Providers You May Need

Nurse Navigator

Scheduling Support

Most breast cancer centers/clinics have “Nursese Navigators” who will guide you through finding the doctors and services you may need and will even help setup appointments. The yes of appointments they will help get scheduled or provide contact info for you to use may include:

Additional diagnostic tests (e.g. MRI, additional biopsy, PT/other scans)
Oncologist
Breast Surgeon
Plastic Surgeon
Radiology Oncologist
Oncology Physical Therapy
Mental Health Providers
Naturopaths/Nutritionists

oncologist

More information coming soon

breast surgeon

Get rid of the cancer cells

Your breast surgeon will explain the options you have – typically a lumpectomy or a mastectomy (one or both breasts) with or without reconstruction. They will leverage information from your diagnostic sessions to recommend the options you have but ultimately it is your decision as to the survey route you go.

That decision can be overwhleming because, if you are like Marci, you may just want someone to tell you what you should do… but remember that everything is your choice, every person is different, and you should take the route you FEEL is best for you so, so… gather as much info as you can or want to help you decide.

Also – Marci found it helpful to get a second opinion from another surgeon as well as talk to other cancer patients to understand how they determined their approach to surgery. Marci is happy to share her approach with you as a piece of your information gathering.

Plastic surgeon

New/Improved Boobs!

A plastic surgeon will help you determine if reconstruction makes sense for you. They can add implants to round out a breast that has had a lumpectomy or they can use implants to re-create your breasts following a mastectomy. Some patients are candidates for a skin, or a skin + nipple sparing mastectomy depending on the location of your tumor(s). If this is not an option for you, you will find that these surgeons are magicians and the work they do using skin graphs and tattoos can make your new breasts look very “normal”.

If you are having a mastectomy, there are several routes you can go for reconstruction if you choose to have reconstruction – there are pros and cons to each route so make sure to ask the surgeon to explain each option they feel is available to you in detail and again, make the decision that is best for you – talking to others who have had the same procedure if you want to help you decide:

Direct to Implant
Expanders then Implant – The nice thing about expanders is that you can decide the size you want your implants based on how full your expanders get, but if you can go direct to implant, that means less surgery for you.
Lat Muscle – Use your lat muscle as your implant
Stomach Muscle – User your stomach muscle as your implant

If you get implants – Make sure you are clear with your surgeon how big you want your implants to be and also talk about smooth versus textured implants. There have been some rare localized cancer occurrences that have been linked to textured implants but they are very rare. Just make sure to talk to your surgeon about your options and decide what is the best choice for you.

You can also have a “fat transfer” done to take fat from another part of your body to round out your breast area. This can be done either during your initial surgery or may need to be done as a follow-up porcedure/surgery.

radiology oncologist

Kill any remaining cancer cells

A Radiology Oncologist will handle your radiation treatments.

During our research efforts to learn more, we found several organizations that provide wonderful information regarding dense breast tissue and cold capping. Here are links to several sites that we found especially helpful: