My Friends

[mnmkeller]

Is the surgery a total mastectomy or a more regional resection?

With a total mastectomy the goal will be to dissect the tissue to see if any remains so that may be why he is waffling.

Chemo is likely just shrinking the tumor to contain it and increase the chances for success with the surgery. The chemo may also have headed off any developing cancer heading toward the nodes which would prevent the need to possibly remove nodes now or in the future if only surgery was utilized.

It's possible the surgery is not 100pct necessary to treat the cancer but it may be needed to be sure the cancer treatment worked. If surgery isn't done you are limited to imaging which cannot detect or diagnose as well as tissue samples.