I was of the opinion that I wanted to get the cancer OUT! I would not have been happy with a delay of any kind. MD Anderson is known all over the country. If you are going to go there, do it as soon as possible. Time is of the essence. Good luck!

Hi, I just joined this group. I was diagnosed on October 18th- 13 days ago. I have been seen at MD Anderson and I highly recommend that you go there. My surgeon is a Dr. Kurer and he is fantastic. He has writen tons of papers for the NIH. I had a consult with a local surgeon and we got into a fight because he was going to give me what he wanted, he did not listen to my point of view. I am also African- American and breast cancer can be more agressive in our group.

Try to rent an apartment when you go to Houston, you will save money. Go to the MD Anderson website and look up joe's list. I highly suggest, come to MD Anderson and get everything done that you possibly can, especially if you live close by. Good luck and God Bless you.

Jiea

I would want you to know everything before your surgery. They can...if you have biopsy tissue...from there the pathology reports helps the oncologist in collaberation with the surgeon....lay out the plan. They might change the sequence based on those path results. ARE they only saying mastectomy and have not identified your cancer and its genes? I would certaiinly want to know more and what the long term plan is based on your pathology report. This comes from biopsy tissues. AT time of surgery more tissues are analyzed to establish the STAGE. I hope you have an oncologist in your loop. The person is really the KEY.

My husband and wanted me to go to MD Anderson to get a 2 nd opinion. I didn't my BS works closely with them so I would have come back to MI anyway. You can have your reports sent I believe and they can do a 2nd opinion that way I believe.

Do whatever you need to do in order to get yourself started. SEcond opinion....pathology reports...get this all on the table...and a treatment strategy will unfold immediately.