Local recurrence??

Pandabear

Its been 2 1/2 years since I completed my radiation for breast cancer. In my last mammogram the Radiologist found a "change" in my breast that had the cancer. I had a spot compression mammogram and an ultrasound. The Radiologist finds it "suspicious" and recommends a biopsy. Its in the exact same spot as my original cancer. I am waiting for approval for the biopsy. Needless to say, I am very scared! Has anyone else had a local recurrence with a lumpectomy? Or has anyone else had this and it turned out to be something else? Thank you!!!!

Pandabear

No one  ever responded to my post  

I am having a biopsy tomorrow so I guess I will fond out if I have a recurrence or it's nothing.

bevin

HI Pandabear, I'm so sorry you are facing a biospy tomorrow. Praying for you all goes well. I have not had your issues with a possible recurrence but wanted to stop by and give you some support. I know the weekends are a bit slow on the boards, but I'm certain someone with a similar situation will drop by with some input. Good luck tomorrow and keep me posted.

Basia

Hi, Hoping it isn't a recurrence. I had a mastectomy so I really cannot help  you out with this, but I do understand the fear. Take deep breaths and hope/pray for the best.  Hang in there

Morwenna

Just wishing you well!

I had a mastectomy rather than lumpectomy, in Dec 2012. In February this year I felt a nodule along the scar-line. I was panicked, and showed it to my physician, who thought it was ok, but sent me for an ultrasound "to be safe". The radiologist also thought it didn't feel like a malignancy, but wanted to biopsy it "to be sure".

Turns out it was just scar tissue, but that was a very anxiety-ridden four weeks or so, so I feel I can relate to what you are experiencing. It's horrible to have to think about going through treatment again.

Fingers crossed for B9 for you also!!! xx 

Pandabear

Thank you all for your kind words. I really appreciate it. My nerves are shot to hell. I will take a Valium tonight and hopefully I can sleep. I am much more nervous this time around. 

I wasn't able to find much on local recurrence with a lumpectomy.  I am not known for  my researching skills so maybe it's out there and I can't find it. 

Best to you. 

miss_sunshine

panda bear, I am thinking of you. I am in a similar situation. Please keep us posted.

miss_sunshine

panda bear, I am thinking of you. I am in a similar situation. Please keep us posted.

bluepearl

It isn't all that rare to have a recurrence with a lumpectomy actually. And it doesn't mean you have a higher risk of dying either. You have been monitored so it has been caught early...if cancer is what it is. I have had mastectomies which have a  1-2% recurrence rate and I am not sure about lumpectomies but it is a bit higher. Breast tissue is breast tissue and both yours and mine seemed to have liked growing things. Wishing the best results and try not to worry too much. Be careful of Dr. Google, btw.

BabyRuth

PandaBear-I had a recurrence after a lumpectomy first and then a year later after my BMX.   I am hoping you get good results from your biopsy today and will not have to go through this again.  Keep us updated on how your boiopsy goes and also when you get your results.  We will all be here to support you.

Pandabear

Thank you all for your  support and well wishes. It means a lot to me. 

I will get my results Wed. The "mass" is on top of my scar tissue close to the skin. I thought it was under all my scar tissue. 

Thank you again and I wish you all the best. 

And of course: GO LA KINGS!!!!! 

Pandabear

Well I got my results back and sadly it is cancer again damn. I feel like I can't catch a break. I see the surgeon tomorrow at 3:15. 

I am scared and disappointed but  I am not going to make myself sick with worry. I am going to Macys and buy that Lancôme lipgloss I had my eye on. I am going enjoy the LA kings game tonight. I will be ok. 

spendygirl

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry to hear this.  Good for you going to Macy's .  Please let us know what the surgeon says.  

Jaimieh

Pandabear I am so sorry to hear that you had a recurrence.    I had a double mastectomy that recurred like i had only had a lumpectomy.  It just stinks

Go buy yourself the lipstick.

bevin

Pandabear- I'm sorry to hear of your recurrence.  Praying your treatment plan will be easy on you and tough on your cancer.

Keep us posted and bestvwishes

Maureen1

(((Pandabear))) sorry for your news…you're in my thoughts and prayers as you face this beast and get a plan to kick it to the curb…(((hugs))) take care, Maureen

Pandabear

Thank you all for  the well wishes!!! 

JoanQuilts

I'm so sorry. I had a recurrence - or a new primary - close to my original lumpectomy site 19 years after the first. It was even smaller than the first one, I had a BMX and two years later here I am, with a new graduate degree, a new career, and I've started running. Oh, and I'm 56.   PM me if you'd like to talk privately. 

Tomboy

here's the deal: finished up everything, am now on femara, have been for three months. so, i have not done a mammo since january. but due to a bump i felt just outside the outside curve of breast, actually to me, it felt like it was on top of the rib-cage, sorta a straight line down from axilla. they did become concerned, and wanted to do biopsy, because the "palpated much bigger" than what the ultrasound showed. they were 2 benign glandular tissue. i guess that means nodes. good. so, but any way, over the course of the last month, i have been having tingling sensations in lymphedema arm, cancer side, and especially in my hand. so while doing lymphatic massage, i found a hard lump way high into my armpit, that feels like more hard nodes. i must have a heck of lot of them, if there are still some there. so,so three months ago, they did want to do a breast mri, which i had never had, only one just before lumpectomy, never one after. until march 28th. non mass enhancement associated with extensive architectural distortion at lumpy site. lymphnode enlargement, Questionable and nodular scar tissue, may need ultrasound follow up if they change at all.

so i did a short term breast mri followup friday and got the results today. this one noted again the non mass enhancement, which is little changed from the prior one. except, funnily to me, it did NOT mention the 13mm probable fat lobule which did have the most pronounced enhancement. Or not the two prior enlarged nodes, which ARE still enlarged, and the new ones that i have no trouble feeling. So, and here is the main thing. Today, i had to go in for the vad flush, it is why i was able to pick up the report. and every other time in the last year i have been there, my patient id bracelet has always said "outpatient".

