negative nodes ending up with Mets - numbers?

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited July 2009

    JanMarch - I know what you mean about being concerned.  While my cancer was not in the same area as yours my surgeon only took two nodes.  One was the sentinal node and the other she said was a bit hard so she took it.  Then I come here and so many people had more than that removed you start to wonder, "Did they get the right one?"  I think it's just the nature of the beast.  Cancer sucks!  You question everything and you should.  This is our lives we're talking about!  I'm hoping to get the results of my 1st breast MRI since my surgery in January today.  Don't have an appointment with my surgeon until mid-August, but I'm not waiting til then.  Looking forward to a day when I don't think about cancer at all.  I'd like just one day!

    Sue

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  • lexislove
    lexislove Member Posts: 2,645
    edited July 2009

    The chart seems a bit cookoo to me. But arn't they all...

    Stage 2B = No nodes & tumor over 5cm...or tumor less than 5 cm & 1-3 nodes

    Stage 3A = 4 or more positive nodes, regardless of tumor size

    I'll say it again...cancersmancer...stage is ONLY used for treatment purposes!

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  • jrgolomb
    jrgolomb Member Posts: 1,236
    edited July 2009

    Carcharm---I am exactly in the same spot as you are.  Cancer in the inner quadrant and I read the study you did and the docs don't even seem to address it.  After reading all the posts on this thread, reading the study about the inner quadrant issue and all that, now I really wonder what to do. I am really going to press the oncologist next week when I see him about this.......

    Jilly-- I think you asked a good question.  What are the numbers??????

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  • Newbie21
    Newbie21 Member Posts: 70
    edited July 2009

    Hi all,

    Anyone as confused as I am? Nothing is clear in my head anymore. The more I read the more it gets scary and confusing.  Take care all, Giulia

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  • jrgolomb
    jrgolomb Member Posts: 1,236
    edited July 2009

    Hell ya, newbie21!!!

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  • hollyann
    hollyann Member Posts: 2,992
    edited July 2009

    MOC how do you use the conditional outcome program?....WHere would I find it?.......

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  • AllieM22
    AllieM22 Member Posts: 464
    edited July 2009

    I thought that if they used the radioactive iodine (rather than the blue dye) they could scan the breast nodes. I will ask my surgeon. It's like a geiger counter that they use and that should show up through the breast bone...

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  • hollyann
    hollyann Member Posts: 2,992
    edited July 2009

    Yes my breast surgeon used the radioactive iodine.....Maybe that is why my doctor is so positive I will not get mets with my dx.....BUT if the iodine does't drain into the breast nodes in the breast or just below the rib cage it wouldn't show up there either...........

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  • Member_of_the_Club
    Member_of_the_Club Member Posts: 3,646
    edited July 2009

    ReneeS posted the link to the outcome model.  At the top there are different options and one is conditional.

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited July 2009

    Met with an onc for the FIRST time today. She says micromets means nothing and is treated as negative nodes. She said position of tumour means nothing. She smiled when I asked about intra mammary nodes and said ALL breast tissue drains through the axilary nodes in the armpit. Really?

    I'm not "borrowing trouble", I've been fine with my double mast, but the more I see treatments on here the more I feel left out. I didn't have a follow up with my surgeon for 6 months as he had 4 stents put into his heart. The onc today said if any chemo were going to be done it would have had to be in the first 3 months after surgery. Oh, so that makes it okay that I didn't get any? Covering their butts?

    Oh, I'm okay, just told her I wanted to make sure I did all I could. She asked if I felt like I had fallen in the cracks. I said YES! 

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited July 2009

    barbe1958 - Sorry it didn't go better for you.  It's very frustrating.  I went on Wednesday for an MRI which at first when the surgeon tried to get authorization some company that mediates for my insurnace company said no, that breast cancer didn't warrant having a 2nd MRI in less than a yr.  I wanted to call these people & say if it was your mother, sister, friend, etc. and the surgeon wanted it done I know damn well you'd be authorizing it!  I called today to pick up my results since I don't see the surgeon for 3 weeks & there was no way I was waiting that long. When I told the guy I wanted to pick up a copy he kind of hesitated.  I then told him I've already been diagnosed with breat cancer, there is nothing in that report I can't see. He said the results would be waiting for me.  You just want to know you're getting the best care and straight answers.

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  • mshalto
    mshalto Member Posts: 70
    edited August 2009

    Barbe1958,

    My oncologist also told me that tumor position meant nothing...in fact, she called this belief "folklore"! :)

    mshalto (new kid on the block..)

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited August 2009

    Oh Sydney, please let us know here what your results are. I don't want to have to hunt you down all over the boards looking for you! {{{{{{{{{{ hugs }}}}}}}}}}}

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  • hrf
    hrf Member Posts: 3,225
    edited August 2009

    barbe, how are you feeling? Is there going to be follow up with the onc? Did she recommend hormone therapy?

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited August 2009

    No therapy at all! It seems I've done all I need to.

    I get to go home tomorrow! I haven't had morphine for 12 hours now. It's been a looooong week. 

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  • hrf
    hrf Member Posts: 3,225
    edited August 2009

    Barbe, that is indeed good news!!! Enjoy the weekend.

