Recent Lumpectomy

What a rotton way to treat you! Please make sure to get a copy of the pathology report for yourself so that you can track down answers to questions you forgot to ask.

Most likely "favorable" means that there is normal tissue around the the edges of the mass they removed. This is also called "good margins". Usually it means that you won't need any more surgery and go on to chemotherapy and/or radiation.

But "favorable" isn't an answer. Insist that they make time to see you as soon as the office opens after the holiday.

When the surgeon called me with my results, he explained that favorable was having hormone receptors that were positive for estrogen and negative for Her2neu.  I hit two out of three being negative for estrogen, positive for progesterone and negative for Her2neu.  So my tumor was favorable with the positive hormone receptor of progesterone and the negative result for Her2neu.

Ask for clarification from your doctor and get a copy of your pathology report.

Val, "favorable" isn't much info for you to go on; it can mean almost anything. As the others said get your Path report when you see the doc. I looked through the info on this site before I saw my oncologist and had a list of questions to ask about the path report. My doctors always took the time to answer all my questions.

Kad, I'm sorry that you are so bruised; I hope it will get better. When in doubt ask your doctor. I think some people bruise easier that others. I'm happy that I went with the lumpectomy. I had mine on Jan 4, 2007, just a year ago. It doesn't look too bad, but sometimes I can see the "dent" around the incision, but it is usually covered by whatever I'm wearing. I don't think anyone else has noticed when my scar peeks out of my swimsuit during water aerobics. They haven't mentioned it to me, anyway. These are the same ladies who said I didn't have to wear a scarf over my bald head during class before my hair started growing back. I told them yes I did because my head was cold otherwise.

Hi, Kad

so sorry this has been so difficult. 

Did they talk about inserting wires prior to the lumpectomy?  With mine, prior to surgery, they wheeled me to the breast center and the radiologists had me in the mammo machine. It's digital, and they were able to use that to guide wire insertions on either side of the DCIS . The surgeon uses the wires as a guide for getting all the right tissue out. I'd like to say he cut around the outside of them...

Mine said that he never wants to see any clips from the biopsy - they should be somewhere in middle of the removed tissue. If he does see them, then he knows there may be a problem with margins. They do check in pathology that the clips are there.

Oh, surgeon also had me go in for an MRI prior to the lumpectomy. That resulted in an ultrasound and u/s guided biopsy, but the bit they found was B9. Measure twice, cut once, he says.

I hope you are able to get all your questions answered. This is hard enough without feeling confused.

take care

PSK07, I since decided on getting another opinion.. A Oncolgist Surgeon.. The sugeon that I have been seeing is probably a good surgeon and he is working with the Cancer center.. But, he is not a Oncologist. The rest of the team is.. I believe the team works with other cancer center here.. I was recommended to a well known Oncologist surgeon maybe she takes more steps then he.. My wait is a bit long to get in but really Jan. 25 will come soon enough.. Thank you for the info.. take care, kad

Val, my prognosis was also viewed as favorable, although I was ER- and PR- and HER2+.  It was very small (5mm), very large clean margins, and no node or vascular involvement.  So if it is HER2+ don't think of it as unfavorable, as these days we have herceptin to bring us even with the her2 negative folks.  Favorable sounds good; hang on to that until you get your full pathology report.

Kad, I had a lumpectomy and my surgeon removed a huge amount of breast tissue.  In some areas I had clean margins of greater than 5cm.  The smallest margin was 1.5cm and most were well over 2cm.  My breasts were relatively large (C/D) and the appearance is not bad at all, although my right breast is smaller now than the left. (You can always have the other breast reduced to look like the lumpectomy one.)  Actually, my right breast looks better than the left (discounting a small indent and some blue dye still around nipple) as it's more upright.  And the skin cleared up very nicely after radiation.  A good surgeon can do a whole lot to give you a good appearance. Hope it goes well and you recover quickly.

Val, Just saw your last post.  I also had DCIS (6mm) and IDC (5mm).  My surgeon also sent me for MRI of both breasts, even though I already had a diagnosis of DCIS from a fine needle biopsy.  She wanted to be sure there were no other areas of DCIS in either breast.  From what I've read, MRI's are better than mammograms and sonograms for seeing DCIS.  So it's a good thing you're having the MRI, although the additional wait can be tough.