kind of in shock

gretchy

My breast surgeon made it sound like I had plain old DCIS maybe crossing to something else. Then I went to my first oncology consult today and she said the papillary carcinoma I have only .05% of the population has it and not as many studies are done on it. Something about microinvasion too. I have the sentinal node biopsy on Nov. 13th and she is ordering some oncotype test to get more definitive about treatment options. I just wondered how other people feel when they are told they have something more rare Does that scare them? It scares me I don't know why even though she said it's not aggressive and that's why she wants to take her time to get results so she can be really sure about the treatment plan..

leftyloo

hi gretchy - is it micropapillary breast cancer? this is a rare type as well (which i had before the mastectomy) and yes, i was very scared too!

i just got back the oncotype DX results (took 5 weeks!!) and it is a test that gives you an idea about the risk of recurrence of your cancer... i was middle risk, so that's a 50/50 guess and not too definitive or helpful! my oncologist made his opinion about whether i should have chemo by my age (still young in cancer terms!), by the type (aggressive), and by whether or not it had escaped to blood vessels (vascular invasion) or lymph nodes (i had vascular invasion, but no lymph involvement). so chemo it is... although i'm really not into the poisoning factor of it, my peace of mind will be a touch better let's hope! hang in there.

Moderators

You may find these articles on our main site of interest with information on Diagnosis of DCIS OR IDC — Invasive Ductal Carcinoma where you'll learn about symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, etc.

Possibly of interest too is the Oncotype DX Test

We hope this helps!

The Mods