Calling all TNs
Comments
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Hi TN Ladies - although I don't post here much I hope someone will help me today. Just came from a "routine " 6 month mammo where I was told I have suspicious results and need a biopsy. They see microcalcifications clustering near my scar and they don't know if its DCIS or something called fat necrosis..,whatever that is. I just finished all my treatment last March and was just starting to get my head out of cancer land. I don't think I can deal with all this again so soon. I am one step away from losing it right now....so scared! Thanks for any feedback.0
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Hope60 - I am in the same boat right now. I think the idea of any "suspicious" results is very scary. I totally get your fear. We just have to get through the next few days and find out what we're dealing with. Do you know when your biopsy is going to be? Hopefully we'll both get good results back. That would be the best Christmas present!
Kathy
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Hi Kathy - Thanks so much for writing back to me. I see you are in scary/waiting mode, too but not quite sure what your situation is exactly. I was totally not prepared for this. I don't have a date scheduled yet for the biopsy, they said they would call me in the next day or 2. This place is so overbooked for procedures, I had to wait 2 weeks for a biopsy last time around. And with the holidays coming, it can only be worse. I'm going to call my BS tomorrow to see if he can help set something up soon, or send me to another radiology place. So it could be a while. Not how I imagined ringing in the new year. When will you know your results? I wish you a good report....yes, the best christmas present ever!!
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mccrimmon324 and Kathy -- my PCP said the same thing over and over. Stay off the Internet!! I've tried. I'm research-addicted (not just with this but with practically everything). So it's tough. One thing I noticed though in scanning through the signatures in this thread, is that everyone that's TN is Grade 3. Coincidence or the norm??
Thank you Kathy for the sharing your experience. I'm glad to know that MX can be done after chemo.
I'm sorry for those of you that are waiting on test results. I think that's soooo scary, but I'm sending positive thoughts your way.
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Kathy - I just read your earlier post & see that you're waiting on results from blood work. Just wanted to let you know that I had elevated liver enzymes at one point -- not sure exactly which ones though. In any case, it turned out to be nothing. Eventually they went back to normal. Wishing the same thing for you!0
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Hope - my issue started last week when I went for my routine 6 month follow up with my onc. Exam went fine and wasn't expecting to get a phone call the next day to say one part of my blood work was elevated. Because of this, he wants me to have a petscan, which is scheduled for Thursday. Should have results on Friday. Like you, not how I was planning to celebrate the holidays with this extra stress. But I guess this will be our new normal. Anytime things come back not quite right and need more tests, it's going to be stressful. This is my first time since the original dx. Just praying we both get good results! And, by the way, if they don't call you by lunch time tomorrow, I'd start calling them about scheduling your biopsy!
Kathy0 -
Hope...what do the calcs look like? I'll make my story very brief but I had calcs in my other breast found on a mammo 2 weeks after I was done with chemo...there were 4 in a row..one was rod shaped..I was totally absolutely freaking...I had a biopsy and they were benign..they were vascular microcalcifications... Calcifications are usually (like 90%) benign...and I know you are freaking and have every reason to be..the good thing though...if there is a good thing..if they are cancerous calcs..my BS said that rads. would be the only thing needed...I was already planning a masectomy...
I hope this relieves your fears a little..
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Kathy..hoping for totally normal results..if I were a gambling person (and I am)..I would bet that this is nothing..
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Char- TNBC is a very aggressive form of the disease. Grade three is the most aggressive cell growth, so the two go hand in hand...in other words, yes "the norm".
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My dr told me that my cancer was not hereditary so maybe they did check?
Hoping and praying the ones waiting for results get positive news.
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Thanks, Titan ... I will let you know if you should be heading to Vegas when I get my results on Friday! And if you're right, I'll meet you there! But, seriously, thanks for the reassuring words. I appreciate it.
Kathy0 -
Hi all, I'm waiting to go for a bone scan in january. I have an aching pain in the back of my thigh. I'm also grade three - so the worry is always there.
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Hope and Kathy - praying (and believing) you'll both get good news.
Bernie - Is your leg feeling any better or worse? Praying for you too, I bet it's not BC related.
Ksmatthews - At first my Onc wasn't going to do the BRCA test on me but at a later appt when I mentioned my paternal grandmother died young of BC, he changed his tune. I go back on the 11th for my first 3 month appt, I'll remind him then that I need it done.
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Welcome to the group Char. I am almost done with chemo--1 to go on Dec 29th. Many TN's do chemo first as it resonds well the chemo and can save you the Bmx. Also docs can tell if it is not responsive and change up the meds. I second guessed many of my early decisions and then went to a radiation onc and he backed me up with everything I did. Made me feel so much better. The beginning is so full of what ifs. It does get better once you get your plan in place and know what is going to happen next. This site is awesome and full of great, strong women who really know their stuff. There is also www.tnbcfoundation.org. which is only for TN's Lots of great info there as well just for TN's. All the latest research and clinical trials are found easily on either site.
Heidi--I too believe it is a crap shoot as you said. At first when diagnosed I went crazy with diet changes and may myself nuts. Then I realized that there are women here who were health food junkies that got BC so now I just enjoy what I want when I want. Nothing overboard and my sugar intake is def less than it was but that is a good thing either way. I made the decision that BC would NOT take over my life before my time had come. Being still in treatment I am facing it head on with SE's but I am not a puddle in the corner.
Maggie
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Hi mc, leg only hurts at night. Probably a strain but my onc said check anyway. Welcome to the newbies but sorry you are here.
