Lumpectomy Lounge....let's talk!
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Rekidal, please try to stay positive! The surgeon has sounded very optimistic. Obviously her answer was frank but it was based on IF. And right now there is NO IF. And we sure do hope that IF doesn't come into play. Try to relax and have a good weekend! HUGS!!!!!
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Hi Rekidal -
I agree with you, it stinks when we have to wait so long for the results and the red tape. Absolutely calling the office every day, or every other is good. Eventually, they will get the answers you want even if it is just "to make you go away". (not meant rudely). Hey if it works, it works right? I hope that the report was good after all that.
MarieBernice6234
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HI Jeanelle -
I am so sorry that you are having the mood swings from H*** due to the Tamoxifen. How long have you been on it? I have only been on it for 5 weeks now. I have been a bit moody but no real swings. Are you taking any antidepressants to help? Effexor is one of the better ones. I hope you don't take Zoloft if you are taking anything because Zoloft and T don't get along.
MarieBernice6234
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Peggy, Thank you. I think this last surgery has just put me in a blue mood. There are lots of things on the schedule this weekend with 3 basketball games and a girl scout event, so hopefully it will pull me out of this funk.
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Rekidal, What a fun weekend! HUGS!!!
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I posted yesterday about the swelling and horrible pain I had this week after surgery. Today at follow up BS drained 3 tubes of fluid. Instant relief. It is a very large seroma. I have a baseball sized bruise where the incision was. I will have to drain it again. It is already refilling. BSwas shocked I didn't come in earlier in the week. Who knew... I thought it was normal healing. I wish I had know earlier to have it drained, would have saved several bad pain days.
Pretty good path report. Tumor biopsy - Both Dcis and IDS. Clear margins. Negative nodes. Er/pr+ 90%, hers-. Ki67 unfavorable 50-60%%. I'm not sure what that means for treatment. Removed unknown 2nd tumor -benign. Oncologist appt next week.
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Leigh....so happy for your clear margins. Hoping you get to dodge the chemo.
Rekidal....fingers crossed that 3rd times a charm.
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Great news today! All margins are now clear!! I am beyond happy! Thank you everyone for your positive thoughts, hugs and prayers.0 -
Great news rekidal....so happy for you!!!
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Rekidal, fantastic news! So happy for you.
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Thanks!
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Oh happy day, Rekidal!!!!!!!
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awesome! Third times a charm, I guess. What a relief for you. This stage is over. Phew! Hope you aren't feelign to bad during your recovery.
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Hope you are doing better Susie. Keep us posted on onc appt.
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Gatomal, It is amazing how much better I feel just knowing there will be no more surgeries, both physically and emotionally.0 -
Rekidal, of course you feel a zillion percent better. That cloud that's been hanging over you has gone and now you can move forward! HUGS!!!
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I know what you mean about surg hanging over your head. I'm getting a mammogram and ultrasound tomorrow (first time since Dx) so I'm very worried that my lumpectomy may turn into something more. Or that we find a bunch of positive nodes or something. Those tests coupled w my last chemo tomorrow and just general exhaustion with four kids (newborn twins) are making today and the past few days very tough. At this point I'm not even praying anymore for a specific outcome. I'm just praying for the strength to continue on the path.
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Gatomal, that's a huge load you're carrying. Newborn twins would be enough for anyone, let alone two more kiddies and the BC. I'm amazed that you are managing at all. Everything will go just fine! Concentrate on it being your LAST CHEMO (YEAH!!!!). HUGS!!!!!
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Hi. I am feeling better after having the seroma drained twice. The arm and biopsy area is very sore still but hopefully will be less so soon. The seroma seems to be calming down. MO and RO apts next week to discuss treatment plan.
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That's good, Susie! Hopefully you'll be lots more comfy real soon. Very gentle HUGS!!
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Susie...so glad you got some relief. Good luck with your appts.next week. It helps to get all the pieces in place so you can get on with life.
Gatomol...oh my you do have your hands full. Congrats on your LAST chemo and good luck with mammo and US. You have been thru so much....hope it's smooth sailing from here on out. (((hugs))) to your precious children.
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Gatomal, Congrats on finishing chemo! Good luck with your testing, I am sending positive thoughts your way!
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I just had a lumpectomy and the sentinel node biopsy. It has been only five weeks since the results a regular mammogram checkup turned up a small lump. The biopsy showed a "well-differential invasive ductual carcinoma, grade I with associated microcalcifications, ductual carcinoma in situ, cribiform type, low grade, Estrogen Receptor posistive 63%; Progesterone Receptor positive 38%; and Her-2/neu negative score 1+" I was told that this was good news that the tumor was very small 0 stage and a lumpectomy with a sentinel node biopsy was all that was needed.
The surgery went well, there was clear margins, the surgeon told me that it was confined to just that 1/4inch spot, the lymph node sentinel biopsy showed no presence of cancerous cells. Pretty good news. Today was my one week post-op appointment and again the surgical site is doing great, he just had to drain some fluid buildup from the lymph node site.. Now he wants to set me up for radiation. I have to go back next week for another appointment. Here's what's bothering me, I really don't want to do the radiation. It was contained, it was low grade, they got it all, so is radiation really needed. As I sat in the waiting room, of this huge Oncology center, I couldn't help but think of how much money cancer represents for the medical field. He didn't mentioned how much radiation was involved, no mention of any chemotherapy or hormonal treatments. I feel like I need to know more, but I don't know a lot about the radiation. I want to make a good decision. Has anyone had such a good prognosis and didn't do radiation and is doing fine now?
