Searching for less invasive treatments
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Hi new to this journey. Where do you begin finding a doctors who is interested in less invasive treatements.
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Hi @clantsj28, If you are going to be treated by a western medicine doctor (MD, DO) there is a standard of care (NCCN guidelines) followed. It is up to you to accept or reject each proposed treatment. Always ask the doctor about how doing or not doing a treatment affects your recurrence risk so you can make an informed decision. Even if the original tumor is small and there are no positive lymph nodes, breast cancer can recur as metastatic.
The current focus is on personalizing treatment and limiting toxicity. For example, rather than prescribing chemo for everyone with HR+/HER- tumors an Oncotype genomic test is done to evaluate whether chemo is recommended. Women over 60 who had lumpectomies were traditionally given both long courses of radiation and anti-estrogen therapy (aromatase inhibitors usually for 5 years.) Now older women whose tumors fit certain profiles can have a short course of radiation or skip rads if they commit to taking the AIs as prescribed.
A large teaching hospital would be a good place to find a good number of up-to-date doctors. You could call the breast cancer center and ask to speak to a nurse navigator who might be able to recommend doctors who are comfortable with lots of patient input. At my breast cancer center I was initially assigned a breast surgeon. Once the surgical pathology and other tests came back (I was surprised by a positive lymph node that hadn't shown up on ultrasound) she had input on who my medical oncologist would be. She matched me well with a researcher MO who loved to explain the science behind everything and was open to discussing my ideas.
There are naturopathic oncologists who work with traditional doctors to provide complementary therapies to help with side effects. My cancer center also did some of this for patients in active treatment. I had acupuncture to help with insomnia caused by radiation. There was also nutrition advice, gentle yoga, meditation and music therapy available.
Unfortunately ridding the body of cancer requires toxic/invasive treatment. There are other modalities of cancer treatment out there but they are not supported by a large body of scientific research. All the best with your upcoming treatment.
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thank you. I appreciate your knowledge and tips you have given me.
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