So when i went to cut it off when i got back to my car, i noticed that it said: Recurring/Therapeutic.

WTF? And why are they not calling me, as per effin usuall?

ok. now that i concentrated enough to write that, pandabear, i am so so sorry to hear that about you, and am very sorry that you are dealing with it so soon. it is just awful to think we do everything the say, and still the cancer is the sneakiest damn bastard.

lago

kathec this is why at my treatment center they will not release the results till you speak with your doctor. Do not panic until someone tells you there's something to be panicked about. Now that you have had BC they watch every little zit. Yeah you get inside zits too. My recommendation is let your doctor know you want this explained to you not just a "every thing is stable" report.

Jujube43

I had a mastectomy on my right breast in February after 5 months of chemo. After mastectomy I had 36 rads, finishing on May 9th. I had a PET scan on June 17th, hopefully to join the ranks of NED and move on to hormone therapy. Soo, on June 23rd,  I got the results..no NED for me...another area of concern. I had a biopsy yesterday and will get the results on July 11th. The onco was concerned and when I asked he said if it's cancer it would likely be a recurrence.....

Tomboy

lago, but i dont want inside zits!

juane43,  it does sound like you are in good hands you may still be ned! my thoughts will be with you, and i will keep my eye out for your name, to see how it went. thats pretty quick to have a recurrance, if that is what it is. and plus, if it is, the hormone therapy that you are taking is a very powerful treatment, and if it is, your onc might say that that treatment may take care of it. but i do have to admit that i dont know much at all about IBC. do you know how to use the search button at the left of your compute screen? there is a dropdown menu there, and one of the categories is IBC, and you can go there too and ask questions of those ladies, who are very knowledgeable about it. good luck, sweetie.

Jujube43

Thanks Kath, I do keep an eye on the IBC forum. I'm worried of course. I was hoping for NED so I could visit my kids and sister, all in Illinois .  My onco seemed concerned and said there was also an area of concern on a lymph node. Good grief, I thought they took them, the surgeon removed 17 all cancerous. But she also didn't know if she got all the cancer. There was a secondary tumor ane I guess she had quite a mess to deal with. I am happy with my team and whatever happens I'm ready to deal with it. I'm lucky in so many ways...except for cancer I am very healthy, especially at the age of 71..

I think whatever cancer we have we're all pretty much in the same boat....but no one who hasn't been down the cancer road can really understand. 

Tomboy

absolutely true. and my tumor in my breast was a little over 1 cm, and when it went crazy in my nodes? the largest tumor--node mass was over 2.5 cm's! and another one almost as big as that! and i never knew! i hope you get NED.

Jujube43

I have my fingers crossed. I just talked to my daughter and she's engaged! It will be a 2nd marriage for both of them but I am so thrilled! No firm date but no wedding before next spring...so it's time to get the show on the road..! The faster I know what I'm facing the faster I can make it go away...

Tomboy

i really really hope that its nothing, for you, so that you can run off to see your kids and sister. maybe in any case, your onc would let you wait before starting any kind of a treatment plan. if it was something that needed to be dealt with. i am thinking that he cant be that concerned, if he is waiting that long for the big reveal. especially when you had ibc! so there. i think you are gonna be allright!

Jujube43

I saw my onc today. I do have a recurrence.  He said I am treatable, but not curable. However I do not have mets so I remain at stage 3C. He has started me on Femara, as well as calcium with vitamin D. If the cancer shows signs of growing he will add another hormone drug of the same class. The next step will be chemo. I asked why we could not go directly to the 2 drugs, but he said it's because of insurance...the same reason he can't go directly to  chemo...I guess it's untreatable because of the rapidity of the recurrence. I just finished my rads in May...and it grew very fast...I will be in treatment always...

Tomboy

....that just does not sound right to me. no one does two hormonals, that i know of. and how come he did not put you on femara right after rads? he is playing with your life. where do you go?

Lily55

there are combinations of anti hormonals that can help, although you are not stage four it might help to ask questions on the not stage four but have questions thread?

Local recurrence is the best recurrence to have but it still stinks......

Jujube43

I was about to go on a hormone at my last visit, but he wanted a PET scan first..then I needed a biopsy...

Tomboy

so, so sorry to hear that juane. it is just not fair! my docs here just threw everything at me with intent to cure. even 3c is curable, so they said. it is a major teaching hospital, very tied to the NCCN, and are one of the top ones. i lucked out, i was unemployed at the time, and qualified for low income insurance too go there. they have been mostly great, and i do trust my onc. i would get a second opinion from a different treatment center, if at all possible. no one told me i was going to have to be in treatment for the rest of my life!! i might be, but they dont know! i consider myself not cured, but in remmision until i test positive again. yours is only a grade 2, not quite as agressive, but chemo should work on you. which chemo did you have?

pandabear, where are you, and how are YOU doing? if you would like to meet and talk, i don't live that far away from you, we could meet half way! we could have lunch at ikea! i hope you are ok, you havent posted here for a while. peace and a good restful saturday, to all good women here..