Nothing after surgery??

cupcakez

Hi everyone.

I was just diagnosed with ILC on Tuesday. I am scheduled for an MRI, then I think the order is they'll do a biopsy of the lymph nodes, then a lumpectomy, radiation, then hormone therapy. The surgeon said my cancer is very small, 3mm. I'm wondering since my cancer is so small, if just having the surgery would be enough. I'm sure I'll know more after the surgery and it depends on a lot of other factors. But what if I do nothing or just do the surgery and just keep an eye on it???

I was so stunned when I got the news. I'm 45 and this was my first mammogram..... geez, it's sort of like getting pregnant after having sex one time never thought 3mm anything could bring so much fear.

MinusTwo

cupcakz - the standard of care if you have a lumpectomy is radiation after the surgery. Sorry girl. It's really a shocker.

ChiSandy

Depending on the hormone-receptor status of your tumor, you may also be prescribed hormonal (more correctly, “endocrine”) therapy to starve tumor cells of estrogen—a pill you will take for at least 5 years to either gum up those receptors (tamoxifen) or thwart the process by which your fat cells & adrenal glands make estrogen (an aromatase inhibitor, or “AI”) so that you won’t have enough of it circulating to feed the tumor cells. And if on an AI, some sort of medication to protect your bones.

Surgery alone--except for mastectomy for some non-invasive (“in situ”) cancers (DCIS or LCIS)--is almost never enough: you need those “adjuvant” treatments (radiation, endocrine and in some cases chemo) to kill any stray tumor cells (“micromets”) that may remain after surgery.

But you’ll get through it. We’ve got your back and are “in your pocket."

cupcakez

Thank you both for your replies. I guess I was just hoping to be done with surgery alone.

Anonymous

ILC doesn't normally respond to chemo like IDC does. Often, esp.with this subtype and the fact that your tumor is so very small (take heart in that!--ILC is hard to detect because it doesn't grow like IDC and can hide from mammos for a long time-mine did that for at least five years after 5 "clear" mammos), you probably won't get chemo, and the tx you described--lumpectomy, radiation and hormone therapy--is standard for ILCrs like us. Mine was larger and I insisted on chemo and so did my MO since I had +nodes.

ILC has a tendency to be multi-focal and recur or at least manifest itself in both breasts, which is why I had a BMX even though I didn't really want one. The pathology post-surgery found I had hyperplasia in my "good" breast so I was relieved after I had the surgery. The hyperplasia was never discovered even with 2 breast MRIs, which is the best way to find ILC if it can be found.

We have a fairly active ILC board on this website, so I'd suggest you join us there. Lots of good info about ILC, which really is different than IDC, although tx can sometimes be similar.

I've done exhaustive research on this subtype, and perhaps it will help when I share that ILC tends to be a bit less aggressive than IDC, and slower growing overall. Ask any questions about ILC that you like there; we will try to help.

Welcome to the club no one wants to be a part of....and we are all here for you ILC, IDC, whatever. This website has helped me survive and thrive in spite of my diagnosis and kept me sane all these years. I hope it will do that for you, too.

Claire in AZ

cupcakez

Thanks so much Claire. You've given me a lot of info. Will definitely take part in ILC board. Just had my MRI. Hope it tells me something good....