Stage II w/Lymph Node Involvement

I went for mammogram and ultrasound today, unfortunately it was not good today!!!

Since I reported the lump I found, so they re scheduled my routine from June to April. Mammogram looks no difference, even though they checked my lump, then I went for ultra sound, the lump is no problem, but they found another suspective area, which needs biopsy finally, it is scheduled on May 4. I have not heard whether it is a high suspection or low suspection, the category of the report, I can get report from doctor by this Friday.

I don't know whether this is a good news or bad news. If I had not found that lump, this area won't have chance to be discovered earlier, mammogram fine won't lead to ultra sound.

I know lots of women have successfully experienced 10 plus years after diagnosis, did they have something happened like what I got today? I pray.

Warrior517 - Thank you for coming back and posting the positive outcome :-) Love to hear you are doing well. It gives hopes to several of us who have been following this thread and still in the thick of it.

tsquare - Has surgery been your only treatment thus far? I had a lumpectomy for (what they thought was) a 2 cm IDC without lymph node involvement. It turned out to be 4.5 cm with 3 of 4 nodes positive including extranodal extension. Despite a “low” oncotype and mammaprint (did both) my team thought it best to have a lymph node dissection (ALND) to remove all level 1 & level 2 lymph nodes, followed by chemo and then radiation. Luckily the ALND did not result in any additional positive nodes. There was a lot of back and forth among my doctors and discussions with experts at other cancer centers to determine a plan of action. It definitely wasn’t straight forward. I know my age was a factor in aggressive treatment too (I was 48).

Cathy67 - Hope everything is OK? Any further updates? I have not checked in in a few months so only just saw your updates. Hope they figured out the lump and there’s an action plan for you.

t square - here’s a useful article I found when deciding on my next steps. Basically I opted out of the full axillary node dissection due to the high risk of lymphedema and also this study that showed long term survival rates for those who did the sentinel mode biopsy were no worse than those who did the full ALND. I did do a full radiation treatment and hormone therapy after surgery. Anyways make the decision that’s right for you. All I can share is I have no regrets on my decision as I had very few side effects from all the treatments, no lymphedema, and have been in the clear for 4 years now! Actually just received an “all clear” mammogram today. Hope that trend continues to hold. But even if it doesn’t, we just keep fighting.

https://news.feinberg.northwestern.edu/2017/10/10/trial-finds-no-survival-benefit-to-aggressive-breast-cancer-procedure/

Warrior517 - THANK YOU for starting this thread and also coming back over a decade later to let us know you are a survivor! It means a lot to have examples like you.

cathy67 - SO glad to hear the biopsy came back normal! Congratulations on thanks for the update. Hopefully things will stay stress-free for you going forward.

I just had my mammogram and luckily it came back clear and my oncologist even congratulated me on great mammogram results! It's so stressful every time we go through this. I'm glad you are back on the NED train.

Sending hugs!

tsquare, since you have ILC, I believe the next treatment will be one of AI (aromatase inhibitor) if you are menopausal. Most MO start with letrozole since it is the most effective of 3 however, if you have severe SE from letrozole, they can recommend another one. In case you are pre-menopausal, OS and AI or tamoxifen alone. Most of us with ILC, would suggest you ask your MO to go with AI since tamoxifen is not very effective for ILC. Let us know what your MO suggests.