Breast Cancer - treatment options

Tweet

My friend was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She is in stage 2, has 2 tumours in one of her breasts - one is 2.5cm and one is 1.7cm. One of her lymph nodes also seems to be affected. She is 40 years old in good overall health with her only mentionable medical condition other than the cancer being a slight case of anaemia. While getting a second opinion one doctor informed her that she did have the option of foregoing the surgery in favour of radiation/chemotherapy only. Telling her that she could try the treatment first to see if that alone would eliminate the tumors and if not then she would have the surgery afterwards.Now she is left with uncertainty as far as which direction to head. She is leaning toward surgery but still wants to know more. I suppose knowing the following would help her: The advantage/disadvantage to treatment only without the surgery? Will the chances of the surgery being successful decrease if she has done the treatment first? Will she be worn down and unable to heal as easily if surgery is necessary after treatment? Are there any recent statistics that might help her decide between the two paths? Is the removal of all the lymph nodes a bad thing since they are in fact filters for the body? Is removing only the affected lymph nodes the way to go?