32 yrs no family breast cancer but ovarian. a little confused

Beija,

Welcome!  Forgive me if I am confused or jump to the wrong conclusion.  Are you living in Puerto Rico?  I am not sure about how paperwork is written up in Puerto Rico.   You need to get a copy of the pathology report for your cancer.  The answers to your questions might be right there.  Sometimes you just have to look at every little detail.  If you have this information, post what it says, and we will try to help you understand it.  You already have some of the information.  How manylymph nodes did they biopsy?

I had no family history, and out of the blue was diagnosed with IDC.  Cancer doesn't foow any rules.

Meece

Hi Beija,

Breast cancer is categorized both by a grade and a stage.  Your breast cancer is IDC (invasive ductal carcinoma, the most common kind of breast cancer), grade 2.  Your cancer will not be fully staged until surgery, because they need an accurate sizing of the tumor, but it appears that you are node-negative (no lymph node carcinoma seen), that is good news and will mean a lower stage of your cancer.  Lower stages usually result in better outcomes.  The sentence about your bi-rads Category 6 - this is from an image (mammogram or MRI).  Images are categorized from 0-6.  Category 6 is reserved for a KNOWN malignancy, so I am thinking that you had another mammogram or MRI done after your biopsy? Don't worry about the bi-rads category 6, you already know from the biopsy that you have a cancer.

Like others said above, most breast cancers are NOT genetic and NOT related to family history.  That said, there is one "red flag" in your story - your grandmother has ovarian cancer?  The genetic mutations that do cause breast cancer can ALSO cause ovarian cancer.  So there is a chance that you and your grandmother have the same genetic mutation - it produced ovarian cancer in your grandmother and breast cancer in you.  If it is true that you and your grandmother have this mutation, then your mother also has it, but apparently she does not have cancer.  The mutation produces cancer about 85% of the time.

I would ask your doctor to please test you for the BRCA1/2 genetic mutations.  The outcome of that test would influence your treatment options, many people who are BRCA1/2 postive decide to prophylatically remove the unaffected breast.  I don't mean to scare you, but this is an important piece of information for your case.  

Regarding your HER-2 status - you say equivocal.  I am assuming this status was determined by immunohistochemical (IHC) staining, which can give equivocal results more often than another technique, called FISH.  Ask your doctor how the HER-2 status was determined, if it was by  IHC, request that they follow up with FISH.  Again, knowing your HER-2 status has implications for the choice of treatment - there are drugs available to specifically combat HER-2 positive cancers, and if you are positive you should be using them.

I'm sure your doctor knows all these things I'm saying, but when you also let him or her know that YOU know about it too, they will realize they are dealing with an informed woman who is ready and able to be actively involved in her treatment decisions!

Best of luck with your treatment decisions and best wishes to your abuela also!

Sue

Beija I totally understand how being nervous can "block" your understanding!  Bring a friend with you next time so they can help you take notes.  Also, read up a little about some of this on the breastcancer.org main pages - there is GREAT info there. 

Hey my brother used to live in P.R., for 15 years!  He lived on the northwest side of the island - he is a surfer   I visited once and loved it, what a beautiful island.  You're lucky to live in a paradise!  Where do you live there?