If you have just been diagnosed....

I am so sorry, secv. You have been thru so much! I'll lift you up in prayer today. Stay strong, friend, and keep us posted on your treatment plans.

Hello

Found out Thursday, still shocked and scared and just freaked out, never think it will be you.  I see my surgeon Tuesday I have been told I have a malignant tumor in right breast about one inch and lymph node is involved and they both need to come out asap.  I now have a swollen lymph node in my neck that has been coming and going for about a month and also has me scared, wondering if it is just trying to fight off the cancer.  Do not not what stage it is or what treatment I will need and all this talk about abc and 123 has me so confused, I know I will know more after surgery.  I am 37 have been married 16s and have a 14 yr old son.  I know I can find support here and friends, I am so glad I have a good sense of humor, today I am grateful for that alone.  I am a atheist with breast cancer, funny ha!

Msteri,

hugs and so sorry you have to join us.  That has to be the hardest phone call ever to receive. No wonder you're scared!

Dumb question, but I've done this myself so I'll ask - did you double check the gyno's phone number?  If the office is closed, there should be a voice mail. My internist called me, although the radiologist (doc) gave me her own phone number in case they were slow with the results. If you can't get them on the phone, drag someone with you to the doctor's office first thing in the morning & stand there until they let you in to see your doctor. You can also call where you had the biopsy done & find out if they've sent the results to your gyno yet.

You'd think everyone would take these things as seriously as we all do, but it doesn't always happen. 

Please take care of yourself. Come back and ask whatever questions

you have - I know someone will be along to help.

Pam

I first found my lump just before Christmas. Two days later my doctor confirmed the lump and scheduled me for a mammogram. I had my mammo and it so happens the doctor at the breast health center did the biopsy the next day. The diagnosis was confirmed the next week and I have already been scheduled for surgery on February 4th. Thanks to additional tests done last week, there is no cancer anywhere else in my body. Am I scared, yes I am. My parents both died of cancer and I have an older sister who is a breast cancer survivor. Even though I knew of the possibility of it occurring in me, I never took it to heart until I found the lump then reality set in. My oldest sister, the one who is a survivor, was so shocked she cried on the phone while we were talking. No one is truly prepared for what may happen in the future so I am asking my sisters and family for all the support I can get.

HELLO,

I RECENTLY HAD RIGHT BREAST EXCISIONAL BIOPSY (LUMPECTOMY ON 1-16-08). THE REPORT READ(WHICH I'M STILL HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING AND THEN TRYING TO MAKE AN DECISION WHAT TYPE OF TREATMENT)

INVASIVE DUCTAL CARCINOMA GRADE3

TUMOR HISTOLGIC GRADE (3,2,3=8/9), GRADE 3

TUMOR MEASURES 3.2 X2.6 CM (INVASIVE COMPONENT ABOUT 1.0 CM.

DCIS PRESENT, SOLID,COMEDONECROTIC TYPE EXTENDING TO THE LOBULES COMPRISING ABOUT 80% OF THE TUMOR VOLUME.

LYMPHOVASCULAR INVASION IS PRESENT.

TUMOR IS 5MM AWAY FROM THE POSTERIOR, MEDIAL,LATERAL MARGINS.

OTHER AREAS SHOW FIBROCYSTIC CHANGES.

ER-,PR-,KI-67-POSITIVE,P53-POSITIVE

I'M SO OVERWHELMED WITH THE DOCTORS TELLING ME I NEED SNB TO CHECK NODE INVOLVEMENT, PORT PLACE, CHEMO, RADIATION. I'M 37 YEAR OLD AND HAVE 3 DAUGHTERS 19,11,8.

I HAD GENETIC TESTING DONE BUT I AM WAITING TO HEAR BACK ON THE RESULTS. PLEASE GIVE ME SOME INFORMATION.

Hello,

My sister in law has just been diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer with mets to the lungs.  PET scan was done yesterday so we don't know results yet.  She is getting a port put in on monday with chemo to start right away.  Problem is she is so, so very weak.  I'm afraid it has spread to other organs.  Is this normal to be so weak?

Welcome to the club. I am not much older than you (46) and this can be a bumpy road to travel, but with each other's help, we can make it through.

You can check out some of the other threads and get more information from others about the particulars of your cancer.

I was dx with DCIS (non invasive) grade 0 last April after 2 incidents of ADH (pre-cancer) since 2005.

Get copies of all your reports and start building a file that will help you in understanding what treatments are appropriate.

We will help you through this time of uncertainty.