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Marie Kelly who posted here for years, skipped rads with a similar diagnosis.
The reality is that we have an 80% chance of this being over with just surgery. Rads adds 5-10%
I decided to do rads because I read in Susan Love's book about docs who wondered exactly this thing -- Grade 1, no nodes -- do they need rads.
So they did a clinical trial, to see. And they cancelled it because they found that the rate of recurrence -- that's local recurrence, NOT mets -- was unacceptably high
They just can't tell yet.0 -
Dear uncertainbutprayerful, Welcome to the BCO community. As you can see there is wonderful support and information shared here among those who truly understand one another's situations. In addition to the information that you are receiving on the boards you may also want to check out this link Radiation Therapy When is it appropriate. Hopefully this and others' information can be helpful, Keep us posted. The Mods
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Uncertain, I totally understand your reluctance to do rads. I felt the same way, but my Dx was a little different. Lumpectomy for calcifications, 2 small, adjacent areas with total tissue removed of 2.4 cm, only DCIS, no invasive ductal carcinoma, biopsy pathology called it grade 3, with necrosis. After lumpectomy the grade was reduced to grade 2, didn't have sentinel node biopsy because it was just DCIS. Even so, the strong recommendation of my BS was to follow with radiation. Even though my risk of recurrence was quite low after successful surgery/clean margins, doing radiation cuts the risk in half. And if there is a local recurrence, there's a 50% chance it would be invasive. Still very treatable, but the increased risk was just too much for me. MAYBE if my Dx had been a very small, low-grade pure DCIS with no nodes, I might have been willing to risk it to avoid radiation. Given that it wasn't, I felt I really had to go ahead and do rads, and today I completed #2 of 19. I feel this is the right decision for me, and if I'd had IDC, I would have been even more sure. It's hard not to be cynical about the costs of all this, but there really are good studies behind the stats on radiation after lumpectomy. It's true, there's a lot that isn't known yet, and I'm sure recommendations will become more individually tailored in the future. But unfortunately, my cancer is now, and so is yours. For me, since I'm ER- (1% positive) and PR- (0%), there's no question of hormonal therapy for me, so after I get through this month of radiation, I hope to be done with BC forever. No guarantees, but pretty good odds. Maybe ask your surgeon to refer you to some recent studies to help you make up your mind?
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I also wondered if maybe radiation was overkill after what I felt was a very mild case of cancer.
My RO said that is was something like 1/3 of women with early stage bc treated with lumpectomy etc., benefit from rads and for the other 2/3 it just isn't clear. But which of those thirds you are in... is a mystery. For me, I did the rads. 0 -
Uncertain, I went with my BS recommendation. I had both IDC and DCIS and both were about 9mm. Nodes clear. For me, the most important thing has been to make sure this cancer never comes back. So I chose to do radiation. You don't mention how old you are or your menopausal status but my MO put me on Anastrozole (Arimidex) as soon as I finished my rads. He also had me start Fosamax.
Like ICanDoThis, I also read Dr Susan Love's Breast Book which was a huge help to me. You might want to check it out. No one can make you do radiation if you choose not to. But do listen to the reasons your BS has for recommending it.
Uncertain, you might want to update your diagnosis and treatment and make them public so we can see that information. It makes it easier for us to help you.
Welcome and sorry you had to come here. You'll find wonderful support. Many HUGS!!!
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so on the way to mammogram/ultrasound/ lazt chemo...I get pulled over for not wearing my seatbelt while driving. ( since it cuts across my left Breast which HURTs) so I pull off my sunglasses and just start bawling. Saying I'm going for my last chemo, my Breast hurts and that's why I'm not wearing my seatbelt, I'm getting my mammogram in preparation for surgery, he says why are you driving if you are so upset. I said, through tears, " I wasn't upset until I got pulled over! I've been though he'll the past six months, just delivered twins eight weeks ago,had four months of chemo pregnant." He said, alright ma'am, can you let your husband drive? I said yes ( but didn't bother to share that hubby is a slow driver that stresses me out on the way to chemo!) anyway, another huge teary meltdown that embarrasses me, but success! No ticket.
The the radiologist said she could really find the tumor, and it would make it hard to do wire localization since they don't know where it is, as there was no clip put in during the bx. Then she said mastectomy. And I say, you are telling me that because the chemo was so effective. And you can't find the tumor borders, that you'll just lop off the whole Breast? She said, I talk to your surgeon and see what strategy we'll come up with, i just want you to have your eyes wide open. So infuriating! So today I read the actual report, which says...no Cancer seen in right breast ( hurrah...worried that it could have been bilateral) difficult to discern tumor in left breast upon mammon and ultrasound. Consulted with surgeon and we will not do a wire localization at all, surgeon says there is a small palpable mass and she can find the site. Since we r doing a reduction and lift too, I'm confident that we'll get lots of tissue and let path sort out what's what. Did finish my last chemo, and cried when we took that last cap off. Had to take the babies for their two month shots and check up today. Getting ready for a well deserved nap now. Surgery still on the 31st.
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Gatomal, wow. That's enough drama and emotion for a year, all in one day! I hope you have a well-deserved rest. I can't imagine doing everything you're doing, you're very strong.
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