Just diagnosed-what do I ask the doctor????

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amccms2
amccms2 Member Posts: 15
edited August 2018 in Just Diagnosed

I've been dealing with complex cyst since 2016. In January one of the 4 complex cyst grew. Doc still wanted to wait on biopsy and scheduled a follow up for August. Went to follow up and radiologist detected jagged edges. Doctor was still not concerned. Left it up to me if I wanted the biopsy or not. I opted for biopsy. He did not do the needle biopsy. He did a vacuum biopsy and took all of it. They found cancer in the jagged edges. I go tomorrow morning to discuss “plans!" What plans? I'm scared that he won't take it serious and downplay it like he did the radiologist report. What do I ask him tomorrow?? Please help me.

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  • Luckynumber47
    Luckynumber47 Member Posts: 397
    edited August 2018

    Are you going to a breast surgeon or a general surgeon. I feel like you get better care with a specialist. Also, if you don't feel comfortable with your dr you can always get a second opinion.

    Most likely this will be a teaching appointment. They'll tell you the type of cancer, it's grade (how aggressive it is) if it's ER/PR and Her2 positive or negative. They may not tell you the stage but you can make a good guess if you find out how big it is. You'll want to know if any nodes are involved. I'm guessing they haven't checked them yet so find out how they will be checking. Will you need additional surgery to be sure you have clear margins? Will you need radiation? Your surgeon doesn't decide if chemo is needed, your MO will, but sometimes your surgeon will speculate. These are the "plans" your dr will be talking about.

    Take someone with you to write down all the info. They're firing so much info at you it's easy to be overwhelmed. If you have any questions after your appointment come back here. I'm sure we can help you figure out what's going on.

    Sending hugs, Lucky

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  • Icietla
    Icietla Member Posts: 1,265
    edited August 2018

    First, (((Hugs))). You have had a long frustrating time of wondering about this, and now you have had the terrible shock of a breast cancer diagnosis. I am so sorry.

    You need a copy of the Pathology Report in which your breast cancer was diagnosed from your biopsy.

    You need to know whether the cancer found was in situ cancer or invasive cancer.

    You need to know some particulars about the tumor tissue characteristics (they will be indicated in the Pathology Report) to know what your next step should be. With some of the more aggressive breast cancers, and also depending on the tumor's location (or positioning), it may be advisable to have chemotherapy treatment before treatment surgery.

    If you are to have treatment surgery first, and if you would have options among the usual surgery types, you need to consider and decide which type treatment surgery would be your preference.

    I hope things go better for you tomorrow -- that the Doctor will take your case and your concerns more seriously. If you are not satisfied with this Doctor, would your insurance plan or other practical circumstances permit you to change Doctors?

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  • amccms2
    amccms2 Member Posts: 15
    edited August 2018

    In September, a radiologist thought I had bone cancer. When they did the radiation scan on my arm, it caught my left breast in the pics. When it showed uptake I signed up for cancer insurance that October. I am encouraged to have a second opinion by my friends and the insurance will even cover the airplane ticket. He discouraged me from having mastectomy. But I have three more complex cyst to worry about and I’m over having to wait and worry. That’s all I’ve done since 09/16. His nurse practitioner said it wasn’t an overkill.

    He said it positive for invasive ER/PR, HER2, and DCIS. I need to research because I’m clueless. It is 5 mm. And it is slow growing. And my hormones are feeding it. If I do a lumpectomy I will need radiation but no chemo. And then hormone blockers. I think I got all this right.

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  • Georgia1
    Georgia1 Member Posts: 1,321
    edited August 2018

    Hi there and I'm so sorry. Getting the news is so hard and confusing! But yes, you have that right. Your can either have a masectomy, or a lumpectomy followed by radiation. Then if you are estrogen positive, a daily anti-estrogen pill.

    One thing that really helped me was a book called "Navigating Breast Cancer" by a nurse named Lillie Shockney - you can get it on Amazon. But let us know how it goes and how we can help.

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