Myth #18: Second opinions are only for treatment options. Once I know I have breast cancer, I can get a second opinion on how to treat the disease.

Oh, how I wish I were queen for a day and could change the world… especially on this one. I wouldn’t be writing this had I not gotten a second opinion, but furthermore, I know women here in Reno that had they not gotten a second opinion on the pre-treatment pathology they’d have received the WRONG treatment.

Pathology reports can be WRONG. One women I helped get from Reno to M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, had been told a completely inaccurate characterization of her breast cancer here in Reno. It wasn’t until she sent the pathology blocks to MDACC that she got a correct diagnosis and then correct treatment.

The bottom line: Get a second opinion before you do anything!

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The first thing you need is a second opinion

I just got a Christmas Greetings newsletter from an organization that I didn’t even know existed, and how I wish we had something like it here in Nevada. The Arizona Institute for Breast Health is a non-profit committed to empowering women to get the right information in the beginning - including a second opinion - before they commit themselves to a course of action that may not be optimal to their survival.

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Please! Get a second opinion in a breast cancer diagnosis.

The news of having cancer, any type of cancer is so horrible that it seems to be simple human instinct that takes over, saying ‘get out and get it out now’.  It’ perhaps our pre-historic survival instincts at work, but in light of modern medical science that could be the very worst course of action. You simply must get a second, or even third opinion.

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