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Nipi
Nipi Member Posts: 38
edited June 2014 in DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ)
Overnight Change
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  • Nipi
    Nipi Member Posts: 38
    edited December 2009

    Hello Ladies !

    Back in November I was dx with atypical ductal hyperplasia. I was really scared, and nervous about what this would mean for me, but hopeful that at my excisional biopsy on Dec. 17th. they would clean it all out and just put me on 6 month schedule of alternate mamo, u/s and mri's. Well,
    when I went in for my post op the pa tells me that they found a little dcis.
    I was upset and had begun to cry. The pa tells me that it is so little and just a "pre cancer" and all it means is that I am at higher risk, at which the adh had already put me there. When the BS came in, she told me how I would need a re incision to clean it all out, and radiation for 6 weeks, and after that I could go on have another baby and live the rest of my life. She was even a little irritated that I WAS FREAKING OUT! She scheduled me for surgery on the 6th of Jan. but in between that time I needed a another u\s and mri. The u\s was fine however the mri I had on christmas eve and was told they would read on monday, came back with 1 abnormal lymph node!! they called me on christmas eve 2 hours before my guest were to arrive. I was told that I now need another ultra sound to check lymph node for better picture. Needless to say, I'm a wreck!!! crying all day on christmas and up @ 4am worried about this abnormal lymph node. This could change everything. 1 day it was "just dcis" now???? I 'm just looking for support and want to give support here. what in the world other than what i'm thinking can cause an enlarged lymph node?? and had anyone had dcis with lymph node involvement? Thanks in advanve for your responses.

    Nicole-


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  • Beesie
    Beesie Member Posts: 12,240
    edited December 2009

    Nicole, I am so sorry that you are going through this.  But here's what hopefully will be the good news:  there are lots of things that can cause a lymph node to appear abnormal, and most aren't cancer.  The role of the lymph nodes is to catch infection and when a lymph node swells, it is actually doing it's job - it means that it has caught an infection and it is keeping the infection from moving into the rest of your body.  Just the fact that you had the excisional biopsy could result in swelling of a lymph node - that would be a pretty normal reaction to surgery, in fact.  So try not to worry.

    It sounds as though your pathology to date has shown just a small amount of DCIS.  With DCIS, the cancer cells are completely contained within the milk ducts - the cancer cannot move into the nodes.  So if in fact it turns out that your have pure DCIS, then you won't have lymph node involvement.  The only way that there can be lymph node involvement is if some of your DCIS has already evolved to become invasive cancer.  That's the point at which lymph node involvement becomes possible.  But since you've already had a needle biopsy and an excisional biopsy, and since no invasive cancer has been found so far, it is quite unlikely that any invasive cancer will be found (maybe only a 10% chance).  If it turns out that there is some invasive cancer in your breast, since most of the affected breast tissue has already been removed during the excisional biopsy, it's almost certain that you'd only have a tiny amount.   For those of us who have a very small amount of invasive cancer (called a "microinvasion", which I had), the risk of lymph node involvement is only about 10%.  So that means that overall, your risk of lymph node involvement, based on what you know today, is only around 1% (a 10% risk that some invasive cancer might be found X a 10% risk of lymph node involvement from a microinvasion).  The likelihood that your lymph node is swollen as a result of the surgery is much higher than that.

    I know that it's impossible not to worry, but try to keep in mind that in all likelihood, your final diagnosis will be DCIS and there will be no lymph node invasion.

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  • Janets1
    Janets1 Member Posts: 57
    edited December 2009
    Hi Nicole:
    You are certainly more than entitled to be freaking out - I bet we all did initially.   Most of us with DCIS have no lymph node involvement but there can be all kinds of reason for having an abnormal lymph node. Too bad your breast surgeon sounds a bit insensitive and you couldn't ask her what other reasons there might be - just to put your mind at ease. Some of them just don't have the bedside manner thing down.  And it's very common to have a re-excision - I had one too. Did they tell you the grade of your DCIS? That is important info as far as further treatment goes (radiation). I think once you meet with her again you need to have a list of questions and make sure that she answers all of them, even if she seems "irritated". Try to take it one day at a time and remember that whatever it is, it will be fixed. You will be hearing from others with really good information and support.
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  • Janets1
    Janets1 Member Posts: 57
    edited December 2009

    Ha, like I said, you'd be hearing from women with good info and support - and Beesie is the best!!! She and I must have sent our replies at the same time.....she knows her stuff!

    Jan

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  • Nipi
    Nipi Member Posts: 38
    edited December 2009

    Beesie- Thank You so much for your response! I have been all worried thinking that there could be no good reason for an abnormal lymph node on the mri. So, your response gave me some hope that recent surgery is the case. My pa report to date says - grade 2 .non camedo(sp).
    so, I guess I will know more after u\s and surgery . Thanks Again ! I think I will focus on that possibility and not the worst.

    Janet - Thank you for your response! I'm sure I will be checking in with more question as I learn more about what I'm facing. Btw, looks like we are neighbors! I'm for Chicago also.

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  • Janets1
    Janets1 Member Posts: 57
    edited December 2009

    Hi Nipi:
    Let me know who your surgeon is and where you are going.......you can Private Message me.

    Jan

    P.S. Grade 2/Non comedo is a GOOD thing!

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  • Nipi
    Nipi Member Posts: 38
    edited December 2009

    Soooo, I will have second look u/s and biopsy on thurday for abnormal lymph node found on my mri. Beesie and Janet gave great info, but when they called today to schedule the procedure I just lost it. I am so scared by all of this!!! I just got my health back together after suffering servere pre ecampsia with my son in jan 08'. He was born 3 months early, and only 2lbs. my blood pressure at the highest was 250\150. So, after his 3 month stay in the hospital, and me finally getting off 6 medications and a normal blood pressure, I underwent all kinds of test to clear us to try for another baby, and was given the green light to go for it. Well now???? This dcis has me frozen with fear. I realize that I should feel grateful that it was found early,and I truly am, I'm just scared!! worried about this abnormal lymph node and how that could change everything, and if it is "pure dcis" how can I escape the fear of it coming back as invasive? and what about this second baby? is it silly to bring another baby in this world with all of this? Just wondering if anyone has ever had a lymph node show abnormal, but turned out to be a b9 finding? Thanks Again Beesie for all of the information. Sorry to ramble..... Just having bad day.



    Nicole-

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  • Alyad
    Alyad Member Posts: 817
    edited December 2009

    I had an enlarged lymph node on my neck show up about the same time as my cancer- I thought the worst- since they showed up close to the same time- surely they must be connected and somehow the bc spread to the other side- "upstream" in the lymph system- highly highly unlikely. So knowing I had bc, they biopsed the lymph node - which had been swollen to the size of a pea for about 6 months at that point. It was b9, totally unrelated. Hang in there, the node is probably nothing.

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  • Nipi
    Nipi Member Posts: 38
    edited January 2010

    I received my results from the lymph node biopsy , and as it turns out, it was B9!!! thank you all for your replys! They did however find more abnormal cells after biopsy of the additional areas of concern. Radiologist said it was another intracductal papilloma with abnormal cells, and more adh. My re incision was cancelled because they want to do mri guided biopsy just to make sure the surgeon is able to get it all @ the lumpsectomy. I am concerned with all this "action" going on in this breast, and mentally preparing myself for the decisions I need to make about my treatment.

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  • lmkalman
    lmkalman Member Posts: 7
    edited January 2010

    You ladies are all awesome and so supportive.  Having an MRI guided biopsy on Monday myself and had so many questions but the answers are in this forum.  Thanks for sharing your lives.

    Undiagnosed but optimistic!!!

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