How are 2nd or 3rd cancers are found?

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lily_b
lily_b Member Posts: 18

All,

I am two years post treatment and on Arimidex, but I am worried all the time!  Any little tingling in breast or stomach, back or neck pain, coughs, bumps anywhere, would trigger a doctor's office visit.  I am at the point that I don't think my doctors want to see me anymore.  Even the tech in the mammogram center told me, no more checkups, just come in for the annuals...

But I am still on the edge, 5 hour sleep nights are normal...

Can anyone of you share how the 2nd or 3rd cancers are found?  Do you insist certain tests when you visit your doctors?

Thanks in advance!

-Lily

Comments

  • kimy_66
    kimy_66 Member Posts: 1
    edited January 2008
    I found a great supportive family doctor who orders them, I am going through testing now for lung cancer and have pain in my bones. I am also 2 yrs on arimidex and am 42 I was diagnosed when pregnant with my daughter  My email is kimy_66@hotmail.com if you want to talk
  • mke
    mke Member Posts: 584
    edited January 2008

    My first BC was discovered by fluke.  I just happened to be looking in a mirror with my arms raised drying my hair.  No lump, just a dent.  No one ever could feel a lump, but it was BC.

    My second BC was discovered by routine mammogram.  Big lump and a "whoa, where did this come from?" feeling.  Must have been rapid growing, I'm sure it hadn't been there long.

    What I figure is going to be my third BC was also discovered by mammogram and ultrasound.  No lump - too deep.

    Never once did I have a tingle, twinge, pain, twitch, itch, pang, ache or anything else that I know was related to the BC.   I've got plenty of them and some are related to BC treatment, but none to the BC itself.

    No I don't insist on certain tests.  I understand your worry, in my mind I've had cancer of the lungs, liver, esophagus, nose, bones, colon, etc.  You name it and in my mind I've had cancer there.  Every twinge says metastases.   The twinge can say it but it doesn't make it true.  No amount of vigilance to my various aches and pains would have altered my BC discover or treatment one bit.

    Some people have the two week rule.  If whatever ails you is still there after 2 weeks, see a doctor, other than that ignore it.  Seems a sensible sort of rule to me. 

  • Erica3681
    Erica3681 Member Posts: 1,916
    edited January 2008

    I had bc in my right breast, discovered by mammogram. Three years later, bc was found in my left breast, also by mammogram. I was only having mammograms once a year, but the docs used the newer digital machine and I know they gave extra attention to my films because of the prior bc. I feel that helped them find the tiny calcifications that led to the second diagnosis.

    I wish I could give you more reassurance. After my first cancer, I had lumpectomy and radiation (very small invasion, so no chemo necessary). After the second, I had bilateral mastectomies. I just wanted to minimize the chances it could come back a third time.

    Barbara

    BreastFree.org 

  • irish43
    irish43 Member Posts: 8
    edited January 2008

    I found my first cancer in my left breast by touch, it felt like a small cyst. It turned out to be a tubular carcinoma, 5mm. I had a lumpectomy followed by 6 weeks of radiation. My follow up was a mammogram and ultrasound every 6 months. Two years later they found another cancer in my right breast with the ultrasound. It was a totally different cancer than the one in my left breast, invasive lobular carcinoma 6mm. I then decided to cut my odds and had a bilateral mastectomy. The best advice I would give is to keep going for your followup mammograms and any other tests. Early detection is key.

  • nosurrender
    nosurrender Member Posts: 2,019
    edited January 2008

    I was followed very closely by my doctors because I had an original cancer that was extremely aggressive and I had breast conserving surgery. I alternated mammograms with breast MRIs every six months. That is how my second cancer was found.

    I am a big believer in getting a baseline scan done and then in the future, your doctors have something to compare later scans to.

    I used to live like you are, always being on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop and then one day I decided to take my life back and LIVE and if it came back, well, at least I enjoyed the time i had instead of spending it worrying all the time.

    I got a second cancer in the opposite breast five years later and I was OK. I was able to handle things so much better. We learn a lot in Cancerland and that knowledge gives us power.

    Right now I am out of nine months of chemo and in rads, I have had a bilateral and I am scheduled for an ooph. One thing I do know- I am going to live each day to the fullest and not let cancer live rent free in my head. It takes enough from us. It isn't going to take happy days away from me...and it would if I spent my time worrying about its next appearance.

    I was in chemo and everyone told me I would not be able to do the same things I did normally. I gardened and made my vegetable garden and rose garden bigger than ever, I went to the beach, I went sailing, I LIVED. Cancer hates it when we get on with our lives. And pissing off The Beast is one of my favorite things to do!!

    Take your life back. Worrying won't change anything. Make sure you are followed closely so IF anything comes back you find it really early. 

    Hugs to you,

  • lily_b
    lily_b Member Posts: 18
    edited January 2008

    Thank you all for your heartfelt advises!!  I certainly learned a bundle from all of you.  I will keep all my doctor's appointments but live my life to the fullest possible!  

    Best wishes to you all!!!

    Lily

  • sharebear
    sharebear Member Posts: 332
    edited February 2008

    I found my first lump at age 32 myself during self exam. After that I had annual mamms. Even though I had a clear mamm in October, I found a lump in January during self exam. Yes 3 months earlier my mamm was clear. I am 45.

