Help me understand diagnosis, please.

juljon

Today my mother was given the details of her cancer.  She was diagnosed this past Friday and what a whirlwind the last few days has been.  The oncologist gave us the following:

Grade 3, stage 2, IDC cancer, right breast, around 4 inches, does not show in the 4 lymph nodes they checked, seems very agressive, there less than a year, does not have estrogen receptors.

Every word of this is a foreign language to us!  He recommeded 4-6 months of chemo prior to surgery and then 7 weeks of daily radiation.  I don't know anyone who had chemo before surgery.  I don't know what to expect or how to explain to her.  I know we are scared to the core.

She will go on Monday for an MRI which will give them further insight into her condition.  She will also have bone scan, ct scan and further tests and towards the end of the week we will meet again to schedule everything.

 I welcome your input and greatly appreciate the time you take in reading my simple comments.  My mother is my best friend.  A beautiful 55 year old woman who has been perfectly healthy her entire life and eased through menopause with humor and a hot flash.  She works out daily, eats good and works as a barber full time.  She is energetic, outgoing and my three year old daughters world.  How can a moment turn your world upside down?  How can we make sense of this and get through it?

It is my mother and I love her.

jancie

Grade 3 is an aggressive cancer which is why I would think her oncologist is wanting to do chemo first and that is to try to kill those cancer cells that move through the lymph glands or vascular system of your body.  It makes total sense to do chemo first when you are grade 3. 

There are other reasons to do chemo first with a large tumor and that is Adriamycin/Cytoxin followed by Taxol as in many cases this chemo cocktail can shrink the tumor to where the surgery doesn't have to be so invasive.  I had a 4 CM tumor that shrank down to nothing after doing chemo first so my surgery was a lumpectomy.

It is normal to have a bone scan and CT scan done along with an MRI.  The bone scan will show if the cancer has spread to the bones (a place that breast cancer loves to go to), the CT scan would show if the cancer has spread to any other organs of her body.  The MRI is done to see if there is anything else going on in her breasts that may not have been picked up on the mammogram or Ultrasound.  Do know that MRI's will show areas of concern that might not be a problem at all, so typically if the MRI shows other areas of concern it would be normal for them to schedule another ultrasound to look more closely at those areas.  My MRI showed areas of concern on my right breast (non-cancerous breast) but after having an ultrasound afterwards, cancer was ruled out of that breast and I only had it in my left breast.

There is a forum for chemotherapy and I would suggest that you go to that forum and look at the different threads that are pinned at the top.  There are some very informative threads on what to expect from chemo, how to prepare for chemo, and how to manage the SE's.

Between each phase of treatment is normally a 4-6 week period where no treatment is given.  In other words you do all your chemo, wait 6 weeks and do surgery, wait 6 weeks and do radiation.  This is to give your body time to heal in between the various treatments.  

Since her tumor is Grade 3, they wouldn't want to wait another 8 weeks or so to start chemo because the cancer is growing at an aggressive rate.  I am calculating 2 weeks to get surgery scheduled and then 6 weeks of recuperation prior to starting chemo.

I am not an expert like some of these women so be patient because someone will come in here and help you out on more of the particulars.

It is a scary time, not only for your mom but also for yourself but there are support groups, this on-line support group, etc. that can help you and your mom.