Newly Diagnosed A Month Ago

val1127

I was diagnosed with IDC right breast the middle of December. I met with my surgeon Dec 22 and then the Radiation doc and MO this month. My surgeon ordered an MRI and wouldn’t you know, it showed a suspicious area on left breast that didn’t show on mammo due to density. I had an US last week and now they want to biopsy the left. They scheduled US Guided biopsy for this Thursday but the end of last week I received a cryptic call from the MO’s office saying they were scheduling some other biopsy at the hospital instead of breast center. I have no idea what is going on.

Like everyone else, my nerves are shot and the right mass is causing pretty continuous pain under my nipple. I still haven’t met with the plastic surgeon and we don’t have the OncoDX back yet. I’m 66 and don’t know what to do about reconstruction. Prior to the left breast issue, I faced a lumpectomy but now I don’t know given th left side.

I try to remain calm and know the Lord has this but the anxiety is real. I’m so thankful I found this site and can hear all your stories and find support. Thanks for letting me vent.

serendipity09

val1127 - so sorry you find yourself hereabout you have come to the right place. The members on this site have quite a bit of experience and so much knowledge. This site has really helped me and I've developed some great friendships. You are always welcome to vent!

The waiting IMO is the worst part.

I hope and pray that everything works in your favor.

VioletKali

I was DX at age 31. I chose to have a bilateral MX because I wanted the best outcome possible given that I REFUSED radiation. With a lumpectomy standard of care is Radiation. I knew I would never do it, regardless, so I chose a mastectomy.

I had a minimal scarring, nipple sparing technique. You can barely see the scars and my breasts still look great, I had the 2 best surgeons in my state working on my case. I am so thankful.

The Chemo, which I quit after 4 rounds, was far worse than my surgery. I found the process to be very straightforward, and they controlled my pain very very well.

val1127

Thank you, Serendipity, for the calming and reassuring words. I guess I just need to let the process play out as everyone on this journey has

val1127

VioletKali - I need to read up on the radiation issues since that was my initial recommendation (lumpectomy and RAD). I hope to avoid chemo mostly but if the BMX will do away with RAD, maybe it’s something to consider. thank

MountainMia

Radiation is part of the lumpectomy process. However, having a mastectomy does not guarantee that rads won't be needed. Your care team would have a pretty good idea of that, but until after surgery and the full pathology is known, they can't make guarantees, either. Good luck.

val1127

Hi all. Just an update on the never-ending testing process. Since my MRI showed 2 areas of suspicion on the contralateral breast, I had an US biopsy on the Left breast last week which was benign. However, there were 2 areas but both the US and US Guided Biopsy could only find one. Visit with BS today and he now wants an MRI Guided Biopsy on that other area. Meanwhile the primary Right breast tumor has grown and now become tethered to the skin so lumpectomy is out and plan is for MX. He also wanted to do chemo ahead of MX but I pushed back. Between issues with my NPs leaving etc I lost 4 months until I just got to the mamo early Dec. I've had a total of 2 US, 2 US guided biopsies, an MRI and now a 10 day wait for the MRI guided biopsy before we can even get to scheduling surgery. It's already been 2 months. A bit of good news is the Oncotype came back a 6!

I'm an old OR/ICU nurse and this whole process seems ridiculous to me. The latter part of my career was in healthcare data analytics, utilization practices and clinical outcomes. I was skeptical about over-utilization before and especially since covid. How do you know what is truly best practice and what is "because we can"? Does this seem normal to others? Thanks for your input.