A 1st ultrasound report suddenly worries me!
Hi ladies!
This's my tumor profile
Idc 2.2cm lump
Grade 1
Ki67 5-7%
Er/pr positive, her2 negative
0/6 nodes negative
Oncotype 11, 3% recurrence risk
Mastectomy on 30th of may and currently on lupron injection + aromasin (42 yo)
My 1st ultrasound report in indonesia (note: indonesia's hospital not very reputable) showed obliterated cortex and loss of hilum, but all lymph nodes are clear and normal size
Then i went to malaysia, doc ordered another ultrasound, mammogram, pet scan contrast. Showed no abnormalities in nodes
Then i went to singapore to do mastectomy and doc ordered mri contrast before surgery, it indicates no abnormality too
Mastectomy with 6 sentinel lymph node final pathlogy showed negative for malignancy. No vascular
My surgeon convinced me that final pathlogy and other tests followed are more important than my 1st ultrasound.
I think it may be the lupron injection making my anxiety amd ocd worse! Should i insist the surgeon to remove more nodes? Or maybe do another test?
Comments
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I consulted an onco radiologist. He said it could be because of inflammation, reactive nodes that caused the 1st ultrasound to show abnormality. (I had skin ezcema flare up on my body and especially on my right hand) He refused to give me radiation on my armpit. And convinced me not to worry about the 1st ultrasound report.
Can lupron injection side effect make me feel more emotional and worsen my ocd anxiety this fast? (I had my 1st injection last week)
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Lupron is hormonal endocrine therapy, designed to suppress your ovaries so you can take that aromatase inhibitor, aka an A.I. (aromasin) to inhibit estrogen production because your tumor was ER+ .(A.I.s are more effective than tamoxifen at preventing recurrence because they "shut down the estrogen factory" rather than just block the receptors, without the risk of blood clots that tamoxifen can carry). Anything that affects your estrogen production is going to exacerbate emotional stress and inflammation (hence your eczema flares). These effects should lessen over time once yoyr body adapts to the dose regimen,
Your doc was correct in refusing to radiate your armpit, because all nodes were negative—both on the ultrasound and sentinel node biopsy. (If it ain't broke, don't fix it). Your tumor was Grade 1 (well-differentiated and slow-dividing). Here in the US fewer and fewer docs are running Ki67 levels on tumor tissue, because the size, grade, and negative nodes in such an early-stage cancer (still Stage IB or IIA at the most) plus OncotypeDX or Mammaprint results are more accurate and predictive; you have an excellently low OncotypeDX score and extremely low recurrence risk. And surprised you got a PET scan. It's expensive and usually ordered only if metastases are suspected. In early-stage cancers what "lights up" is likelier to be areas of inflammation (or healthy cells with an uptake of sugar); it causes more anxiety than good. (11 years before my diagnosis I had a PET scan because of a painful "fragility fracture" (occurring in the absence of any trauma, for which I was statistically to young to have gotten). So the orthopedist was trying to rule out bone metastases from a hypothetical tumor somewhere in my body; instead, what lit up was an area of inflammation at the site of both the fracture and a harvest of hipbone to more securely install hardware in the leg I'd had shattered by a car bumper 8 years before even that. But that weekend between the PET scan and the results was extremely nerve-wracking (not the least because I was also awaiting brain MRI results due to a sudden sensorineural hearing disturbance, for which the neurotologist wanted to rule out a brain tumor, blood-vessel malformation, or other anatomical anomalies).
Just relax, take your meds, examine and periodically image the other breast, get bloodwork done and see your oncologist periodically. And as the old blues song goes, "don't go lookin' for trouble, trouble will find you."
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Hi chisandy.
Yes my surgeon ordered pet scan just to make sure. She said she would be very surprised if it had spread with this kind of tumour. The ki67 is 5 to 7%, so quite low. Grade 1.
I'm still worrying about the other nodes that are not tested. It's my obsession ocd i think
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