2nd day after biopsy results

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Lilac...Linzer's advice is well taken...it was hard to understand which doctor was my head doctor...surgeon? MO?RO?...start asking for other names...waiting is the hardest part but taking charge of your own medical stuff at least makes you feel like you are not just sitting around waiting for others to tell you what will happen.

Also, get a copy of your test that showed your IDC...I never went on a board like this in the beginning as it was all too overwhelming, but I did research my cancer...American Cancer society website and National cancer institute....i found BCO midway through my chemo....it is all doable and I rarely went to that " dark place" thinking about my own children ...20 year old twins and 26 year old son, my husband and sisters etc....just focus on getting your plan in place....I found it was better for me to be in control and take charge of my stuff....that was one huge change for me !...I know how hard waiting 6-8 weeks must be....be a squeaky wheel!!  Good luck and prayers for you as this is the suckiest part of the journey!! Rosie

Lilac, I might question the team as to why the doc cannot see you until after the MRI. I have IDC and did not have one so I cannot say for sure as your case is different. I had my original pathology from my biopsy and saw my team with that information only though. Then, I had a CT scan and a bone scan along with a biopsy of my lymph node after seeing the docs. Just something to consider.  

Lilactulip,   Don't quit your job!!!     You are in a very very intolerably uncomfortable, (to say the least!!)  mind blowing part of this cancer trip, and believe me I know just what you are in the middle of, with all the long waiting to get to the very first step of treatment  and not knowing anything about your cancer other than it being an IDC.      But listen to my story.    (Not to bust in and superimpose my story on yours, of course, but because I think that the ending will give you something to put on the comfort side of the balance.)   My biopsy path report,(once the biopsy finally got done and the report finally arrived), said nothing but IDC.    Not one more drop of info that might suggest the tumor's aggressiveness, hormone sensitivity, the need to move rapidly or not, to perhaps do a chemotherapy first before surgery--- NOTHING.   ----Well- they did have one more piece of info-- that it appeared to be a fairly small tumor, seemingly 1.2 cm.      But the bump in my breast felt about twice that big to me, and I swore my underarm lymph nodes had always a dull achey heaviness and frequent sharp twinges.    I was told I'd get notified when it was my surgery time---and that notification seemed never to come.     Six weeks after the biopsy confirmation of cancer (and two and a half  months after the initial mammogram suggesting a very likely cancer), the only info I was getting about surgery and treatment was that the surgery list for the next 10 days was made up and I wasn't on the list.-   And my assigned surgeon was about to go on his three week summer vacation.     They did, during that waiting time, do a bunch of tests and scans looking for signs of distant metastases, but no doctor ever met with me to tell me the results of those tests.      When I finally got my surgeon's attention to ask about those test results, he told me that he hadn't even looked at them yet , because "after all, your surgery isn't going to be right away".     (That's when he told me about his vacation.)      So I spent those months in the state you are in now, knowing I just had to WAIT, and that there was absolutely nothing I could do that could speed things up, or anywhere else I could go to get faster or better attention.   (I live in Italy, by the way.)    Friends and family in the USA kept asking me why I didn't push and fight to get things moving, and this all increased my stress tremendously, making me feel somehow responsible, while at the same time I knew that I had absolutely no choice but to WAIT.    Inside me I felt convinced that I was going to end up needing chemotherapy (even bought a little cap that I thought might come in handy to cover my eventually -to-be-bald head...) and, I just "felt" that my cancer was going to end up being serious and high stage.     I spent lots of time just "feeling OK and accepting" about the "fact" that I had serious cancer (and not the "trivial" cut it out and pop a pill for 5 years kind that friends and family insisted that it "would certainly" turn out to be.)    I told everyone that their disneyland fantasy way of being "positive", and their insistence that I should think like that, did not make sense, and, in the absence of any real information,  was just being silly, not positive.    I said that I was actually very positive; a realistic positive in which I realized that at the moment I knew absolutely nothing about my cancer and my future, but that I was accepting of any possible outcome.     And I "acceptingly" fretted and went out of my mind with stress about the darn waiting and not knowing and maybe not doing something that ought to be quickly done, although deep down just felt sure  that I knew at least the direction the answer was going to take and it was not going to be fairy tale dance.     

Well---  Turns out I was a dope.    Surgery date eventually came--got that thing OUT and ANALYZED.   Take a look at my signature line, Lilactulip, my full diagnosis and treatment plan is there.      Nodes clean, ER and PR Positive, HER-2 Neg, Stage Ia, Grade 2, Ki-67 (indicating percentage of tumor cells replicating) is just 7%.     NO NEED FOR CHEMO.     My probability of a reoccurrence , as long as I follow my simple therapy, is VERY low.     Excellent prognosis.    If you've got to have a cancer, this is the kind to have!!    So now I just need to get used to being accepting of the fact that this cancer thing I have just isn't that big a deal nor will it have a big influence on my life, and all I need to do is some radiotherapy and pop a little pill that causes, at worst, trivial minimal side effects.   (I'll tell you that the worst thing I feel now is a deep sadness and strong concern for all the friends I've made here who are having and will continue to have a rougher trip than mine)

My point is, waiting without info is pure hell, but that doesn't mean that when the info comes it will be bad.     I'll be waiting along with you, wishing you strength and calm in this stressful time, and hoping and hoping and hoping that your cancer ends up being as easily treatable as mine is.    

Lilac, you have my diagnosis date!  I'm two years out.  My advice, just pause.  Wait and definitely ask your breast surgeon to move up your appointment.  That was one of the most reassuring appointments I had in all of this.  She was so wonderful explaining all the options to me and letting me know this is a treatable disease.  She gave me three hours of her time the day after I was diagnosed.  It should be that way, and she/he should tell you about the team they've chosen for you so you can find out more info about those doctors.  You should be assigned a nurse navigator if your institution has them.  They'll help keep you on schedule with appointments and talk you off the ceiling.

I'm glad you got the anti-anxiety meds.  I used them all through treatment, especially the MRI because I'm so claustrophobic.  They will help enormously.

But for now, don't borrow trouble and keep remembering you might not have much disease at this point.  You might not even need to have chemo.  So try to stay positive.  We are all here and you'll get through this.  Much love!