Sheila

Well I guess I don't have to say why I am here I tried reading as much of the posts as I could but there were so many here my eyes were starting to water. What a sad reason to be finding new friends though. Who would have thought.... I am Sally, 51 mother of 5 grown children, Nana to 12 grandchildren very happily married. Found a lump 2 years ago, was told by lab tech when I went back the second time to get it biopsied that it was just "hormonal" and that they couldn't go around biopsing every little lump. Doctor was mad and sent me to see a breast surgeon who did the lumpectomy. It came back as benign but was told that I had proliferative breast disease and that it no longer was IF I was ever to get breast cancer but now when.

Barely a year later (last Sept 07) I found another lump, had core biospy done and they said it looked suspoicios and sent it off to pathology. results came back in 2 days as DCIS. Doc (who is the BEST ON EARTH!) sent me back to the same breast surgeon who did another lumpectomy and results came back 2 days ago.

1. Breast biopsy medial biopsy right: 

a. single focus of low grade DCIS within a background of atypical duct hyperplasia and papillomatosis

b. DCIS has low grade nucleur features and cribiform architechture'

c. focus of DCIS has a long axis dimension of 0.9cm

d. negative for invasive carcinoma

e. DCIS is estrogen receptor positive

f. DCIS comes withing less then 1mm of the surgical margin identified by the suture

g. remainder of breast tissue characterized by florid usual duct hyperplasia/atypical duct hyperplasia, schlerosing adenosis, cystic change with apocrine metaplasia

h. negative for inflammation and repair reaction typically seen with a previous biopsy

2. right paritial mastectomy:

a. florid epithelial hyperplasia/atypical duct hyperplasia in 2 separate non-contigous blocks

b. negative for DCIS; negative for negative for invasive carcinoma 

c. margins clear of atypical duct hyperplasia

d. negative for inflammation or repair reaction typical of a previous biopsy 

Do these guys who write these reports up actually think that the world full of normal Jane Does can even understand that? Do they assume we all have medical degrees?  I can understand the need to put it in medical terms but then why don't they put an English version at the bottom of the report so we don't have to google every other word?

My surgeon went over the report with me. The MRI showed a  "spot" on my T1-T2 vetebrae that needs to be checked out. It showed the lump at 10:00 spot oon the right breast which is where the surgery was going to be and it also showed a spot at 11:30 on the left breast which is the breast that had the original surgery 18 months ago. There also were a few white tiny spots on both breasts. She is sending me to the Cancer Clinic to recommend Radiation as well as more investigative measures to check out the vetbrae spots as well as the little white ones,...Phew.. that took a while to spew out. I then saw my family doctor yesterday and I told her that I think there is something wrong with me as I seem to be either in the worst case of denial there has ever been or it hasn't hit me yet as I seem to be way to calm cool and collected compared to others around me when they had been diagnosed.

I guess my 2 questions are,, has anyone else had all the above descriptions on their path report and is it normal to be calm over being diagnosed? My only sister died of cancer at 48, my dad was 58 also of cancer and I had 4 aunts (2 on each side) that died in their  40's of cancer. I also am trying to find a spot on this site that deals with "how to tell your aged mom you have cancer". I am flying out to where she lives to tell her this weekend. She is just going to hear the word cancer and it will automatically become a death sentence to her.

Thanks for letting me bend your ears so much!!

Sally

My spouse didn't say a word other then what did you find out. I believe he was in shock as much as I as breast cancer hasn't been in our family before.  I didn't know what I needed at the time for me to tell him.  He has asked questions from guys at work whose wives have gone thru this and came home to share it with me. I was diagnosed on Jan. 10, surgery on Jan. 29 and he is coming home with information for me now.

Rose

Sally, I was where you are just last April. I also had previous biopsies for abnormal mammo that they said it was not a question of if but when. I was considering preventive bilat mast when my mammo came back abnormal again in April. I had the bilat mast last June and it was a relief to 'get it off my chest'. My final path report looked a lot like yours, I only had the cancer in one side but had abnormalities reported on both.

My mom had to break it to her mom in 2001 that she had bc, Grandma was 87 at the time and in 1978 she lost another daughter to ovarian cancer. Grandma said that mom was going to die, but mom said that she was not Arlene, They were able to remove mom's cancer before it spread outside the breast. My aunt Arlene's cancer was throughout her body before they knew where the primary tumor was. Because Mom, paved the way for my dx, it was easier to tell my Grandma. She huggs me every Sunday and says that she has prayed for my healing.

We will be here to support you in all your decisions.

Sheila

I asked my surgeon for a copy of my pathology report. I said my dd worked in histology and is a nurse and she would like to see it. Today the onc took the report and told me what he looked for and what the report meant.  He was very helpful.

