Still waiting for surgery...Triple Negative tumor

sickmom

Hi Ladies,

I don't know where to begin...My mom was recently DX with IDC, GRADE 3, tumor estimated to be 2CM on 09/14/09. She felt the tumor back in May, but decide she would until her annual in August. Like everyone, we were devastated when the biopsy came back positive with cancer. 18 years ago, my poor mommy was DX with Leukemia when she was pregnant with my youngest sister (and was treated at MD Anderson). We thought we were going to loose her, but she pulled through THANK GOD. We thought having cancer once is enough for anybody to go thru, but now here we are again.

I have some questions I hope someone can help me with.

Right after her DX, we know we want her to go the MD Anderson. She has Medicaid, so we had to go thru a lot of hoops to go to MDA since it's out of network. Finally we're able to schedule an appointment, but it's not until 10/16 which is ONE MONTH after her DX. Since her tumor is consider grade 3 - aggressive, will waiting this long make it worst? It's been two weeks, and we have another two weeks before her first appointment. The inital mammogram show that the mass is about 1 cm, but the biospy guided ultra sound say it's about 2cm! Could it grow that fast? My greatest fear is the cancer is going to spread/METS...every time I see her with back pain, cough, headache all I can think about is MY GOD IT'S SPREADING :-(

Also, are there any signs or symptoms if the cancer has spread to her nodes? I notice that her right arm muscle and armpit is harder than her left...her tumor is on right breast at 6:00 position. Her armpit appear to be harder, and a little swollen. Does anyone with this symptoms, but with negative nodes? I know the only only way to tell for sure is SNB, but the we're still waiting for surgery.

Also, just found out today from the biopsy report that it's Triple negative.

Reading everyone's story gives me hope that my mom will beat this disease like she did the first!