If you have just been diagnosed....

derbylane-

I'm so sorry that this is happening, but you've come to the right place. These boards are full of information that will help you and your wife navigate through all of this.

I was diagnosed in October, had a bilateral mastectomy in December and started Tamoxifen in January. I'd have to say that the stage that your wife is at right now is the most difficult. Not knowing the full story can lead to all kinds of anxiety. I'm sure that both your mind and your wife's mind are racing and going to places that it shouldn't. This is normal. Keep reading the boards and understand that there will be a day when you have the full story and you'll know the gameplan. It makes it easier. I promise.

Keep reading and keep talking. God bless you and your wife. I'm sorry that you're here, but know that you're among friends. Please keep us posted. Also know that you can private message (PM) any one of us. Please avail yourself of all that the site offers

Kelly

I am very new to this "club".  Never expected to be a member but who does?  I was wondering if you are happy with your decision?  I have only one breast with bc but am sure i want a dmx.  i just want this behind me and not hanging over my head for the rest of my life.  I have young children and do not want to risk my  overall health for my breasts.

hello everyone

just found out i have bc they say it takes 7 days for pathology,waiting is what drives you crazy.why does it take so long can you call the doc and see if its ready earlier,i dont know if thats the right thing to do

thanks for the help.  I have found a lot of hope on these pages these past few days.  Met my plastic surgeon today.  I will have the dmx and reconstruction with the lat flap procedure and TE.  Still thinking over saline or silicone implants.  I am still not sure it has all hit me yet but I am grateful that tubular carcinoma is slow growing.  I also have DCIS and LCIS.  Fun stuff! lol

Keep the inspiration flowing it does wonders for the soul.

I've just been diagnosed with infiltrating poorly -differentiated ductal carcinoma,nuclear grade II/III.o6 ib diameter. prominent ductal carcinoma-in-situ(dcis) component extendingup to .8 cm beyond infiltrating components. clear surgical margins. and ductal carcinoma-in-situ (dics) showing multifocal close approach (less than .1 cm.to surgical margin. studies for estrogen &progesterone etc. not in yet. Dr wants to do surgery on the 10th only 4 DAYS away. I am in a dilemma. I am leaning very strongly towards the mastectomy, rather than the lumpectomy. but don't understand all the mumbo jumbo of the path report. can someone help?

nene ~ Have you gotten your biospy results yet?  Thinking of you, and please keep us posted.

barb_k ~ So sorry about your recent diagnosis, and also the still-recent loss of your husband.  In the time I've been on BCO, I've me several women here in your situation -- still mourning the death of a spouse, and now dealing with bc themselves.  It's got to be very tough.  Hopefully your children are old enough and close enough to give you some support now, and as a suggestion, you may want to start a thread here asking for suggestions for dealing with bc when you've recently lost a spouse.  I would be surprised if you didn't get some really helpful ideas and maybe form some new support bonds.  Just an idea...

As far as your pathology, I would also post that in a separate thread, asking for help reading it.  Again, there are women here who are truly great at medical jargon.  For now, I can tell you that the infiltrating (invasive) ductal carcinoma is the higher concern, but I would take a deep breath and try to bump that surgery date ahead until you can decide for sure which surgery you want.  I'm not clear on the size of that area of your bc, nor what you mean by "clean margins" in a biopsy (did they maybe get it all except for the DCIS?), but unless your surgeon is going out of the country or some such thing, there's rarely a need to be forced to decide on and have surgery  that quickly.  In most cases, if you need to take a few weeks to decide, you'll be fine.  Please don't let them railroad you into a decision you may not be prepared to make.  Many women also get a second opinion, just to be sure they know all their options, especially when it comes to reconstruction (if you do decide to go the mast. route).  Unless that infiltrating spot is large, and/or you're the kind of person who can make that decision faster than most of us, you have every right to ask for more time to examine your options and your feelings about them.     Deanna

makmak3030 ~ Welcome, but so sorry you're here.  First, don't drive yourself crazy about this being missed in November.  If you were still pregnant, I can see how your doctor might have felt any breast lump was due to that.  At least you didn't wait too long for another test, so that's something for which to be thankful.