Rose

I can't believe I'm now part of this girls' club.  I feel like I'm play-acting, that this is just a dream! I was told I was at the lowest possible risk - late period (15) early menopause (49) had 3 children all breast-fed; my mother (83) told me BC didn't run in our family. I'm 53 years old, and still swim a half-mile 3 times a week. Yet my mammogram came back suspicious and a second mammo and sonogram showed a bright white spot in my right breast. I thought it was just the same old calcifications that had always been there. So they gave me a sonogram guided needle aspiration core biopsy on Friday February 1st and gave me the bad news on Tuesdsay February 5th - "infiltrating ductal carcinoma". I spent the next days glued to my computer, educating myself. I felt stronger then - like the more I learned the more in control I felt - but now I'm just tired and sad. I saw a breast cancer surgeon on Thursday and he said we caught it early - it appears very small, but he's schedule me on Tuesday for a right hip bone scan because I've been experiencing increasing pain there and he wants to rule out even the slightest possibility of any problems. He said it's probably just arthritis. Also, he has me scheduled on Thursday for MRI's of both breasts to be sure nothing else is lurking. Then he said we can discuss treatment options. Right now I'm so scared, I'm leaning towards mastectomy.....but I'm taking it one day at a time, trying to stay busy and focused. It's VERY hard to stay focused - I find myself sitting at the computer reading, reading, reading, and giving myself a headache! My biggest problem is how and when to tell my college-age daughters......they both live far away and have heavy schedules. My husband and I have agreed to wait until they come home for Spring break - but by then, the surgery will be over (I hope.) I also have a problem about telling my mother - she's 83 and very old-school Irish......I'm sure she'll be ordering my casket as soon as I tell her (my dad died of brain cancer at the age of 59). Thanks for listening to my ramblings dear ladies - I'll be praying for all of us, that we gain strength and wisdom from each other - and that something good will come from the anguish we are all going through.

I am really confused. I am new here. 2 weeks ago I had a excisional biopsy and was told that they removed a .3 cm tumor. All they told me was that I had an invasive breast cancer and this friday I am to go back in and they are going to do a sentinal node biopsy. Does this process sound correct? Did anyone ever have to go through the same type of a surgery twice before finding out what kind of breast cancer it is?

Thank you 

Hi - playing the waiting game is very hard. I was just diagnosed on February 5th, and was so happy to get in right away to see the breast surgeon on February 11th. The surgeon said he would have my pathology slides sent to his pathologist for a second opinion and he would also call to get the estrogen receptor reports.  I had a bone scan done on this past Monday (due to hip pain) and bilateral breast MRI's done on Thursday. The surgeon's office manager said to call on Friday (yesterday) to schedule my second appointment. When I called I found out to my great dismay that they NEVER requested to receive the pathology slides or the estrogen reports! I had to spend over an hour making phone calls to be sure all the reports were faxed then I had to call Quest Labs myself and have them overnight the slides - of course, since Monday is a holiday, they won't arrive till Tuesday if I'm lucky. What a waste of time! They could have had the second opinion on the pathology done already! It's so typical of many businesses - and believe me, I KNOW breast cancer is BIG business to these people! Unless I double-check everyone, it seems like NOTHING gets done. If the surgeon had told me it was MY job to get the slides and reports to him, I would have immedately done my homework. But he said HE would take care of it. This surgeon comes highly recommended and is very knowledgeable and published, but now I wonder how good the communication is between him and his office staff. On Tuesday I'm going to bring this up and ask him -  if this is a sign of what kind of follow-up treatment I can expect from them, I'll go find another surgeon before my treatment starts. I may have already said that I'm an "eyes-wide-open, front-seat roller-coaster-rider" but I ASSUMED that I didn't have to operate the equipment too!

Thanks for listening everyone - my "fighting Irish" is up today!

Hi,

I am new here.  This is my first posting.  I had stereotactic biopsy on February 11th, (my birthday of all dates).  By the way, I'm a 48 year old woman post menopausal.  The radiologist surgeon could not get profound anesthesia on me, nor was she able to get the whole cluster.  The cluster of so called calcifications were in 0.5 x 0.1 cm on the posterior side of my left breast.  I have many questions and comments about the stereotactic procedure but I am not going to get into it now.

My diagnoses ended up to be ductal carcinoma institu---high grade with comedo necrosis and microcalcifications. Level three.

I have a golf ball sized hemotoma in my breast from the stereotactic.  My surgeon said it would be at least two weeks before he would consider image guided removal of the biopsy site.  If I choose the breast conserving method, I would have to take radiation for 6 weeks and be on an aromafase inhibitor for three to five years.  My other option is to have a mastectomy and just be over with it all.  I do not want to be awake for any more procedures.  I am a dental assitant. I'm uninsured. I have applied for Medical Assistance thru the county.  Right now I am on the SAGE program here in Minnesota. I'm very scared and don't know what to do.  I have not worked since the end of Dec. And I fear that on top of all of this I will lose my job of 18 years. Any help from the wise for the weary????  Thanks...CAJ