ILC - Old Lady Cancer?
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I am so blown away by the number of young women with ilc. Old lady cancer indeed. I think u am now going to ask again about testing for brca for my kids sake.
H- so sorry you had a rough go of it but happy you are on the other side. I have dodged that bullet so far. Thank god for self exams and self awareness.
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I was 38yrs old at dx.
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I was 48 when diagnosed, and still having regular periods. Chemo took care of that!
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I was 50 - still having regular periods. Great shape - group exercise instructor for 20+ years, never smoked, always been thin, eat well, etc. Did have my kids late - 40 and 42.
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49 and premenopausal
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44 and premenopausal but the doc said it would have been there for many years before so I'm guessing I would have been in my 30's when it started out. So definitely no old lady's cancer. Another thing that baffles me with their description of ILC is that they say that it's slow-growing. If that's the case then why are most of us a grade 2.
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I was (and still am) 46 at diagnosis and pre-menopausal and I definitely don't think I'm an old lady.
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Tania,
As to why most ILCs are Grade 2, but generally called slow growing is an artifact of how they calculate the Grade. There are 3 components, each scored from 1-3. The one that measures extent of lobules always scores a 3 for ILC...that means that to get bumped into a grade 2 (a total score of 6) you just have to have one "non 1" score on the two remaining measures, mitotic rate (how fast the cells are dividing) and another measure about how abnormal the cells look. If you have your pathology report you can look at the mitotic score...and most ILCs are 1s or 2s for this measure, so slow or relatively slow.
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Thanks, Lojo, for your explanation. It makes me feel better.
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Thanks Lojo for clarifying that for me. I was going to ask that question to my oncologist when I next saw him but I don't go back to see him until February. I don't have a copy of my pathology report but I might ask next time I'm there to see what I scored for each component. There is so much to learn about bc, it is such a complicated disease. I'm guessing that a grade 2 ilc is not the same as a grade 2 idc then.
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That's right - a grade 2 IDC is not the same as a grade 2 ILC, since the IDC by definition didn't score more than a 2 on the extent of tubule formation (my mistake earlier - it's "tubule formation" not "lobule formation", which means that to get kicked to a grade 2, an IDC must have a 2 and a 2 or a 2 and a 3 at a minimum for the other two measures ("mitotic index" and "nuclear pleomorphism" (how abnormal the cells are) to get a total combined score of 6 or 7, which is the grade 2 range.
Here is the citation for an article about grading ILC's Modern Pathology (2005) 18, 621–628,; doi:10.1038/modpathol.3800273
Invasive lobular carcinoma: to grade or not to grade
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They say it started in my 30's my diagnosis was not till 46 but they said they thought I had it 8 years or so.0 -
I was 1.5 months shy of my 47th birthday when I was diagnosed with ILC. I'm premenopausal. My doctor said this tumor took no less than seven years to form. The age bracket where ILC is diagnosed/discovered is 45-55. So it's not an old lady's cancer. What age is old anyway!
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I was 36 when I noticed the lump and dx at 40. Now 46, I have met others my age who also had ilc and definitly not old ladies.
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Interesting. I had IDC and I recall my oncologist saying I had an old lady's cancer in a young woman's body (age 46). He also said "that's a good thing." I did not think he meant IDC, I thought he meant ER+/PR+. Of course I never asked for an explanation, so I really have no clue.0 -
I am 45 (pre - menopausal) and diagnosed 9/24/14. Surgery is 10/24 ... just 20 days shy of my 46th birthday.
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I was 53 and 9 years since menopause. I had 1 IDC and 1 ILC
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Wow! That's insulting! ILC at 52, not dx'd for probably 3-4 yrs. pre-menopausal. And it's back 10 yrs. later. I will fear for my daughters, thank you!1 -
I was 53 and still am, diagnosed in January. However I knew I had something going on 18 months prior and no-one believed me. I suspect I have had it since my late 40's, who knows how long these evil things take to grow inside us?
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I am an "old lady," 72 at dx; HOWEVER...my younger sister, my sole sibling, was dx ILC at 47.
ILC is not familial? We just both happen to be 5%-ers?
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the treatment just makes you feel like an old lady
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I've been following this thread. I was 62 at diagnosis but I never felt like an old lady until I started treatment. I am officially an old lady but most of you would have classified me as old before dx. There is never a right age to be diagnosed with this beast of a disease. Hard to know if breast cancer is being found sooner or there is actually more breast cancer in younger and younger women. Scarily, my small cancer was found by chance, since I had a biopsy for microcalcifications and lobular rarely presents with microcalcs. Dr said that that tiny bit of cancer had been growing for 7-10 years. What a lazy, stupid cancer I have...couldn't even hide out!!!!
MsP
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Diagnosed at 43. Giant tumor 14x12x9 - essentially
Premenopausal but in chemopause now. I did take birth control pills for 5 years (1989-1995).
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I hope I am not an old lady... Diagnosed at 38.
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Ms Pharoah,
Well I also had a grade 1 lazy cancer but it sure did hide for over 5years or more. No nodes and 6cms. It did travel through the ducts and made it to other lobules in all quads of my left side. I must have been "old" when it started at 40. To think I should have been in Hollywood and taken advantage of my youth! LOL
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Annette, that is what is so scary about this type of cancer...that it could grow to 6cms and escape detection!!! My surgeon told me that my DX was serendipity and used the expression..."someone was looking out for you". Because had it not been for the unrelated biopsy of the microcalcs, the cancer would have still been growing undetected. I often wonder though if it was lazy enough that I might have lived a long life...never knowing it was there. I can only wonder at this point. I definitely don't feel lucky though!!You are very attractive and youthful...Hollywood is still an option!
Best, MsP
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MsP, my breast surgeon also told me that it was "remarkable" that my tumor was found (only because I felt something that didn't feel right to me). My mother died at age 82 from complications with Alzheimer's. She never had any breast problems, but I wonder what would have been found in her breast tissue if autopsied -- microcalcifations? LCIS? (I have no family history of any cancer that I know of.) But to your point, I often wonder how often ILC has gone undetected and doesn't end up being the thing that causes death.
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Gemini, there are probably a lot of us with these little, lazy ILC's. Can you imagine an alternate and happy future where we lived without the knowledge that we have cancer? That's one of the things I hate about this disease....it robs us of our sense of well being even after "successful" treatment. I am definitely changed.
Love and hugs to all the ILC women....young and old, who endure this beast!
MsP
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Hello. I am very new to this diagnosis and this website. I have been reading posts for about 3 nights now, you know after the kids go to bed and you are wide awake because all you can think about is your diagnosis. I am 44 years old. I was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago. I just turned 44 in September. I haven't worked a day since my diagnosis. I have so many questions and not enough answers all while trying to show strength for my children. I don't want them to see me lose my mind. Even though I feel like I am falling apart.
I just really wanted to answer your question about age. Thank you for letting me share with you.
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Hello. I am very new to this diagnosis and this website. I have been reading posts for about 3 nights now, you know after the kids go to bed and you are wide awake because all you can think about is your diagnosis. I am 44 years old. I was just diagnosed 2 weeks ago. I just turned 44 in September. I haven't worked a day since my diagnosis. I have so many questions and not enough answers all while trying to show strength for my children. I don't want them to see me lose my mind. Even though I feel like I am falling apart.
I just really wanted to answer your question about age. Thank you for letting me share with you.
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