyoming
instead of in FL. You make plans and God laughs at you. Wife
suddenly is diagnosed with pre-breast cancer, YIKES. So, our Wyoming
plans for this yr are out as we figger out what to do. Her condition
is 99% survivable but it is kinda stressful.
OTOH, I did file a patent on a new mammography imaging system.

I went through nine hours of reconstructive heart surgery. I'm here seven
years and eleven days later.

Just when you think you know it all, and you've got it figured out, God
slaps you in the face with a cold cod.

Time to realign priorities. The world will go its own way, within you, and
without you. You must concentrate on your little fishbowl and the things
you can control and change. And live each day to the fullest because the
hourglass always empties out.

The best of luck to you and the Missus.

Steve