When is the tumor graded?

positivenergy · June 2012

I was diagnosised with DCIS on June 12th, I am trying to decide what to do next. In ready these discussions, I keep seeing the words Grade, can someone tell me when and how you find out what grade your tumor is? I know I am a stage 0 (yippeeee) and it is small, don't know what size either. I called my doctor's office and they could not tell me. Thanks for any information you can provide. Have a fabulous day!!!!

P.S. Having an MRI tomorrow, worried that the original diagnosis will change, but hoping it will not. Any advise on dealing with this fear would be greatly appreciated too.

BLinthedesert · June 2012

Positivenergy - your diagnosis can't change with an MRI. The MRI is to make sure there is nothing going on that the mammogram/ultrasound might have missed, and to get another piece of information about the possible size of the lesion before lumpectomy (MRI frequently over-estimates size). The MRI can't diagnose anything, only pathology can do that.

Your lesion type, size, and grade will be given to you after your lumpectomy.

Good luck!

agrp1 · June 2012

Mine was graded with the biopsy samples. It might depend on the lab--the one that handled my stuff happened to be very thorough. If you haven't yet, you should probably request a copy of the pathology report from your doctor for your own files, that way you can really get a handle on it.

Good luck with your MRI! I hope it brings you some peace of mind!

positivenergy · June 2012

BLinthedesert: Thank you so much for this information, sometimes I just don't think rationally about this stuff. Of course an MRI can't change my diagnosis. I'm sure if they tell me I need another ultrasound after the MRI I will panic, but trying hard not to. I thought that you would use the size and grade and all that to make your surgery decision, but I guess not.

If you are comfortable sharing, how long was your recovery? Are you still doing radiation? How is that going? I hope that all is well and you are either in, or almost in the home stretch.

BLinthedesert · June 2012

Positive! Of course I wouldn't mind sharing. I had surgery on Friday, was back to work on Wednesday. The weekend was tough for me, but I quit taking painkillers by Monday and was running again by Thursday!! And I had a chunk of facia from my chest wall removed -- so depending on where your lumpectomy is from it could be even less time than this to recover. I started radiation 4 weeks after surgery and am finishing up this coming Monday. I have been running (50 miles/week) the whole time, and working pretty much full-time -- although sometime around treatment 15/16 I was having to go home early to get a little catnap in. My skin did not have any problems until last week, only really bad this week (and it is still tolerable). I had to play around with bras that work -- I really like the coobie bra, but I also like dresses with my "built in" shelf bras. I am small, a very small B, so I am lucky that shelf bras work ok for me - and it has helped with skin issues because "skin on skin" contact is what causes many of the problems early on. A friend of mine, who is a large C, wore a soft cotton t-shirt and then put a bra on top of that for her rads, and she had no problems (not even the red rash thing that I have right now).

All and all, it was not as bad as I had expected - though emotionally, it is draining to go every day.

Regarding the MRI - I asked my PCP for a valium to take, just in case they had to do a biopsy, it really helped me a lot.

Good luck, try to relax, I know it is hard - but it is a long process and it will be ok .... hugs.

positivenergy · June 2012

Ok, think I lost my already typed reply, so here it goes again.

BLinthedesert: This is very encouraging to me. I did not allow myself to imagine such an outcome, so I have renewed hope that this will not be as bad as I was thinking. I found this very early on, so I am really proud of myself for being so consciencous of my body. Thanks to for the bra reference, that is going to be something that I need to work at. I am a 40D, so it is hard to find soft bras that are supportive enough. I will try one of these out, they look very comfortable. Maybe that's the light at the end of the tunnel, I'll wear nice soft bras from now on and not the underwire craziness You take care of yourself and thank you for lifting my day up. Hugs back at ya.

positivenergy · June 2012

agrp1: thank you much for your good wishes and suggestions. Take care.

BLinthedesert · June 2012

With a 40D, I would follow-up with the suggestion by my friend, and along with a soft bra (with little to no seams) get a package of soft cotton mens t-shirts - by placing them as a barrier between your skin and the bra you can get support while avoiding any direct contact with spandex. Getting a bra slightly larger than you would normally wear will also help if you go the t-shirt under bra route!!

Usually, skin problems don't show up for 3 weeks or so ... it is hard to tell who will have skin problems and who won't -- I have read that it has less to do with skin color (e.g., burning) than breast size, so you will have to be diligent. Regardless, it is tolerable, and you will see your RO once/week and have access to RO nurses every day -- so make sure you talk to them if you have any problems and they will "hook you up".

I have found that joining a thread (here) with women who are going through the same thing at the same time has been so helpful ... reading through the May or June 2012 radiation threads will give you a sense of how much bonding there is (and you will find invaluable information, like what kind of treats do radiation techs like). There are also surgery threads, but for lumpectomy there are not nearly as many "issues" as with mastectomy.

It will be fine -- even in the worse case, you will find strength that you did not know you had ...

When is the tumor graded?

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