Diagnosed with IDC

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lemonee
lemonee Member Posts: 39
edited December 2017 in Just Diagnosed

Well, I've formally been diagnosed with IDC. I asked about the grade, size, etc., but the surgeon said he wouldn't be able to tell me any of that until later on when they sample more tissue. He did say it's poorly differentiated, and I know from the original mammogram and ultrasound that it's grape-sized. He said the radiologist couldn't definitively tell whether it's in the lymph nodes or not. I'm going later this week to talk about my options of surgery versus seeing an oncologist first. I'm going to get copies of all my reports when I go in.

Can anyone offer some input?

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited December 2017

    Hi lemonee,

    We're so sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but we're glad you're reaching out here for support. You're sure to find many helpful others who will be right along with you as you navigate your treatment journey.

    You may want to visit the IDC forum and introduce yourself there as well. There's also some great information on the main Breastcancer.org site's pages on IDC, where you can start gathering details on this type of diagnosis.

    We hope this helps and we look forward to hearing more from you as you learn more!

    --The Mods

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  • Outfield
    Outfield Member Posts: 1,109
    edited December 2017

    Lemonee, there's no radiologic test that will give you a totally reliable estimate of size. Tumors often have microscopic extensions that don't cause enough change to show up on a scan. I've heard that some doctors refer to them colloquially as "fingers". That's why the surgeon won't give you a definite size even though you could see what looked like borders to the tumor on the imaging. That makes it sound like it would be a massive guessing game how much to remove during surgery, but it's really not. When they do surgery, a lot of times edges of the tissue that is removed are spot-frozen and examined right away, so the surgeon can know if all those fingers were removed while the patient is still in the OR. If there is still tumor at the edges, the surgeon removes more tissue.

    Most people have surgery first, then see the oncologist. The situation with IDC where this isn't usually the order is when the goal is to shrink the tumor before surgery so that less tissue has to be removed. That might happen if a tumor is really big, or if it's located in a particular spot where the surgeon is worried about being able to remove it all. It also might happen if someone really wants a lumpectomy but the tumor is too big for that.

    That said, it won't harm you to see an oncologist if you can get in with one that fast. There's no way you could do that in my town (poor access to EVERYTHING here), unless the surgeon put in a word to make it happen, and I would not let it delay your meeting with the surgeon again.



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