Waiting for surgery - lumpectomy. Scared of what lies ahead.

What does your physician recommend for follow up testing? You may find this section helpful, as it discusses diagnosis and testing. Testing. We are all here for you, regardless of what they discover. We are sorry for what you are going through, and sincerely sorry for the loss of your husband.

Cathy,

Different areas, hospitals, have there own set of protocols. I did have a PET scan,( after my lumpectomy ) but was told it was because of all the node involvement & extranodal extension.

All those scans are very expensive, and if the Cancer has not traveled to your axillary nodes, not necessary. A dexa scan to measure bone density is common for women over 60, with or without BC.

Get the surgery scheduled, the waiting part is the worst.

Hi Cathytoo:

It sounds like the biopsy showed "malignant, non-invasive" disease so far. That sounds like some sort of "in situ" disease, still confined to the inside of the ducts (non-invasive), such as "ductal carcinoma in situ" ("DCIS")? Purely non-invasive disease has a very favorable prognosis.

As you have learned from your surgeon, there will be additional pathology done on the tissue removed by lumpectomy which might find additional disease (more extensive non-invasive disease) and/or possibly invasive disease. For example, invasive disease is found after surgery in roughly 20% of DCIS cases. Again, "non-invasive" indicates very early stage disease (Stage 0) so far.

Some local practices differ, so you may see some earlier stage patients receiving PET or CT scans. However, even if invasive disease is found, please note that many Stage I and II patients do not receive PET or CT scans in the absence of clinical symptoms of metastatic disease, and current consensus guidelines for clinical stage I-IIB disease indicate such additional studies be considered only if directed by signs or symptoms. See e.g.,

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/836945#vp_2

In case the above link requires registration (which is free), you can just google the title of the article to access it without registration:

Title: Imaging for Distant Metastases in Early-stage Breast Cancer

See also, Item #3 in this document:

http://jco.ascopubs.org/content/30/14/1715.long

For now, try and take things one step at a time. Being very healthy will be an advantage to you in recovering from surgery and any other possible treatment.

BarredOwl

Hi Cathy,

I'm still a newbie to this site to some extent so am no expert. However, it sounds like you have a similar diagnosis as mine---DCIS. Which is all I know about so far. It's a journey of leaning and understanding more and more along each step of the way.  I'm a nurse, but I knew little about breast cancer and current treatments, etc. so there was a lot to learn about.

I'm sorry for the recent loss of your husband but glad to hear you have some family support.  Even though DCIS is an early stage cancer, receiving that diagnosis is still difficult. Or it was for me.  My 80 year old mother had been diagnosed with stage 2 IBC just weeks earlier, so that compounded my anxiety even more.  She and I support one another and we have the support of our entire family.  But even with family support, it's still an alone feeling. My mom and I are probably our biggest supports for one another because we can share first hand how it really feels. 

What is your treatment plan since your diagnosis? Any additional tests? Surgery? After stereotactic bx conformed my diagnosis, I had MRI and then 2 MRI biopsies which were negative. I'm 6 days post lumpectomy and see my surgeon tomorrow for follow up appointment and then will move on to the next step.