I have spent all day cleaning up after the water heater burst in the bathroon, found the water when i got up this morning. Cleanest the floors have been in months
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Praying for GOOD results for everyone. Waiting is the toughest part. And yes most of the time califications are B-9.
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Bernie,
my floors could use a heater burst! Are you doing any different exercises or anything? I know from my hips down ache and are so sore when I get up in the morning or any time that I've been sitting for any length of time.
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Hi Titan, mccrimmon and fighter_34 - Thank you all for responding to my post, and for your words of encouragement. Titan, the calcs looked to me like little specks of dust, but they were clustered, which was the concern. Also, they're in my BC breast, right near my scar. I spoke to my BS, who I love, this morning. The radiologist told him her first impression is that they are "fat necrosis"...ugh sounds ugly....some benign crud that builds up from radiation. However, she can't rule out DCIS given my history. I just cannot believe all the dose dense AC+T and rads I had wouldn't knock that stuff out, but who knows. Waiting for a biopsy date right now. If it's DCIS I'm probably looking at a mastectormy, since I already had radiation in that breast. I was just starting to get my head out of cancerland and look toward the future, now here I am again. Thank G-d for Ativan, and for you wonderful ladies!0
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PS - Titan - Just wanted so say that as a long time lurker here, I've always loved your posts. You show tremendous compassion for everyone who comes here, you always have good information, and you're funny!!! Thanks again.
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Hope60 - I have a strong feeling it's fat necrosis, the radiologist know what they are looking at, they just need to be extra carefull given our situations.
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Hi mccrimmon324 - thanks for saying that, and I think you're probably right. That was what my BS led me to believe, too. But it's hard to go to the scary place in my mind, you know? After having BC it's hard to believe we'll ever get good news, but very often we do. I'm trying to remember that!
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Hope60- I had both IDC and DCIS. The DCIS was microcalcifications that were lines that branched out. The radiologist said those were almost always DCIS. He said he would have been less worried had they been clustered. I sure hope it's nothing!
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I just want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season! I am going to take a break a bit from posting, as I'm getting ready for my trip. I'm feeling the need to close my eyes and coast a bit on my raft down the warm river of DeNial. I'll be back after the New Year, with new resolutions and a new resolve.
I am thinking of all of you who are waiting on results, hoping all comes out well for each and every one of you. For my new sisters, hold on tight, it is a bumpy ride. But know that this horrible disease can be beat, and that YOU are in control of your care. The holiday season often brings about amazing things, and my wish is that come the New Year, we will all have wonderful news
.For everyone in the NE Mass area, let's talk about getting together in January - it would be wonderful to meet!
As for myself - I am feeling good, better each day, and look forward to a lot more time to share with my family, friends, and cyber-buddies. Much love to all.
Susan
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Merry Christmas to you Suze, enjoy your trip.
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Enjoy your trip, Suze. You deserve it! Happy Holidays to you too.
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Bernie, have you ever had back issues? I had sciatica from where a bulging disk was pressing on the nerve. I'd get pain and 'pins and needles' down the back of my leg, like I'd overstretched the muscle or something. It eventually got better, but then a few years later, the disk ruptured and I had surgery - a mini-diskectomy, to cut out the ruptured part and sew back together what was left of the disk. It aches in cold, wet weather, but that's a vast improvement, so I'll take it and be happy.
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Hope, I had the same thing - calcs discovered in BC breast right between finishing up chemo and starting rads. It turned out to be DCIS. I opted for an immediate BMX.
It was tough news to hear at the time, but I am so glad to be rid of them. I am 3 year post DX, 2.5 years post BMX this month. Best of luck to you!
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Merry Christmas Susan! I look forward to hearing all about your trip in Jan.!
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Hi: Just popping in to wish all you wonderful ladies a very lovely holiday. I'm headed north tomorrow to ski and spend time with family - my younger son flew in from school last night, so we're all together for a brief time. Best Christmas gift of all is time together!
To those of you new on the journey, I wish you some calm and peace, and the confidence that you will prevail over this awful disease. To those waiting on tenterhooks for test results, I wish you only good news... and the knowledge that you can face and surmount even bad stuff that happens. To those of you in treatment, I wish you strength, resolve and minimal SEs. And to those who are months and years out from treatment, I wish you hope for many many more healthy years ahead. And I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for being such a tremendous support to me while I was in treatment... and so much fun and inspiration and knowledge in all the time following. May 2012 bring good things to all.
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Had another 6 month medical oncologist appointment today. He couldn't believe how upbeat I was, and when I told him that I no longer felt like an 80 year old woman, that I felt like my old self, he *really* wanted to know what I attributed it to, as none of his patients had ever reported on such a positive turnaround.
Unfortunately, I couldn't attribute it to anything in particular. Guess I just got lucky!
I did mention that the only thing that felt "neither better nor worse" was my SNB area and affected boob. I also said that that didn't surprise me, as one boob had been through a war and the other one hadn't.
However, he mentioned that scar tissue has a lot of nerve endings, so it's not surprising that things are still tender when 12 pound cats step on them. (Keep in mind that that 12 pound cat is the one who found the tumor, so I don't ever get mad at her).
Anyway, I hadn't thought about the nerve & scar tissue relationship and thought I'd pass that little tidbit along to you guys. Oh yeah, he also mentioned that he'd do a scan in another year if I wanted one. May take him up on it, as I do believe it's a good idea.
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