tubular carcinoma

no, I was not given info and my cancer was not officially diagnosed as Tubular but the report says NST with predominantly tubular components

Great article Brightsocks. Looks like I made the right choice with my treatment. I had surgery and rads.

Glad you decided to do the rads too Cam8.

Have a GREAT day everyone!

Congrats Valentina7! Enjoy your vacation. Are you still fatigued or does that go away quickly after you ended the rads?

CA

what a great post to read!

hi CAM8,

How are you doing? Did you start your rads?

my vacation was fine but I was not able to completely disconnect and forget about this cancer thing.

I saw my RO for the last time on Friday and I asked her again what does it mean: NST with predominantly tubular components and she just said: Better prognosis.. But I wonder. Does it really mean that I have tubular breast cancer? Does any one have any experience about it?

tha

HI Benaya and Valentina. I agree with you Benaya. I think some docs do over treat. I opted out of tamoxifen since the benefit did not outweigh the risk. My oncologist was on board. He was however in favor of radiation treatment. I start my March 19 and will get 16 doses with five boost treatments after the 16th. He did say it will be a 20 to 25% reduction in reoccurrence. As far as the NST ( not specific type) a lot of invasive ductal carcinomas fall into this category. It looks like we are lucky to have tubular cells in our samples. My tumor was 4mm. I believe that means it is a less aggressive cell type. It is a personal decision and it does feel like a roll of the dice at times. Good luck with whatever your decide.

I was diagnosed with IDC with tubular features along with DCIS 14 years ago when I was 49... I am now 63 and have never had another issue with it. My tumor was about 1 cm total and composed of both grade 1 IDC and grade 1 DCIS . Very non-aggressive with a Ki-67 of just 5% which is why I felt comfortable refusing all but a wide margin lumpectomy...had no radiation or hormonal therapy.

I don't know what percentage of "tubular features" were present but I'm assuming it was the majority since it was so non-aggressive. I definately feel that I would have been considerably over treated had I not refused the standard of care. Turns out I eventually ended up having coronary artery disease and required a stent in my heart 2 years ago so I am very, very grateful that I never allowed that left sided radiation and the risks associated with it.

Liahna, thanks for sharing your experience & it's great to hear you had no recurrence despite refusing treatment other than surgery, but sorry about your heart. I met with oncologist the other day and he, like the surgeon, felt comfortable with going forward without sentinel node biopsy or radiation (which I wouldn't do anyway). He did recommend trying the hormone therapy which I could stop if I couldn't tolerate the side effects. Not sure if I'll do the hormone therapy though. Appears as if the cancer is "pure" tubular. Again, it's a little disconcerting how many doctors may fail to distinguish this subtype from other invasive types and in some cases, overtreat. It's important that we get second opinions and do research ourselves if we're able so we can pose necessary questions about subtype, treatment, etc.. I should add that the first surgeon I saw made no mention of the tubular aspect and would have treated me as she would have with typical invasive ductal. Also, the margins she would have cut for lumpectomy were wider (unnecessarily so) than other surgeons, so there are major differences in approaches that we need to be aware of. My intuition told me I needed to get other opinions and I'm so happy I did.

hi CAM8,

how are you feeling? I was working normally during rads. I had in total 27.. But in the middle I felt a bit sick...my WBC were also very low: 2.1 and my doctor was worried...but it was only a couple of days. In my case I was taking already Tamoxifen during rads and my doctor was not sure if those were SE from rads or Tamoxifen..it was not smart to have those at the same time. Anyways as I said it was only a couple of days ...i was able to work and do everything as normal.

will you also take Tamoxifen?

take care and wishing you all the best 😊

CAM8, I am planning on taking Tamoxifen for 5 years ...so far so good...

Hi! 12 rads down 11 to go. Doing ok. Starting to burn a little bit and a little tired. Just a weird sluggish feeling. How are you?

CAM8 soon this will be only past 😊. I feel great physically really great. I started also to eat better and exercise more. I don't know what exactly is making feel that well but i am doing very well.

Hi Benaya. I’ll be thinking of you on Tues. The wires were not too bad. It just looked strange. I think it’s protocol that you get a mamm after the wires are in to make sure they are in the correct place. No pain though. They numb you up really well. Keep us posted. You’ll be back on your feet in no time!!!

Cam

Thanks isee. I will look for that. The doc and nurses highly recommends Calendula. Working pretty good so far.

Cam.

CAM8, Val and Benaya; just wondering how you are all doing?