    I can't say enough about self exams. Ladies ..... feel yourself up like a prom date!

    Sharon

  • lily_b
    lily_b Member Posts: 18
    edited February 2008

    Sharon,

    Do you have dense breasts?  It said Mamms don't work for dense breasts.  And you are good at self exam!  My bad one became so lumpy after the surgery so I don't know what to feel anymore.

    -Lily

  • CalGal
    CalGal Member Posts: 469
    edited February 2008

    My 2nd cancer was found by me - during a shower.

    Turns out the mamm 2 mos prior showed the 2 cm tumor, but the radiologist missed it - on a woman who had already had bc!

    As always, I asked to see the mamm.  My breast surgeon had not seen it and asked me if I wanted him to take a look.  He said he would ...  Oddly, after I found the lump and wanted the mamm's for a 2nd opinion, it was "lost".

    Previously, my requests for an MRI (due to it being more effective for dense breasts) were denied as were my requests for a CT scan.  On the recurr bc, I again asked for a CT scan (it was still not offered) ... and finally got it ... and more than I ever feared:   liver mets and likely unrelated kidney cancer.

    Through chemo and radio-frequency ablation, those were taken care of!  I was NED for over a year.  Per a quarterly PET/CT scan, a lung met was found.  Again, asymptomatic.

    I'm on a PARP Inhibitor clinical trial and doing well. 

    Although I can't go backwards, I think the surgeon made a mistake when he refused my request for a CT scan on my initial dx.  

    The other thing - bc can spread thru the blood, not just the lymph nodes.  My lymph nodes have always been clear - despite mets!

    CalGal 

  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited February 2008

    My fear of a 2nd or 3rd cancer, coupled with my very dense breast tissue (even after menopause), are the main reasons why I will be having a mastectomy next week rather than lumpectomy + radiation. I figured there was no hope of my detecting a new mass early enough on the side where the current tumor is located. If I had not found the current tumor and finally insisted on a workup, it would still be undiagnosed.

    I am 55 and have been getting mammograms pretty much according to the recommended schedule.  Every single mammogram was followed by a letter saying "no cancer detected" or "no change from last year."  I knew my breast tissue was dense, but my GYN never suggested ultrasound as a way to check out the various lumps I would feel.  He always told me the lumps were part of my "fibrocystic breast condition."

    This is important:  2-1/2 weeks ago, I had a digital mammogram at a breast clinic at a major cancer center. I was referred there by my primary care doctor, for mammo and ultrasound of a lump my GYN passed off as fibrocystic breast tissue.  The mammogram showed benign calcifications in both breasts, and dense breast tissue, but no evidence of cancer ("BIRADS 2").  The ultrasound, however, clearly showed the 2 cm lump I had been feeling for about 2 years.  A biopsy revealed that it was IDC.

    The moral of the story is that mammography has done me no good whatsoever. It lulled me into complacency.  Even at the cancer center, mammography couldn't detect the 2 cm mass we knew was there.  My onco surgeon and radiation oncologist told me I should probably be screened with ultrasound from now on.

    otter 

  • lily_b
    lily_b Member Posts: 18
    edited February 2008

    Otter,

    I am with you.  I have dense breasts all my life, I didn't know it until the tumer was found by myself.  I am 50 now and the breasts felt much softer, still I insist ultrosound everytime I am scheduled for mammo, just to make sure.  Are you going to do reconstruction after mast? 

    Good luck on the upcoming surgery!

    Lily

  • otter
    otter Member Posts: 6,099
    edited February 2008

    Thanks, Lily--

    No, I've decided not to mess with recon.  I'm pretty small-chested anyway, and can get by with a jersey-type "casual" bra if not bra-less.  From what I've been told on the "prosthesis" threads, I would not have difficulty finding a prosthesis that would fit in my current bras (with a pocket).  I tend to wear casual clothes anyway--loose knit tops, T-shirts underneath cotton shirts, etc.

    Comfort is more important to me than appearance, and I wanted to shorten the time it will take me to get back to "the new normal."  I'm retired, and my dh and I have lots of things we want to do.  He's OK with the no-recon decision (especially once he saw drawings of the recon procedures in the plastic surgeon's office!).  He did think I should have lumpectomy/rads rather than mastectomy, but I think he's OK with that now, too.

    My decisions are consistent with my lifestyle, but they certainly wouldn't work for other women.  Good luck to you--I know how it feels when you begin to wonder if your docs think you're a hypochondriac!

    otter 

  • melmedic06
    melmedic06 Member Posts: 96
    edited February 2008

    my first cancer was found on mammo and confirmed by mammtome- i had noticed pain in the axilla only relieved if i pushed very hard on a certain spot and held that position and slight nausea every afternoon for about 3 months- no pain in my breast at all- it was ILC - small 0.9 cms - lumpectomy- SNB- 0/6 nodes and radiation- also started on arimidex- routine follow up one year later showed calcifications in other breast- steriotactic biopsy done- radiologist said "nothing to worry about- looks clear" suprise! DCIS- another lumpectomy but with negative breast tissue- no DCIS at all-

    continue on with arimidex and 6 month mammo's and labs- honestly all i do is wait for the 3rd dx and worry constantly-

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