Mom has recurrence just 4 months after lumpectomy

Anonymous

Mom has recurrence just 4 months after lumpectomy

Bowks40

Hello Everyone, and firstly, I would like to wish all patients the best of luck with their treatments and pray for cure for everyone!

My 75 year dear Momma was diagnosed this October with a 15mm lobular tumor in her right breast. The treatment was lumpectomy and tamoxifen. She was considered stage 1a and was told she would have a heart attack before she would pass from BC. Fast forward to yesterday to her follow up mammogram and ultrasound. Today she was called and told it was highly likely that her 7mm mass in same breast different location was malignant. I’m not a dr but I can’t help but wonder why radiation wasn’t recommended? Or another pill (I can’t name but I know there are several) My Mom is obviously older and a mastectomy would be very difficult as her overall health isn’t Great (heart a fib and painful neuropathy) I feel mistakes were made and my poor mom wasn’t not given enough treatment to Have a recurrence so quickly. So worried and disappointed in her care. Any advice or Thoughts from you amazing warriors?

So so sad Laurie

Icietla

Bowks40, Please know that you are not being ignored. I am typing a response to you. It is going to take a while.

Moderators

Hi Bowks, and welcome to Breastcancer.org,

We're so sorry to hear of your mom's situation, but we're really glad you found us. You're sure to find our community an amazing resource for support, information, and advice. Others will surely be by shortly to weigh in with their thoughts and experience.

We wish your mom the best of luck and we look forward to hearing more from you! Please let us know if we can help at all.

--The Mods

Linda19152

terrible terrible obviously I the surgeon was not that great get her a better surgeon next time it was a recurrence cuz the surgeon didn't get everything

Bowks40

hello and thanks so much for replying . I thought the same thing until I learned that the new tumor was on the complete opposite side of breast. I’m so confused. Maybe it was already growing but not visible when her first one (15mm) was being removed? So upsetting. No radiation was recommended just the lumpectomy and pill... and she would be fine..NOPE Now we have a new 7mm!

Bowks40

thanks lcietia! I’m looking forward to your thoughts

Shellsatthebeach

I have heard of tumors hiding from scans and not being discovered until surgery after a mastecomy. That was not my case. In my case a new growth took form while I was undergoing chemo because the Her2 status changed from negative to positive. Basically, I have to be treated with infusions that are specific to Her2 positive tumors. Has your mom had the new growth biopsied yet?

Bowks40

Hello and thanks so much for replying! I’m so sorry you have this battle but it sounds like you are in great care and will win the fight. My moms biopsy is Tuesday so we will know more then. I will post what type of tumor it is. Thanks again for replying! You guys are so great

Shellsatthebeach

I hope all goes well with your mom! Please let us know how the biopsy goes.

Icietla

I am so sorry about what your Mom has been going through. It is a scary experience, I know, a terrible shock, and I am sure it is frustrating and discouraging to anticipate having to go through active treatment again and already. I know that you are also suffering with fears and worry about your Mom.

I am doubtful that the new finding is of a (truly) new tumor. I am suggesting that it might be more aptly thought of as a remaining tumor, rather than as a recurrence. If it is malignant, we can fairly figure that the newly discovered mass would have been growing there already when her other tumor was (just recently) discovered and treated. If this newly discovered mass is of a more aggressive type cancer, its growth in the interim might explain why it has only since become apparent in medical imaging. If this newly discovered mass is of Lobular origin, that could explain why it was not discovered before -- Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) has been known to be capable of evading detection by mammography; by ultrasound; and even by MRI, which is the imaging type most sensitive to it, thus the most likely means to find it. ILC can grow in wispy, spiderweb-like sheets or in strands only a single cell wide and a single cell deep; moreover, even when ILC tissue forms a clump, it may have only the same apparent density as the surrounding (normal) breast tissue, or it may even be less dense than the surrounding (normal) breast tissue. Speaking generally, ILC has more tendency than (most) Ductal type to have multifocal, (and/or) multicentric, and/or (already or sooner/later) bilateral occurrence.

