Low grade ILC and upcoming lumpectomy

Siciliana

I am having my preop appointment with BS Wednesday next week, after the cancer team meets to discuss my case. What questions should I ask? Surgeon has recommended a lumpectomy. A "fly in the ointment" is that my staging MRI showed another smaller mass (4 mm.) about 8 mm. from the biopsied one which is about 1 cm. in size. Had ultrasound the other day which clearly showed it, but I heard the technician say she could only see it on the sagittal view. The smaller mass was missed on my diagnostic mammogram and U/S at the time of biopsy in December. BS seems confident he can get both masses out in one piece since they are so close to each other. He will do a sentinel node biopsy.

Does the presence of this second mass mean that I have "multifocal" cancer? (Maybe it's a dumb question!) I am getting quite anxious about the upcoming surgery and just hope I am making the right decision. Based on what we know now, I will need radiation and anti-estrogen therapy. (ER 99% positive, PR 10% positive, and HER negative). They are not recommending chemo at this time, but that could change based on the pathology results at surgery.

I hear so much about ILC being sneaky and hard to spot, so I'm very nervous. But at the same time, I really would like to avoid mastectomy if possible. Thanks in advance for any input.

jojo9999

I think the answer would be yes - multifocal. I had multifocal disease - three areas too far apart for a lx. My experience was that the MRI was very accurate - the MRI report compared to the mastectomy pathology showed very similar dimensions, and no surprises.

Good luck!

Anonymous

ILC has more of a tendency to be multi-focal and indeed hides from regular mammos and US. So getting an MRI is a good thing; they are very accurate. My own mild displasia (on my "good" breast) wasn't found till my MX--had hid from mammos and US, even MRIs. That mild displasia could have gone very bad had I left it there. And of course after I saw the pathology I was glad I got my BMX.

Siciliana

Hello everyone! My surgery date got pushed back because my blood pressure was way too high. I'm sure the stress of this diagnosis and all the "unknowns" are what caused it to spike up. I finally got it under control, so tomorrow afternoon I will have the sentinel node injections and 8:30 Thursday I will have a lumpectomy. Not looking forward to the injections, but I called the nuclear medicine department and he helped me process what is going to take place. Better to know what to expect, I guess. Wish me luck!

cupcakez

Hi there Siciliana. Wanted to ask if you could share your experience with the injections....I will be having that in the future as well. I read people's experiences with it here. They seem to vary a lot.

Siciliana

Hi Cupcakez! I am happy to report that the sentinel node injections were not bad at all! I felt a couple of very brief stings, and that was it, out of a total of four injections. I hope you have the same experience. Totally tolerable. I had my lumpectomy yesterday morning and it was pretty drama-free as well. I am pleased with my surgeon and my total experience so far at Overlake Medical Center in Bellevue, WA.

cupcakez

I am so happy surgery went well for you!! I'm so nervous about my surgery too whenever that's going to be. I just had MRI biopsy. And it was horrible! Took two hrs n my breast was compressed tightly all that time. ((

Anyway hope you recover quickly n wish you well in your future treatments. Thanks for sharing.

Siciliana

Ouch, that doesn't sound like a good time at all! Hopefully everything will go much easier for you on the rest of your journey. Wishing you positive thoughts! Keep us posted.

Mamasha

HI siciliana,

I remember when we were dx at the same time in the waiting thread. I'm glad you had your surgery. I feel terrible that you had to wait this long but I'm SO glad that it's over and you are doing well. I've finished 12/20 radiation treatment's and haven't started tamoxifen yet....lucky I can wait until rads are over. Still can't believe I have bc.

Hugs