312. It's Urgent, But It's Not an Emergency" Dr. Troso Sandoval on a New Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Sep 14, 2026 · 48 min · 16 segments
Love the podcast? Send us a text! Your scans came back. The portal posted results before anyone called. There are four appointments on the calendar…
Love the podcast? Send us a text! Your scans came back. The portal posted results before anyone called. There are four appointments on the calendar and a vocabulary nobody taught you — and underneath it all, the feeling that you're already behind. Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval spent 25 years treating women's breast and gynecologic cancers, much of it at Memorial Sloan Kettering. Her first piece of advice is the one nobody expects: slow down. Breast cancer treatment is urgent, she says, but it is not an emergency. It does not have to be solved in the next thirty-seven seconds — and the decisions you make in a panic are rarely the ones you'd make in a week. In this conversation with host Laura Carfang, Dr. Troso-Sandoval walks through what to do in the first 48 hours, why breast cancer is not one disease but many, and what she's actually looking at when she reads your pathology report — tumor size, margins, lymph nodes, Ki-67, receptor status — before she ever walks into the room. She explains hormone receptors and HER2 in plain language, why chemotherapy sometimes comes before surgery, and how Oncotype and MammaPrint answer the question so many people are carrying: do I even need chemo? She's also frank about the parts of oncology that aren't in the guidelines — that she doesn't treat an 84-year-old the same as a 34-year-old with identical pathology, and that treatment plans get built around whether your daughter can drive you. And there's one thing she circles back to make sure it's said out loud: if you're of childbearing age, fertility has to come up at the first visit. Not the third. 🔗 Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval — drtiffanytroso.com Her book, *Calming the Cancer Chaos: An Oncologist's Guide for Women to Understand, Organize, and Take Control of Their Cancer Care*, is out now and includes a free companion workbook. *Disclosure: Dr. Troso-Sandoval discusses her book and private practice in this episode. SurvivingBreastCancer.org received no payment and earns no commission.* 💗 About SurvivingBreastCancer.org We're a nonprofit providing evidence-based education, emotional support, and well-being resources to everyone touched by breast cancer — at every stage. 400+ programs a year, all virtual and 100% free. https://www.survivingbreastcancer.org 👉 Subscribe for new conversations every week, and share this with someone who needs it. ⚠️ This video is for educational purposes and is not medical advice. Dr. Troso-Sandoval is not your physician and cannot advise on individual cases; treatment standards described here are general and evolve rapidly. Please talk with your own oncology team about your diagnosis and treatment plan. Support the show **Listener Feedback** If this episode resonated with you, we invite you to leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You can also click the link in the show notes that says **"Love this episode? Send us a text"** to share feedback. Messages are completely anonymous. If you would like us to follow up directly, please include your email address in your message so we can respond. **Latest News:** - Join our Mailing List - New content drops every Monday! - Discover FREE programs, support groups, and resources from SurvivingBReastCancer.org! - Become a Breast Cancer Conversations+ Member! Sign Up Now. - Enjoying our content? Please consider supporting our work.
Love the podcast? Send us a text! Your scans came back. The portal posted results before anyone called. There are four appointments on the calendar…
