Help! Confusion in Diagnosis/Staging

Pooki, hang in there. Someone will chime in soon

Pooki - It sounds like they missed the lymph node, but I don't understand the pathology that is noted. Did you have an MRI? I did and it showed a hole right through the lymph node that was biopsied.

My radiologist noted my results as "discordant" because he was sure that the lymph nodes would be positive for cancer. I had chemo before surgery so I'll never really know. I'd rather believe that it really was negative, of course.

As scary as it sounds - I think that seeing an oncologist is a good idea. They may or may not recommend chemo - first or ever. But good to get their opinion on a plan of care.

More info usually helps clarify to situation. Good luck.

Hi Pooki,

Don't know if this will help. Here's my story. I recently had a recurrence after 3 yrs and 1 week. It showed up when I went for my annual diagnostic mammogram. They did the ultrasound guided biopsy, which really looked bad. We were pretty sure it was cancer even before we got the path report back. What we didn't know, and wouldn't know until the surgery, was whether it was a mass or a lymph node. It turned out to be lymph node — the cancer had completely replaced the lymph in the node. It was in the axilla. I had had a PET scan earlier, and also had an MRI

Sadlynew is right about the process. It’s grueling to say the least. I didn’t know what to expect either. All those stats and tests and treatments none of which were confirmed until after the Path report came back. Your medical team does their best I’m sure to prepare you but even they don’t know for sure until all the prelims are done. It’s definitely scary and frustrating.

In my case my BS did a lumpectomy and was positive there was no lymph node involvement, however, when the Path report came back it showed a micromet in the SN. He was surprised. I was stunned. He said they had to dissect and redissect to find it but it was there just the same. He said it would get me chemo but my oncologist ordered the Oncotype test for me. My score came back at 11 so no chemo. The test is done to see if chemo would be beneficial. I was relieved I dodged chemo. By the way it’s the oncologist’s call not the BS. Also my BS staged me incorrectly. My oncologist said my stage was 1b. My BS staged me at 2a.

It’s really hard to be patient given what the DX can be but once you know the stage and grade and treatments prescribed it usually moves quickly.

Hang in there and keep us posted. I’m 7 years out this month.

Diane

Janemaria. Go back to your surgical report and reade if, perhaps, the surgeon took 2 or three nodes. One node had a micro invasion, otherwise you wouldn't have a positive pathology..

The surgeon removed it, even if he didn't realize that it contained some cancer cells. That's why he could say that radiation therapy would "get it". Get it = treat the area where the microinvasion was removed.

Just keep your follow-up appointments and get your treatment plan written out by the radiation oncologist. The surgeon is finished.

I got a few Ativan pills from my doctor during the diagnostic period. I took walks, and watched a lot of Netflix. Tried to avoid research though the Mayo book on breast cancer gave me an overview. Research on specifics was only useful after diagnosis.

We deserve sleep and help staying calm during this time. Honestly, the Ativan helped quite a bit. I only took a small amount of a pill, maybe once a day here and there but I knew it was there if anxiety rose.

one tablet a day won't hurt you and the anxiety relief will help the blood pressure. At least it did for me