Take a look through this discussion thread linked here and also the other content linked therein__

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/71/topics/862161?page=1#top

From my reading here on BCO, it is my understanding that breast cancer tissues can have changes in Grade and IHC characteristics over time and/or from systemic treatment (Chemotherapy or anti-hormonal treatment).

>>I can't help but wonder why radiation wasn't recommended?<<

That is a good question. I cannot guess. Had your Mom ever had any Radiation Treatment at her upper body? Perhaps there was a judgment to forego Radiation Treatment because of her heart condition (?). Some older patients are very practically challenged in their prospects for daily transportation, all the weekdays for weeks. Considerate persons wish never to be burdensome to others. Regular transportation by taxi could make for financial hardship. In some areas there is neither public transportation nor taxi service available. Among the common effects and aftereffects of Radiation Treatment is marked and increasing tiredness -- increasing for perhaps nine months or so -- or for longer -- after the finish of Radiation Treatment.

>>She was considered stage 1a and was told she would have a heart attack before she would pass from BC.<<

Ageism – there is ageism about persons on either side of the age spectrum -- may have something to do with it. Life is precious, suffering is suffering, and peace of mind is peace of mind, no matter whose it is. Nobody has any business making discounting judgments as to other persons' worthiness and quality of life.

Some folks her age will outlive many folks half her age. She is as worthy as any other of effective treatment – the most likely effective treatment she can tolerate, her safety and health circumstances permitting, aimed at her best prospects for recovery and healthy (-as-practicable) survival. Her risk of dying from breast cancer is not nearly the whole issue. There is also the possibility of living with and suffering from (advancing) breast cancer. Suffering is suffering, no matter whose suffering it is.

>>Or another pill ((I can't name but I know there are several)<<

You are thinking of the Aromatase Inhibitors (AIs). They are typically prescribed for ongoing treatment for postmenopausal women having (or having had) hormone receptor-positive breast cancer. One possible explanation for the selection of Tamoxifen instead might be the condition of your Mom's bones. Tamoxifen tends to prevent bone thinning. Aromatase Inhibitor treatment tends to thin the bones, making them more prone to fracture. As to worse possible consequences, see member ChiSandy's post here__

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/78/topics/726592?page=306#post_5055502

For many cases, there are some treatments to help about the bones' strength and endurance that may be given in connection with Aromatase Inhibitor treatment. Those bone medicines can have bothersome and serious side effects.

Your Mom's other health conditions and medication/s therefor might explain the choice of Tamoxifen for her case. Some medicines can impair the effectiveness of Aromatase Inhibitors. Some medicines in combination with AI therapy can cause serious complications.

>>a mastectomy would be very difficult as her overall health isn't Great (heart a fib and painful neuropathy)<<

In cases of invasive breast cancer, the usual mastectomy surgery type is modified radical mastectomy for the diseased breast – this is like "simple" mastectomy, but with some lymph node collection done in coincidence with the mastectomy surgery. "Simple" mastectomy is done as prophylactic mastectomy for a breast believed to be undiseased. Typical mastectomy surgery is not nearly so invasive nor (physically) traumatic as open surgery that goes into the chest cavity.

If your Mom is considering mastectomy surgery, we will be glad to point you to discussions that will fairly tell you what to expect, how to prepare, and how to prepare for optimal recovery.

Some of us have neuropathy from cancer treatment/s, some of us from other causes.

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topics/763459?page=56#post_4935002

https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/69/topics/763459?page=1

We are a true Community of Brothers and Sisters who understand and want to support you both through the breast cancer experience. We wish for your Mom to be as happy and as well as she can be. No matter your situation, you are never alone here at BCO. We are here for you, Laurie.

Zoisite

Hi Bowks40 I had a lumpectomy with radiation and tamoxifen and a year later I had a new cancer in the same breast but a different quadrant. I am so sorry your mom is going through all of this it’s so hard on the patient and the family. Prayers for you both

KBeee

I had a clear MRI and 2 weeks later a tumor was found during surgery. Sometimes they are too small for imaging to see.

Hoping your mom has a clear plan of attack soon. Sorry she is dealing with this again