As far as your pathology, the combination of DCIS with a bit of invasive bc is fairly common, and 1.1 cm. on the invasive part is still small, which is good.  There are 3 grades. Grade 3 is very common and more aggressive than Grade 1 or 2.  Suspicious for possible lymph-vascular invasion means that there are signs your bc might be trying to move out of your milk duct, but they're not sure based on what they had to biopsy.   

If you haven't found it yet, this website has an excellent informational side.  "Symptoms & Diagnosis" (very top of page) will take you to that section where you can then search "lymphatic invasion," "grades," etc., for more details.

I can't believe you were able to get your results on line on a Saturday!  How stressful to have pieces of information but not be able to ask your doctor questions.  I'd be tempted to call their service number and ask for a callback -- especially if you have an ongoing relationship with this doctor.  But, without your file in front of him/her, I'm not sure how much help or comfort they'd be to you.   

Hope this helps a bit...   Deanna

makmak ~ Let me try to answer some of your questions. Vascular and/or lymphatic invasion in itself isn't a terrible thing or an extremely worrisome prognosis, but in practical terms, IF either is present, it will figure into your overall treatment plan, which will be based on a number of factors, including some that will be determined with the pathology from your surgery.  In other words, IF either of those are present, chemo may be recommended as systemic treatment.

Normally I would say waiting another week is fine to do surgery.  However, if your lesion has truly doubled in size in 3 mos., that's concerning enough that I would absolutely discuss waiting with your doctor.  I hate anyone being rushed into surgery when they don't have peace about the need and their decision, but when a tumor doubles in size that quickly, if it was me, I would want it out ASAP!

As far as chemo goes, it's not always possible to predict how we'll react to it.  I was and still am a natural living, won't take any drugs type of gal, and after fighting the need to do it as long as I could, I did fine with chemo.  Luckily, we're in a new generation of chemo drugs and anti-nauseals, so many women do much better with it than they anticipate, including working through it except for maybe a couple of days during each cycle.  Whether or not you'll be able to work depends a lot on the type of work you do.  My best advice if you find out you will need chemo (and let's hope you don't!), but IF you do, is to line up as much help as you can with household stuff (childcare, cleaning, cooking, etc...), so that you can save your energy to focus on your job.   

I'm sure your 15 year old is very scared, but as unwelcome as your diagnosis is, and as strange as it may sound, I'm sure your family will also find some hidden gifts as you travel this journey.  Ours did.    (((Hugs)))   Deanna

Oh, Marina, that happens to all of us!  But the good news is, it's extremely rare that any aches, pains or twinges elsewhere in your body have anything to do with bc.  It's just that you are so much more aware of your body, and your innocence about something bad like bc happening to you has just been stripped away.  Try not to let your mind play that game with you because it truly is just a mind game. 

When you say "doctors," are you seeing breast surgeons/specialists?  That's really who you need now.    Deanna 

Hi,  Had a Ultrasound guided core needle biopsy done Monday.  Dr called this morning ( Thursday ) with the bad news.  Invasuve ductal carcinoma. IDC.  Exhausted from the tears, the worst was telling my family and close friend.  But I also felt that my burdon was lifted just to tell them.  So now we will cry for a while....Pray more often.....Trust in my God......and get busy doing what needs to be done. 

I was told the surgeon would be calling me next to chat about and set up my plan of action.  Surprise tommarrow morning I will be calling, not gonna wait.  I will need more info to be comfortable with my plan.  But I am not going to risk my life for some breast tissue.  I want them gone! Yeserday!