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  • jude14
    jude14 Member Posts: 293
    edited August 2009

    Hey lexislove...I nearly fell over laughing when I read your post because I was thinking the same thng while reading.....lol  jude14

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited August 2009

    Hey barbe1958 - Got my MRI results.  The side I had my surgery on said, "Skin thickening with architectural distortion of the right breast and postoperative changes."  Six month followup breast MRI recommended.  I think what gets to me sometimes is that when I was first told it was cancer and the procedure  - surgery, radiation, Tamoxifen - I was like O.K. I can do this & put it behind me.  It's not like that.  There's always another test and that worry until you get the test results.  A few months ago at my oncologists office the nurse who was taking my blood said they were checking my tumor markers.  And I was like, "What tumor markers.  The tumor is gone."  Then I reserched it and realized this crap shows up in your blood once you've had breast cancer making you think about it more, especially with the whole lymphovascular involvement thing.  Thanks for your support.  I try not to talk to my husband or kids too much about it as they just want to move on - and who can blame them.  Thanks for listening.

    Sue

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  • barbe1958
    barbe1958 Member Posts: 19,757
    edited August 2009

    So Sue, is that okay then? Architectural changes, like scar tissue build up? The onc did spend some good time going inch by inch over my two scars, she felt some thickenings but put them down to scar tissue. I won't be prescribed an MRI unless something weird shows up.

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited August 2009

    barbie1958 - Who knows if it's O.K.  I'll see the surgeon for follow up in a few weeks.  When I read the report to my sister she said, "Of course there's architectual distortion, they cut a piece of your boob out!"

    JO-5 - Beilieve it or not I don't worry so much about it coming back.  I worry more about cancer cells that may have escaped and are growing somewhere else.  Or I worry that maybe the Tamoxifen isn't working?  I've been on it 3 months and don't really have any noticeable SE.

    Sue

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  • Newbie21
    Newbie21 Member Posts: 70
    edited August 2009

    Hi all,

    Barbe and mshalto, i hope your oncs are right about tumour location and axilla nodes! :)

    Thanks for sharing that info you recieved. Are they goods oncs? Being bad here i know.....sorry.

    Hugs to all, Giulia

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  • AllieM22
    AllieM22 Member Posts: 464
    edited August 2009

    Sue--

    keep in mind that just b/c you don't have SEs doesn't mean the tamoxifen isn't working. I just went over all that with my onc. If you are younger, you are probably handling it better. Also if you want, there is a test you can take that tells you how well you metabolize the tamoxifen so even if you don't have SEs you know it's working... 

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited August 2009

    AllieM22 - I just turned 46.  I thought the test to measure how well you metabolize Tamoxifen was only for postmenopausal women?

    Sue

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  • AllieM22
    AllieM22 Member Posts: 464
    edited August 2009

    Hmm--I didn't hear that and I am pre-meno. I wouldn't think it would matter...? I am trying to think of a reason why that would be. Perhaps b/c pre-meno women can't take any of the AIs so they automatically go on tamoxifen. I had the test done b/c I wanted to make sure it would work since I wasn't doing chemo...

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited August 2009

    AllieM22 - I was reading up a bit on this today (I guess this isn't going to be the day I don't think about cancer!) and I think what you said is right about not having any other options.  Here's something else interesting I found out today.  Benedryl is one of the medications listed that can moderately block CYP2D6.  Ah ha!  If you happened to catch my thread about Itching & Cancer you'd know I've been dealing with this incredible itch since February 2008.  (I believe it is related to my cancer.)  Since my surgery & radiation it has cleared up everywhere except my neck, face & hands.  Many nights I can't sleep because of it and I get up and take Benedryl.  I guess I have to break that habit!  I feel like I'm caught in a big catch-22.

    Sue 

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  • AllieM22
    AllieM22 Member Posts: 464
    edited August 2009

    Oh no Sue! That's terrible--first of all the itch, secondly the one thing that can help!! :(

    I would ask a dr or pharmacist if another product would help the itch...good luck!! Itching is terrible. 

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  • Sydney6
    Sydney6 Member Posts: 172
    edited August 2009

    I was actually at the dermatologist yesterday Allie and got a prescription for prednisone.  Hopefully that will stop the itch long enough for my skin to heal and this awful cycle will be broken.  Just thought maybe someone should have mentioned it's not good to take Benedryl while on Tamox. 

    Sue

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  • AllieM22
    AllieM22 Member Posts: 464
    edited August 2009

    Oh good. And thanks for sharing since that is such a common drug. I take Claritin every day. Hadn't heard about any issue with that but if anyone has, let me know!! 

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  • JanMarch
    JanMarch Member Posts: 167
    edited August 2009

    Sue - Another note on the Benedryl...I was taking Tylenol PM to help me sleep and my onc told me that the sleep aid in Tylenol PM it is dipenhydramine (sp?), which is the same thing as Benedryl.  Another thing to add to the list of stuff not to take!

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  • rdrake0
    rdrake0 Member Posts: 180
    edited August 2009

    Have you tried Melatonin to help you sleep?  It works for me and has medicinal value as well. (Don't remember what that was right off, sorry.)

    Ruth

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