Newly diagnosed stage 1 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma

I am in same boat just diagnosed on December 8th.

On December 2015, I was diagnosed in with stage 3a TNBC (invasive ductal carcinoma) in my left breast at the age of 45. Genetic testing revealed I also carried the BRCA! gene. It was an easy decision to choose the double mastectomy and having my fallopian tubes and ovaries removed. I had thought of about nipple sparing surgery but the radiation oncology didn't understand why I would have radical surgery and risk saving my nipples. My thought process was in case I decided to do reconstruction. Since I wanted to do everything possible to beat TNBC and see my children grow up I decided to not save the nipples. After surgery, traces of the cancer were still present in my breast and lymph nodes, plus my healthy right breast had a lesion growing.

After surgery, there was 4 more rounds of chemo, which was followed by 2 weeks of radiation. Then, another 12 rounds of chemo (in pill form) was recommended to reduce my risk of recurrence. It's December 2025 and the TNBC has not recurred. I recently had surgery for renal cell carcinoma that happened to be separate new cancer. Due to all the extra yearly testing that's done due to the BRCA1 gene the RCC was caught at stage 1a while screening my pancreas. Part of my right kidney was removed; no chemo or rads was necessary.

It's important to have confidence in your doctor. Also, talking to cancer survivors can lead you to ask questions about your treatment. Knowledge is power too!

my tumor is 0.35 cm but I am going to do mastectomy.
my genetics test is negative but unfortunately cancer is in my family.

Making the decision for lumpectomy or mastectomy is such a trying time! I struggled with this decision but decided on a lumpectomy because I was negative for the BRACA gene. I waited until I received my genetic test results before I made my decision. If I had been positive for the BRACA gene I would have chosen a mastectomy without reconstruction. My lumpectomy was 2 weeks ago and I will start radiation soon. I live near you in Bruce MS. My breast oncology surgeon is in Memphis Germantown. Feel free to send me a private message I am happy to help😊

Just check in to see how you’re doing. I hope the surgery went well. I had my BMX a year ago. I went flat. Feel free free to private message me if you have any questions.

Are you getting any reconstruction done?

I really appreciated this thread. I was recently diagnosed with invasive ductile carcinoma Stage 1, grade 3, triple negative and under cm. I am 51 and waiting on genetic testing results. If I do chose a lumpectomy I will still need chemo with radiation. Waiting for all of the tests before I decide. My team hasn’t given their recommendation yet either.

Mine was IDC, 1.3 cm, Stage IA, Grade 2, ER+/PR+/HER2- (“Luminal A,” the most common type in post menopausal women), R breast (10:00 upper outer quadrant) . I was 64, almost 65. I tested negative for all known mutations, and my OncotypeDX was 16, or low-risk. I went with lumpectomy—path confirmed the above, plus clean margins, all sentinel nodes negative; accelerated (16-sessions, high-dose) partial breast radiation to just the “tumor bed” (my RO had just finished leading a study showing that in women 65 & up with Luminal A type IDC, recurrence rates between that protocol and the standard 35 sessions were identical). I just turned 75 last night and so far so good. I am now back to bilateral annual screening mammograms. I had very mild side effects from radiation: some fatigue the first week, slight reddening and increased volume (seroma), hardening of the nipple—I pretty much sailed through it without pain or skin damage. My routine was to shower in the morning, do my sessions in the afternoon, and immediately (in the changing room) apply Aquaphor ointment, At bedtime, calendula cream, aloe gel (Fruit of the Earth—dye-and-alcohol-free), and another application of Aquaphor, then shower it off in the morning, The seroma increased the breast by 2 cup-sizes, making it equal to the L breast, and then over the next 5 years shrank to its current 4cm, so the R is back to being the smaller one.

