new here, calcifications

Thank you for your reply Brooke! I will be praying for you daily! I can relate to what you’re going though. I pray all of us here will have a healthy body and mind! Amen!!! No, no reports yet. I logged in to my radnet and it says it should be available today. My doctor and medical assistant said it’s just a precaution. I’m so sad and anxious having to go through this... after they said I need stereostatic biopsy, i immediately stopped eating anything with sugar on it. Now I think I Im being too paranoid about what I eat or put on my body. My biopsy is on jan 3.

Hi ChrisL I know your anxiety it's so stressful I had the stereotypical biopsy it's not that bad just scary,I too has the same thing something changed in the last Mammogram far as calcification's, yes you can take anxiety medication.   All I can say is 80% comes out not cancerous and that will I'm sure by your diagnose , I know it's so scary I also had the stereotypic biopsy it's not bad I understand your scared to death I know it will turn out good for you 80% comes out no cancer .  I will be praying for you it was the hardest time of my life to get the results it will be ok ….love & prayers to you keep us posted!! 

thank you Maggie for sharing your experience and your prayers and support! I will speak to my doctor after she gets back from Christmas break about the anxiety pills. Take care everyone!!! Prayers & love to you all!

hi Brooke and Maggie, here's my report:

There is a 5 mm group of faint fine pleomorphic microcalcifications seen in the lower central left breast, at middle depth. No other mammographic abnormalities are identified within the left breast.

IMPRESSION: A 5 mm group of fine pleomorphic microcalcifications in the lower central left breast suspicious and should be further evaluated with stereotactic biopsy.

RECOMMENDATION: Biopsy should be considered.

Left stereotactic biopsy

ASSESSMENT: BI-RADS Category 4: Suspicious.

Brooke, how do I IM you?

Thank you ladies for the support!

Hi CrisL,

They let me take a Xanax an hour before my biopsy. It helped. Ask your doctor.

Keep us posted on how things are going for you.

Maggie, glad you are ok

I hope people are on here today. I found a pebble sized lump in my left breast during October on the 22nd and this time it's gotten a little bigger. This is exactly how my moms cancer was found.

My diagnostics exam will be Jan. 11th. What all should I expect? I have high hopes that it's just calcification, but I have a lot of cancer history on both my moms side and fathers side. 

Hey E78patterson,

It is a scary thing to find a lump when there's been cancer in the family. The important thing is that you are being evaluated soon. In a couple weeks you'll know more, then if you need treatment, that can get started.

For something small you likely won't need chemo, so surgery and radiation might be enough. If you have a certain type of cancer it can also be treated long term with a daily pill to help prevent recurrence.

I think a lot of us would say one of the hardest times was WAITING before knowing your diagnosis.

Keep us posted and try to find some gentle and peaceful moments in the meantime. It's rough to experience holiday pressure when you're worried. We get it.

Hi Brooke,

Yes I started with calcifications but usually they are not cancer.

I had a repeat mammogram which I thought was super annoying. Then they kept taking more and more scans and got real quiet. So I knew it was bad. Next step was an ultrasound, fortunately available that same day. They kept looking and were also very quiet.

Next step was to see the surgeon who scheduled my outpatient biopsy. Up until this point my husband still thought it was fine but I sensed I would not be in that lucky 80% who get a biopsy and it's nothing. Waiting for the diagnosis was really hard and my blood pressure shot up, had to be treated with extra meds, just what I needed in the middle of all this. On to lumpectomy, rads, meeting w oncologist. It's been quite a journey.

In theory they got the cancer out with surgery and rads discouraged any adjacent tissue from heading in the cancer direction. Daily pill starts in January but that's to prevent recurrence. So I am “probably" cancer free with that word probably doing a lot of heavy lifting.

Hi, Im new. Its basically same story for me. Calcifications in right breast found at the end of Nov (yearly mammogram). I saw the image on the screen & really , really looked at it. I was called the next morning and told to come back next week. I was called mid week and told not to miss my appt. I went to my follow up and again, I looked at the screen. I was sent to get an ultrasound immediately and afterwards, the ER doctor was brought in to write me up an order for a biopsy..... Super scary. I was scheduled for 3 weeks later, but I was able to call around & get into another lab sooner . I requested to see my 3 D image. Very interesting. I called EVERY DAY & when I received my results, they had been sitting on them for 3 days. Ugh.

During the time between the biopsy and the results, I looked up images of calcifications. I basically figured out what was "suspicious" about my image. I have the microcalcifications in clusters , irregular shape, pattern (I guess). I basically diagnosed myself with DCIS & HOPED that was all..... But I had a gut feeling. I have 7 sisters and none have had breast cancer. Neither did my Mother. So, statistically, I guess it had to happen?

Results are DCIS & IDBC . Topping it off is that they are Grade 3 (high grade).

I guess I'm scared. I guess we all are. One of my sisters died from stomach cancer last year. It was awful. Her husband died of Leukemia a couple of years before. When my sister passed, I got her son. Needless to say, he is terrified. He probably thinks all cancer is terminal and that he will never have a home again. That is what is really bothering me....

But Im optimistic. Headed to MD Anderson the end of January for the works and to see where I am.

So many great stories on here. So many happy endings.

Hey vixkix,

I think IDBC is just invasive ductal breast cancer, which is what 80% of all breast cancer is.

Do you know yet from pathology what type it is? Types include estrogen positive or negative, progesterone positive or negative, and HER2 positive or negative. They are treated differently.

Almost everybody has surgery. Some people have chemo first but many do not go through chemo. You might be given a few weeks of daily radiation after the surgery, come join one of the monthly radiation groups so you can go through this with others at the same time.

Keep us posted and best of luck in your path ahead. You can do this.

Hi Brooke have you heard anything yet thinking of you!