Pathologist is on the fence???

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Sjb2
Sjb2 Member Posts: 12
edited July 2017 in Waiting for Test Results

I had a lumpectomy on July 6th. My surgeon called me this morning to tell me that the two pathologists who looked at the tissue removed are both on the fence. Really??? How can you be in the fence? Isn't this your job? So my tissue is being sent to Colorado to a breast tissue pathologist. I was told I won't have results until probably Wednesday. This process seems to be never ending and the wait is so stressful. Anyone else have the pathologist say they were on the fence when it came to results

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  • MinusTwo
    MinusTwo Member Posts: 16,634
    edited July 2017

    Sjb - sorry for the further wait. This does happen. The wait is awful but it's a good thing to be thorough.

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  • MTwoman
    MTwoman Member Posts: 2,704
    edited July 2017

    I agree with MinusTwo. Anything that causes a delay is just awful, but worse would be incorrect results. You'll be getting reliable info from the tie-breaking expert. Waiting is awful, try your best to just stay busy and distracted. Good luck!

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  • Sjb2
    Sjb2 Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2017

    Yes being through is very important. Thank you for reminding me of this!

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  • Sjb2
    Sjb2 Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2017

    staying as busy as I can! I am thankful they are being careful when looking at the tissue. Thanks for the kind words

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  • farmerlucy
    farmerlucy Member Posts: 3,985
    edited July 2017

    It might be a ALH/ADH vs LCIS/DCIS issue. That happened to me. They had to send the sample to Vanderbilt for a tie breaker. They called it ADH/ALH. Apparently it can be hard to discern between them sometimes. My onc said IDC or invasive is easy to tell due to staining, so that could be a positive sign. I hope you get answers soon. Waiting is so hard.

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  • mommakat
    mommakat Member Posts: 147
    edited July 2017

    Sorry sjb! I'm learning this process isn't as black and white as I expected either. Had 2 Mammos and US, then a CNB. Last week they called and said B9, then the next day my GYN called and said I had PASH (non cancerous), but would need to see a BS and maybe have it removed. Then just this morning, the radiologist called and said she felt the results were discordant with what she saw, and thought something was hiding that didn't come up in the biopsy results?!?!?

    It's hard to imagine that with all this science and technology, they can't figure it out!

    I'm glad they're being thorough, with both of us. Good luck and I hope you get B9 results soon!

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  • Sjb2
    Sjb2 Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2017

    farmerlucy - the wait is tough but I am wanting the correct results. I just have to remind myself of this.

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  • Sjb2
    Sjb2 Member Posts: 12
    edited July 2017

    mommakat - that sounds horrible with all of the back and forth. But yes I don't want anything missed.

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  • CGG
    CGG Member Posts: 18
    edited July 2017

    My sister-in-law is a pathologist and she explained to me that pathology is reading and discerning the differences among shades of gray. The cellular changes are on a continuum from white to black, some are clearly white or black, but for the cells on the shade of gray in between those two endpoints, it can be very difficult to discern. Second and third opinions are very helpful.

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