Diagnosed on Feb 5th

Aram

hi all,

I was diagnosed on February 5th. I had an ultrasound on November 2020(my 6th on in 3 years) and was given "you are clear, go come back June 2022" in January 2021. Fast forward couple of weeks, I found a lump in the shower on Sunday, went in to see my dr on Monday, and on Friday I had the news: two cancerous tumors in my left breast. I am still waiting for receptor results. I am scheduled for double mastectomy this Wednesday unless if the full pathology report finds something against it. It has been rough. I am scared if they missed these two in all those ultrasounds, what else might be there? The same day as my biopsy I did a mamo as well, and it didn't show anything because of my extremely dense breasts.

AliceBastable

The surgery has been scheduled before the complete biopsy results are back? Wow. Do you even know the size of the tumors yet?

Good luck. Make sure your doctors aren't rushing you into this surgery before you have all the details, nor should you be rushing it without that knowledge.

Aram

The surgery is tentative till we get the results back and see which course of action is better, first chemo, then surgery or vice versa. What are the risks of surgery at this point?

From biopsy reports it is written:

1 cm x .2 cm to 1.1 cm x .2cm

.9cm x .2 cm to 1.3 cm x .2cm

Rah2464

Aram I could almost repeat your story. I, too, had extremely dense breasts. Except my mass never showed up with repeated imaging until I had an MRI. Every type of imaging has its limitations and dense breast tissue in particular is difficult to evaluate. I, too, chose a double mastectomy simply because my risks for a new breast cancer were higher with dense breast tissue and because I had such difficulty getting diagnosed. That and I also hoped to escape with the surgery as my only treatment since I was diagnosed with DCIS on my biopsy. Nope - surprise IDC in there.

Please, please make sure you have all your biopsy information before you have your surgery - receptor status is critical in determining treatment protocol. You should also be having a breast MRI in order to make sure there is no surprise in the second breast. Certainly if you are having a double mastectomy. If there is something determined by imaging( then proven by biopsy )you would want a sentinel node biopsy for that side as well. Once the breasts are removed, you lose the opportunity to identify a sentinel node. We all know how urgent this feels but I want you to have the best of care. I think I was 6 weeks between diagnosis and surgery. If your cancer is invasive, request a Oncotype or Mammaprint to evaluate aggressiveness of the masses. I wish you all the best. Please keep us updated.

Aram

thank you. The dr mentioned they inject me with some blue ink after surgery to see if the lymph nodeares light up. I thought that wouldn't me if lymph nodes are concerning. Is that different than the sentinel ones?

I am very concerned about not having an MRI before the surgery because of my extremelymph dense breasts. I should talk to him.

Poppy_90

Aram,

I am so sorry for what you are going through. My thoughts are the same as the others, please take your time. You should know all of the details of your cancer before making a decision. Maybe nothing will change, but don’t rush your decisions right now. If you’re not comfortable with your doctor’s pace, please get a second opinion. Your care team will mean so much in the upcoming months of treatment. I worry for the speed they are pushing you on this. Please do keep us updated.

Aram

I Just saw my dr and he had full pathology report. Unfortunately the tumors are ER and PR negative but HER2 positive. So he said it is best to start with chemo and we are delaying the surgery for after chemo. I am reading that timing is very important for Her2 positive. How long after diagnosis usually the chemo starts?

Rah2464

Ah so now we have a different direction. Chemo first then surgery. You still should push for the breast MRI simply so you know exactly what you are dealing with. If your surgeon won't pursue for some strange reason, your MO (medical oncologist) should. I am sure others can speak to the timing of the start of chemotherapy for you.

Redkitty815

My chemo started about 4 weeks after diagnosis. They put in a port, did genetic testing, did an MRI and, in my case, a PET/CT scan to check for spread as I had a larger tumor and one confirmed positive node. Her2+ is actually good news-it is aggressive, but there are many treatments that are very effective. You have about a year of treatment ahead-typically, you start chemo+Herceptin and possibly Perjeta, take a break when you've finished the chemo agents and have surgery, and then come back to finish your course of Herceptin/Perjeta.