Hello, all. I have been reading here for a week or so--ever since my Mom had an abnormal mammogram. She went back in for some more scans last week, and they found microcalcifications that they graded as 4C. Today I took her for a consultation for a stereotactic needle biopsy.
When the doctor did the exam today, he said he felt no nodes in her neck or under either arm and no lumps in either breast. I'm hoping this is good news, but I just don't know if there could still be problems in nodes or a decent size tumor even if he cannot feel them. Does anyone have any thoughts on that?
Right now we are waiting for a phone call to schedule the biopsy, then he said about two business days after that we should get the results. He was very reassuring to Mom, and tried to ease her fears. He explained that the calcium deposits are not a problem, but we just need to see what's happening in the breast tissue to cause them. He said that 80-90% of the time, it is nothing to be concerned about. I hope that made her feel a little better.
We have a special challenge with Mom because she has Alzheimer's Disease, and so a lot of this is going to be very overwhelming for her. I'll be going with her to all her appointments to help guide her through the process. It would be very helpful to know if anyone else out there has dealt with BC and AD combined.
I am grateful that you are all here for us new folks to turn to at the beginning of our journey, and I thank you in advance for any guidance/support you can provide. I have already drawn great strength from this community by reading all of your posts, and I look forward to getting to know you better.
~Cindy B~
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leaf Joined: Dec 2005 Posts: 5,944 |
Oct 23, 2009 09:34 pm, edited Oct 23, 2009 10:49 PM
by leaf
leaf wrote:
Yes, no palpable nodes is a good sign. But in order to get diagnosed with virtually all breast cancer, someone needs to look at a piece of tissue under the microscope. (Inflammatory breast cancer is more of a difficult, clinical diagnosis, but it is quite unusual.) There still could be lymph node involvement (they can only know this if they look at it under the microscope), but it is a good sign that he didn't feel any nodes. I haven't dealt with bc+AD together, but know a person who helped her mother through some medical problems and AD. She had cataract surgery, and I do NOT think they gave her general anesthesia. Your mother's AD may have some impact on her care, depending on the severity of her AD. There is one poster here who has a child with special needs who got breast cancer. For her, they opted for mastectomy and oral medications. They did not opt for radiation because she wouldn't be able to lie/stand/sit still enough for that procedure. (I have not had radiation treatments, so I don't know about any of this firsthand.) For many cases of breast cancer, there are a variety of treatment options. I hope everything will be fine for your mother. If she does, indeed, have breast cancer, then they will discuss the treatment options for her with you (if your mother is not aware enough to give consent.) I'm sure they will try to evaluate if your mother would be able to handle each type of treatment. I'm sure people here will want to offer support and help. Best wishes for a benign outcome! If you're going through hell, keep going-Winston Churchill
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Cindy_B Joined: Oct 2009 Posts: 7 |
Nov 5, 2009 09:55 pm
Cindy_B wrote:
Thanks for your reply. I really appreciate you taking time to give me a thoughtful response. In the two weeks since I started this post, I have called the Alzheimer's Association for some guidance and also read lots of messages on the alz.org website regarding people with AD and BC. I feel a little more clear about how to proceed now. Mom's stereotactic biopsy is tomorrow afternoon. I just talked with her on the phone, and she is nervous and not looking forward to this. I hope it all goes as smoothly as possible tomorrow, and she has minimal discomfort during and after the procedure. They said two business days for results, so since this is going to happen on Friday we'll probably know something by the middle of next week. I'm ready to know what we're dealing with, and I'm sure Mom is too. |
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Caldwell Joined: Nov 2009 Posts: 2 |
Nov 5, 2009 10:15 pm
Caldwell wrote:
Calcifications can be just from abnormal cells and they would want to watch her carefully. For what it's worth, I had calcifications and it turned out to be DCIS, small enough that no radiation or chemo were required after the excisional biopsy. I hope your Mom does well |
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Cynbatt Joined: Jun 2009 Posts: 40 |
Nov 6, 2009 03:22 pm
Cynbatt wrote:
Hi -- My mom turned 86 last week and was diagnosed with BC last May. She has a form of dementia very similar to AD. We tried hard to avoid surgery because of concerns about the effect of AD but there was really no choice. Contrary to all of our fears, my mom sailed through the surgery and recovery and doesn't seem to be aware that it even happened. The physical recovery was unbelievably easy. The only issue we had was the drain which she tended to pull at because she could not understand why it whas there. Let me know if I can be of help. BTW...I am also Cindy B. |
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Cindy_B Joined: Oct 2009 Posts: 7 |
Nov 6, 2009 07:38 pm
Cindy_B wrote:
Thank you, Caldwell and Cynbatt, for your kind replies. Mom came through her biopsy this afternoon pretty well today. It was rough on her, but she tolerated it okay. Now the waiting game begins. I guess it's time to start a new thread in the "waiting for results" forum? Caldwell, I'm glad to hear about your experience. Thank you for sharing it. Let's hope it goes as smoothly for my Mom if they do find anything wrong from this biopsy. It would be fantastic if she could just have an excisional biopsy and be done with it. Thank you for your well wishes. Cynbatt, I am sorry you had to go through this with your Mom. I am happy to read, though, that she seemed to come through it all so well. Did she have to have any more treatment for the BC other than surgery? I appreciate you sharing your experience, and you can bet I'll be calling on you from time to time if it turns out Mom has BC too. It will be invaluable to be able to talk with someone who has a shared experience with this disease and dementia combined. ...off to start a thread in the "waiting" forum... |
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