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Posted 6/29/2007 5:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hi! Sorry to say that I guess I just learned that I have the prerequisites to join your club. My GPs office phoned this morning (surgeon is out of town for this week) and I went down and got the goods. So it says invasive ductal carcinoma that spans at least 2.5 cm. The invasive is intermediate to high grade with grade 2 architectural features, nuclei grade 2-3 and mitoses focally quite high. Intermixed with the invasive ca and present in virtually all slides are foci of grade 1 and 2 micropapillary DCIS. Lymphatic tumor emboli are seen as numerous foci in virtually all of the the slides. Lymphatic tumor emboli and foci of DCIS extend to multiple nondesignated biopsy margins and focally invasive ca extends to nondesignated biopsy margin in block "E". Block "L" shows a somewhat unusual atypical fibroadenomatous lesion that only measures about 1.0 cm.

Diagnosis:

-invasive grade 3 duct ca

-extensive widespread DCIS macropapillary type, grade 1 and 2

-massive widespread lymphatic invasion (+3/3)

-all extend to numerous margins

So, not having seen the surgeon yet - I assume he will at the very least have to do further excision but I'm guessing probably mastectomy with either sentinel lymph node biopsy or will he just do node excision? What I am most worried about is the lymphatic involvement - these are just the lymph vessels in the breast but still...it very much increases the chances that it has spread, no? I did have a negative mammogram 1 1/2 years ago so you'd think it shouldn't have gone too far but this scares me. My GP booked me for a bone scan and I will see the surgeon hopefully next Wed his office said.

You have all been such a help already...but what do you think of all this? Is this a REALLY bad report or is this a usual report like you have all had? I'm pretty shaky right now but I know there are a lot of survivors out there (and in here) so even that gives me great hope!

Thank you!

Kasey

Posted 6/29/2007 5:53 PM (GMT 0)

Sorry, I should add since I started a new thread...that the the surgery I had on June 18th was a wire-guided excision biopsy. It has since become infected with a bit of a tough bug...Kelflex x 3 1/2 days and the incision still looks like it may open and drain. I guess that's the least of my problems right now but I do worry too about how that affects the cancer, etc. Too many worries, right?

Kasey

Posted 6/29/2007 10:19 PM (GMT 0)
Dear Kasey...well, that is a bummer. I'll say. first off, that everything has changed about how they do things since I was diagnosed, so I can't say comment on the report. Breast cancer is bad enough, without all the mumbo-jumbo of "pathologese," but I think words like "massive" and "extensive" and "widespread" sound very ominous...until you think about what a small piece of breast tissue that you are talking about, and what they're looking at is a very small slice of that tissue, and through a microscope, no less. Without clean margins, then yes, they will at least do further excision, because they must have clean margins.

A bone scan is a good idea. If nothing else, it gives a baseline for future scans. Unfortunately, every ache and pain we have becomes fodder for the specialists, so bone scans, xrays, and MRI's become normal tests.

I can tell you that my initial path reports sounded very ominous as well. I was not given great odds on the 5-year survival test. But here I am, 12 years+ later, with no evidence of disease for all that time, and I am grateful for every minute of that time.

I can also tell you that we have had women who had rather benign-sounding reports (not that they didn't have cancer, but that the tumor was small, encapsulated, no lymph involvement, etc) who did not respond well to treatment and had recurrences. So it's not as exact a science as the path report may suggest. Personally, I think it's still a bit of a crapshoot, who will do well, who will not. There certainly doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to it.

Hope that helps. Maybe they will fast-track further surgery to get rid of that infection, too.

Let us know how things go. I know you must feel like the world has fallen down around you. Do you have friends and family who are there for you? Personally, I didn't know anyone who knew anything about Breast Cancer, so I would have loved to have this group of ladies back when I was diagnosed.

Take care,

BEV

Hugs...
BEV
Posted 6/29/2007 11:03 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks Bev,
I think I'm sort of in shock still - I guess we all expect it to be negative after all, don't we? Like you say....ALL of life is a crap-shoot. I just have to remember that this is just a big speed-bump, I know I've got this minute to live and that's all anyone has but we take it for granted and think that we're guaranteed 80 - 90 years!
Started a second antibiotic today and hopefully I'll start feeling a little better and be able to enjoy the fact that nothing will be happening on a long weekend!!
Hugs to you too!
KathyV
Posted 6/30/2007 3:49 AM (GMT 0)
Dear Kasey,

I empathize with you so much as I do not have breast cancer but I have many friends that do and my daughter right now is waiting for a repeat on her mammo with a ultrasound set up to follow as she had a asymetrical density in Left Breast.

Like someone said life is a crap shoot so enjoy every minute you can.

