Just Diagnosed- IDC

There are a lot of knowledgable women on here who I'm sure will reply. I just wanted to let you know this is the hardest part. You have some information but not the full picture. Once you have everything and have a plan you will feel better. Grade 2 is in the middle. Three is the most agressive and one is the least so yours is in the middle, so is mine. You'll still need to find out the type (fueled by hormones or not). My first visit was also with a surgeon so you are on the right path. The waiting is awful. Ask lots of questions here, the women in this site are so helpful and supportive. Best of luck.

tgm, welcome to Breastcancer.org,

We're so sorry to hear of your diagnosis, but we're really glad you found us. As you can already see, our Community is full of very helpful members always willing to lend some advice, support, or share their experience. We hope you come by often, ask lots of questions, and get the support you need as you navigate your diagnosis and treatment!

In the meantime, you may want to check out the main Breastcancer.org site's pages on Your Diagnosis, which helps you walk through what each piece of your pathology report (including hormone receptor status, and grade). Also, there's a helpful section on IDC - Invasive Ductal Carcinoma, which can explain this type of breast cancer. Also, there's a great IDC forum here too with lots of helpful members.

We hope this helps and we look forward to hearing more from you soon! We know the wait is terrible, so come back and chat with us. We're all here for you!

--The Mods

I just wanted to expand a little on what the other posters have mentioned. Your biopsy report has a lot of useful information and you should get a copy of it. From your tests and biopsy they have a good idea of the size on the tumor and whether any of the lymph nodes look positive. This could change during surgery but is a good guess right now. That determines what stage you are. So if you have a tumor like mine, 1.5 cm, no positive lymph nodes then you'd be stage 1.

Your hormone receptor status is listed - ER and PR, usually listed as percentages. They also tested to see if you are Her2 positive or negative. If you are Her2 positive then chemo will most likely be recommended, maybe even before surgery. Also, if you are ER/PR negative then chemo is recommended. If you are ER positive that's good because then you can take endocrine therapy, a really powerful drug to prevent recurrance.

If you don't have your written report then call your PA and find out all the things I mentioned above. The more information you have the easier it is to make decisions.

Like the others, I recommend having a breast specialist do the surgery. I just feel like someone who does this all day every day will do a better job. If you tumor is small the surgeon will most likely recommend lumpectomy plus radiation but if you prefer you can choose single or even double mastectomy, with or without reconstruction. That is for you to decide, whatever feels best for you. You can often skip radiation if you have a mastectomy so that is a good question to ask your dr.

I know you are super scared right now. We've all been there but I'm going to tell you what my dr told me: "you will be fine. This is just a bump in the road. A minor inconvenience. You will be fine". And you know what, she was right. Everything was way easier than I ever expected. Somehow we have a way of imagining the worst but that's not at all what happens. You'll have a rough couple of months but, no matter what, you'll get through

Please post when you get the information I listed above. We're not dr's but we've all been through it so can give you some more opinions on what to expect. Also, when you go to your appointments it's a good idea to take someone with you who can write down what the dr says. Your mind will likely be in overload and it's hard to remember all the important details.