I am lucky to have such a wonderful Husband and two grown children.  They are very supportive.  My best girl friend and I Already went to Nordstroms and bought new front buttoning Pjs and a new robe for the hospital.  I guess you can never be ready for this kind of news.  But by golly it sure makes you feel better to buy new jammies!

Thankful to find this web site.  Gaga

Hello to all. I just wanted to jump back over here and post because this is the first place I went when I was diagnosed on November 16th, 2009.  I am 43 years old,in great health before, and am triple negative. I had lumpectomy on11/25, port implant on 12/16, and have finished four rounds of chemo with four to go.

This is not fun but you girls can do this. The fear will lessen. That siren you hear every morning (it used to wake me up saying CANCER CANCER CANCER) will calm down. Take your Xanax and Ambien to sleep. You need to sleep. I planned everything down to my funeral before I was able to climb out and look around for how I am going to fight this. 

There are good treatments available, look at the positive, even with my triple negative and one positive node, I still have about a 79% chance of being here in ten years.  Theres a sight online called Adjuvant Online that will let you look at stats but be aware it's probably too early to plug in what you will need and there is no substitute for a good oncologist.

My heart aches for all of you and I send prayers your way. Learn to ask for help and let people help you because you will need it. You will become strong and although this will change your life forever, hopefully, some of it can be turned for positive. Get the book, Love, Miracles, and Medicine by Bernie Siegle and focus your mind on healing.

Hello. My name is Cathy..I am 42 years old, and was just diagnosed with a 1.4 cm malignant tumor in my right breast. 13 years ago, my Father had Breast Cancer in his Right Breast. He is now 70 years old. I am due for surgery/sentinel node/and wire insertion around the first week in March. I have alot to learn, places to go, people to see, and things to do...But I am taking it all, one day at a time. It's good to be among friends...and it's nice to meet you all.

Hi Cathy.  I was diagnosed Feb. 3 with papillary DCIS and we share a common location.  My tumor is in my right breast as well.  Like you, I'm having my surgery the first week in March which also happens to be my birthday week.  What a gift to potentially be rid of a tumor .  I was wondering... you mentioned wire insertion in your post.  What is this? I haven't heard of this before. 

Everything I have read on this website has been wonderfully informative, helpful and supportive.  It makes the journey seem less frightening when, albeit unfortunately, others have walked a similar path.  Many have posted that it is sad to welcome those newly diagnosed to the BC club, but I can't think of a more courageous and inspiring club.  I'll be thinking of you as we both have our surgeries in March. 

I was diagnosed with infiltrating, ductal, bc approx. 2 cm, on the outer left side, on 2-9-10 by biopsy.  I had a lumpectomy, on 2-23-10, with a sentinel node biopsy with the blue dye and the radioactive shots!!  When I woke up I had a large incision under my arm (besides the large incision in my breast), a drain tube and numbness in my armpit, elbow, all along the left side of my breast - and lots of pain....feels like I have a large chunk of wood or something packed under my arm.....this is miserable.  I never did get any good information after my surgery as to what happened, my husband didn't either, and I don't go back to the surgeon until 3-3-10.  I've been waiting, taking lots of pain pills, and worried to death....  Any one else have the numbness or drains????  I hate not having a clue as to my full diagnosis - do I have cancer in my lymph nodes?? did it spread??? what ever happened with the sentinel node?????  Feeling rather disheartened...... 

I guess I should put my statement about the reconstruction within 200 miles. There is not one anyone that anyone would  recomend within in 200 miles or 2 hours. I live in southeastern NM. The closest big towns are El Paso, Tx, Lubbock, Tx, and Albq. NM. Plus I have the problem of limited finances and My 2 adult children are without work and vehicles. and I would not want them to drive my vehicle in a large city. It's just my piece of mind. The seroma is still there only not as bad, The Dr. did not think it was bad enough to do any thing. It sure can get uncomfortable, like a rock under and behind my arm. plus the burning senstion in the back of my arm. (only if it touches anything.)