You have my prayers and support. Safe Hugs.

Kitt
Posted 6/30/2007 5:19 AM (GMT 0)
Hi Kitt,
Yes, our children are always our worry, aren't they? I know - telling my son (22) and my daughter (25) today was one of the hardest things I've ever done. But I told them I won't keep anything from them - that they are in this with me! One of the worries I have today though is that my dx automatically increases my daughter's chance of having it down the road. We are always the parent, aren't we? Thank you for your prayers!
KathyV
Posted 6/30/2007 8:23 PM (GMT 0)
Oh my God...unless I am going totally nuts - I'm sure what I have is Inflammatory Breast Cancer rather than an infection following the biopsy. I have a 2" incision from the excision biopsy that we all thought was just infected but with my researching on the internet I'm sure it is IBC! Breathe....as I was told before. I have an area about 3" diam. including the incision that is red/purple/brown, leathery and hard underneath, hot and I feel burning under my armpit and in my chest above the breast and even in the wrist of that hand. The biopsy showed "massive widespread lymphatic invasion". I'm sure....and it's Saturday of a long weekend here in Canada!
I guess there is really nothing to do until Tuesday...OMG am I scared!
KathyV
Posted 6/30/2007 10:53 PM (GMT 0)
Kathy, the internet is not a good diagnostic tool, so please don't diagnose yourself! Leave that to the doctors. If you are having that much heat and burning all the way down to the wrist, I wouldn't hesitate to go to the emergency room. That is just not normal, and whatever is going on, the antibiotics you are taking are not doing the job. And I would be MUCH more worried about an infection that nasty than I would be IBC right now, REALLY. So please go get it checked out...and don't wait for the long weekend to pass. You have to breathe, yes, but you also have to think.

BEV
Posted 7/1/2007 2:06 PM (GMT 0)
I know...I just panicked when I read that. I am not going to read anything more at this point about BC period - wait until I have expert opinions and I have to make decisions! I was so stressed yesterday that I don't know what I was feeling. the incision started oozing blood and serous (?purulent..not sure) drainage yesterday afternoon and I think maybe the best thing is just to keep it dressed and try to ignore it as best I can through the weekend. If I do get too worried I can go back to the walk-in clinic or the emerg but I don't think anyone is going to know what to do here for now...I'll see my GP again Tuesday morning and see what she thinks of the oozing and try to get in to see the surgeon ASAP and see what he thinks of the whole situation. Amazing eh? At this moment all I want is to have uncomplicated invasive BC! Amazing how our sights change, eh?
Thanks!
KathyV
Posted 7/5/2007 2:52 AM (GMT 0)

Hi, kasey:

So sorry that you received such distressing news from the pathology report.  When I received mine in November, 2006, I was in such shock that I just kept re-reading and re-reading the report.  I just could not believe that these were words

that described a condition inside my left breast.  That is exactly what these are, too, just words that help the doctor know what he needs to offer you as possibilities for getting rid of the cancer in your body.  The invasive part, as I understand simply means that it has gone further in the breast.  The lymph node part they will know more about if you do the mastectomy.

In the meantime, take a deep breath and one step at a time.  Just a story to share with you and other.  When I was at the oncologist in January, 2007, I went to schedule my next appointment.  I was tearful and as I sighed, I told the scheduler that I just didn't know if I could do this.  I didn't know how I was going do whatever I had to do.  Without missing a beat, she said to me, "Take a deep breath."  I did.  Then she said to take another one.  I did.  Then she said, as she looked at me with caring eyes, "Just keep doing that and putting one foot in front of the other.  You will make and do just fine."  Such simple advice but so true.  So.....just take a deep breath and keep doing that.  Then put one foot in front of the other.  Take a breath until you find out from your medical team what the results show in English.  Don't be afraid to ask questions, lots of questions.  And take someone with you to take notes for you.  I guarantee that you won't remember everything.  And if you don't have someone to go with you, take a tape recorder.

My prayers are with you, my hugs (((((((((((((((kasey))))))))))))))) are with you,

and I am sending as much hope as cyberspace will hold (which is endless) to you.  You are going to be okay.  I know you are probably saying that is easy for me to say.  You are right ---- now it is easy for me to say because I just went through the uncertainty and fear and anxiety that you are going through in your way. Others told me I would be okay.  I have a way to go yet, but each day gets a little easier. I am so grateful that breast cancer is not a death sentence.  It is just a rude intrusion in our lives at the most inconvenient time possible.  Getting through it is not easy but it is doable.

I and others will be here for you.  Take some time for yourself right now before things get more hectic.  Be kind to yourself and lean on others all you need.

jko  yeah  

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