Just Diagnosed

Latisinco · July 2020

Hello! I'm curious how often this happens. I was just truly blindsided. I'm 51, have my yearly mammogram and on-gym appts with no issues. Less than two weeks ago I discovered a large knot under my breast, actually it felt like one large one and a small one. Appointments went very fast to biopsy to be told I have stage 3 breast cancer. How could all of my test come back good and how could this large tumor just appear? Does this happen? All my research shows it takes years to get to this size. I have an appointment tomorrow with a surgeon, hopefully he will be able to give me more details (3a, 3b or c and the other things I've seen mentioned). Anyway, I stumbled across this site and looks like we have something in common. I'd appreciate information from others, especially if you know about how it could happen so fast to suggestions on what to ask the doctors. Thank you

MountainMia · July 2020

Hi Latisinco. I'm sorry you are with us at bco. This is a truly stunning time for you, I'm sure, confusing and frightening. Did you get any of the biopsy information in writing?

Breast cancer tumors have varying doubling times for size, depending on type and how aggressive (grade) they are. The average doubling time is something like 150-200 days (I've seen different numbers at different sources.) So if, say, your tumor is now 2cm, a year ago it might have been a quarter of that or about 5mm. Depending on the tumor, where it is, your body type, etc, it may have been impossible to see in a mammogram and also not palpable. So while it seems like it, it likely didn't just appear.

For questions to ask the doctor tomorrow, start with asking for your biopsy report and then ask them to walk you through it. Others will have suggestions for better questions, too. Please update us when you know more.

OCDAmy · July 2020

If you have dense breasts it can be difficult to detect breast cancer with mammogram only. I had an all clear mammogram and then 6 months later felt what turned out to be a large tumor. But three years later I’m doing well and you will too! This is a great website, you’ll find great support here. Best of luck to you. You can do this.

Latisinco · July 2020

Thank you for your responses - I hope to get more details today. I was just told over the phone Friday that it was stage 3.

I will post back later , thanks again

Beesie · July 2020

Did your biopsy include a biopsy of your lymph nodes?

And if not, are you sure you were told Stage III and not Grade 3?

Stage III includes lymph node involvement, and usually that's determined at time of surgery, when lymph nodes are removed and checked. Sometimes however a lymph node needle biopsy will be done prior to surgery, if imaging shows what appears to be an involved lymph node.

Usually staging can't be done until after surgery; until then, the size of the tumor is just an estimate and it's impossible to know the extent of nodal involvement (if any). Sometimes however chemo is given prior to surgery, so a Clinical Stage will be determined, based on imaging and biopsy results. In these cases, usually more imaging is done than just a mammogram, since mammograms are not all that precise. Did you have an ultrasound and an MRI? MRIs are the most accurate and while I don't know this for sure, I would guess that in most cases where neoadjuvant chemo will be given (chemo pre-surgery), an MRI will be part of the initial diagnostic process, to ensure that the medical team has as much information as possible prior to the patient undergoing chemo, which will often shrink the cancer in the breast and nodes thereby making post-surgery staging inaccurate.

Grade is usually part of the biopsy pathology, along with ER and PR. Grade measures the aggressiveness of the cancer cells, and ER and PR measures whether the cancer is fueled by estrogen and/or progesterone. HER2 is another important variable and also should come from the biopsy results. That's the info you should be getting today - ER, PR, HER2, and grade, along with an estimate (based on imaging) of the size of the tumor. Stage usually isn't discussed at this point except possibly as an estimate or in cases where it's clear that neoadjuvant chemo will be recommended.

Make sure that you get a hard copy of all the imaging reports and your pathology report from the biopsy. These are important to have for your files and when you see any other doctors. They can also be very helpful if you have questions afterwards (it's easy to miss things during the appointment), because the info is usually in these reports.

Lucca06 · July 2020

I agree about the dense breast issue. On the day I was diagnosed I had a mammogram which showed nothing abnormal. They decided to double check by doing an ultrasound as my nipple was inverted and straightaway saw a big tumour. The cancerous area in my breast was 12cm wide and the mammogram didn't detect anything. I have heard so many stories of mammograms not detecting cancer.

Latisinco · July 2020

I went in for a biopsy I’m Wednesday (last week) and was told on the phone by pcp that it was stage 3 cancer and that is all they knew.

So, it might be grade 3? I see a surgeon today, hopefully he’ll have more details - I’ll post back

Thank you

Latisinco · July 2020

it’s kind of sad - most of us don’t know that and think we are safe

Latisinco · July 2020

You were correct, it is grade 3. We don’t have all the results back (her-2) and MRI is scheduled - so just have to wait and see

thanks again

Beesie · July 2020

Ah, the diagnosis being grade 3 (rather than Stage III) makes more sense, as information that you would get from a biopsy.

Glad to hear than an MRI is scheduled. When is it?

Do you know whether the ER and PR are negative or positive? And is there an estimate on the size, or are they waiting for the MRI to see if it provides better clarity?

As a suggestion, since you don't know the stage yet, you might want to ask the Moderators to move your thread to the "Just Diagnosed" forum. A lot of people who are not Stage III won't read your posts if they are in the Stage III forum - I didn't read it the first couple of times I saw it on the "Active" list because I'm Stage I and wouldn't normally feel knowledgeable enough to offer advice to someone diagnosed as Stage III. Something drew me read it this morning and that's when I realized that you are so early in the process that your doctors probably don't know the stage yet. If the thread is moved to a non-stage specific forum, you will get more people reading it and offering support and suggestions. It's up to you, of course!

Good luck with the MRI! Hopefully the only surprises are good ones.

Latisinco · July 2020

Thanks Bessie - I’lol do tha

msphil · August 2020

hello sweetie i was stunned when i found my lump my fiance at time and i had sex many many times and he or i never felt a lump. Then one morning in shower i felt the lump like came out of nowhere. We were planning our 2nd marriages at the time.Long story short i am now a 26yr Survivor tjis yr Praise God.my faith now husband family and plenty Hope got me thru. Hang in there and we here are here for you. msphil idc stage2 0/3 nodes 3mo chemo before and after Lmast then got married and then 7wks rads and 5yrs on Tamoxifen. Plus we celebrated 26yr Anniversary.

Just Diagnosed

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