@peterrachel13

Your And we’re here for you too. I’m so sorry mom passed away from lung cancer. My mom also had lung cancer but she passed away from stroke while was still in remission.
I hope you’re recovering well from the recent surgery. I went flat because I didn’t have the courage to go through 8 hours of surgery. It took me a long time to recover due to a large and thick hematoma. One drain was clogged up on that side. Stage IIb is still considered early stage? I pray your oncotype will be low so no chemo. Hang in there. Once you have the treatment plan, things will get better, and it will get better as we adjust to the new normal. I was dx three years ago. Now I don’t think about it often. We have to live too, right? When I get anxious, I take a long walk listening to music. Playing jigsaw puzzles helps too. Please come back to let us know the results. Hang in there. Hugs.

@pupsrule983 Hang in there too. I hope the post surgery soreness goes away soon and that you have some meds for pain relief in the meantime. I hear you on the stamina. I wasn’t expecting to feel tired after surgery but I guess it takes something out of you. I’ll be starting chemo too and the fact that I am already tired is making me nervous. Sending you many good thoughts

Hello @forwardmove. Taking everything one day at a time and trying to have positive thoughts does help. I’m sorry you are joining us here but welcome. It’s a wild ride for sure. Figuring out how to do the AI treatment and managing side effects can be a challenge. I’m glad your oncologist is already planning for that!

(My limited experience) I was premenopausal and had never experienced a hot flash until after being on Tamoxifen for a few months. I probably would have naturally experienced them going through menopause but I’ve only known this version of things. They are crazy! (It’s more the freezing cold chill that leads up to a hot flash that drives me insane, I fall for it all the time and layer up only to get the blazing hot flash and my brain says “I’m dying” while I scramble to shed layers.) I cannot imagine how uncomfortable you’ve been coming off HRT!!

I too was prescribed Gabapentin (more to help me sleep) but it did not help much and it did little to nothing for the hot flashes. My gynecologist suggested Veozah and I was willing to try it. She did bloodwork beforehand and then monitored it each month for a few months (making sure my liver wasn’t affected). She had me quit the Gabapentin cold turkey (it had been about a year that I was taking it ) and start Veozah which resulted in about a month of a nonstop headache. Afterwards she said maybe we should have tapered off the Gabapentin even though I wasn’t taking a high dose (600mg) because it might have been a rebound headache. Good to know. Anyhow, I adjusted after a month or so, the headache dissipated and in time the Veozah definitely helped with the hot flashes. I would still have some noticeable ones after about 18-20 hours so the daily pill doesn’t seem to work for 24hrs or at least not for me. I take it at bedtime. I would still have a few hot flashes throughout the day but they were pretty mild and I could mostly ignore them. I’d occasionally have a rogue strong hot flash but mostly they were mild.

Fast forward to switching to Lupron and letrozole while staying on Veozah … (Tamoxifen was messing me up in other ways) … unfortunately the hot flashes are much stronger! That is probably from the Lupron. I have tried stopping Veozah to see if I notice a difference and each time I can’t do it. It’s a big difference. The hot flashes seem to come twice as frequently all night long (blankets on, blankets off constantly … forget sleep!)

I guess this is my very long-winded way of saying the Veozah might really help, and you might experience significant relief or maybe just partial relief but enough to manage day by day. I studied the possible side effects of taking Veozah and definitely was concerned about it affecting my liver but all bloodwork shows my liver is functioning fine. I know there is another drug just recently approved that is similar to Veozah but haven’t researched it. My insurance initially denied Veozah but my doctor appealed it and it got approved. I also signed up for a savings card through Veozahsavings.com which is a huge help until I meet my deductible (I pay $30 instead of $530 for a 30-day supply … crazy I know).

I hope your radiation treatment goes very well!

Also recently diagnosed with IDC. ER+ PR+ Low Her2, genetic testing negative. I have two small lesions (1.5 cm and .8 cm in one breast). I am scared of the radiation because of long term side effects (and since I’m being treated out of town), radiation will be very hard on my schedule. So, think I’m going to opt for a one sided mastectomy with diep flap reconstruction. But, then I change my mind and think about lumpectomy. I don’t know. The doctors are talking about starting me on letrazole prior to surgery. Hoping the best for everyone’s course of treatment—-and please provide any comments b/c I’m trying to learn everything I can so I can ask my surgeon the right questions.