Unsure

@Natwitts Mine was invasive lobular also. Very difficult to find. Had "clear" mammogram 9 months earlier! My symptoms were physical - inverted nipple and distended shape. It took ages in ultrasound, biopsies, etc. They thought it was 8-9 cm but in the end it was 12 cm. It's the fine spider-web nature of lobular that makes it so difficult to assess before surgery. Nothing left between chest wall and chest muscle. I tell everyone now to not rely on mammograms, but have ultrasounds as well. My daughter and nieces are doing that.

Gee I can't even remember the type of CA it was..IDC..not DCIS..was someone talking about memory loss before???????????

Hi @Natwitts,

Welcome lovely.  The ladies have got everything covered as usual.  Just wanted to say hi.  I was grade 2 stage 2 but standard garden variety DCIS. The stage and grade becomes irrelevant after the start.  No body has ever mentioned it too me again and I had to ask my breast care nurse to find out anyway.  The doctors never said anything.

My breast tumour was a bitch to find.  The MRI was the only thing that could spot it (we knew it was there because I had found the lump in my nodes to start with).  It was exactly the size the MRI said to the mm.
It still surprises me that MRI is not standard at the time of diagnosis.  Cost factor I guess. That way we'd all get one big bloody shock instead of two.

All the best for a clear MRI result.  Big hugs.  xoxoxo

I had my lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy at Monash Moorabbin hospital but also Monash breast clinic in Clayton. 

Hi Natwitts. I’m bayside Melbourne too.  Diagnosed 31 st July, so just ahead of you. Stage 3 I THINK I’m grade 2. Invasive ductal . Mammogram found it in one node. 
Hat PET, further ultrasound, and bone scan. I am so lucky it hadn’t spread elsewhere. I had an MRI on both breasts, it was my second opinion doc who requested it. She wanted to be certain it wasn’t in the other breast, particularly as my gals were lumpy.  Personally I didn’t mind at all....I wanted them to have all the info that they needed to make the best decision. (disclosure -I am a medical scientist so that’s how I roll anyways!) ;) The MRI revealed the tumour was bigger than they thought, and in one more node.  But not in the other breast , which was a bit of piece of mind tbh. 

Where are you having your treatment done?

Lobular is sneaky and difficult to assess--tumours are often larger, or more numerous, than first thought. 

Scan and tests are stressful and nothing is without some element of risk--no-body likes being in a machine with chemicals swishing through their veins--but it sounds like you are being offered  a thorough assessment. Which is pretty sensible given the form of the disease you have won in life's crappiest lottery.

Don't worry too much about the grading business; the main game is  your medical team figuring out exactly what is going on and what can be done about it. This stuff is confusing and confronting and it takes a while to get used to a whole new language. It also requires a level of trust which doesn't come naturally to some people. Hang in there. Mxx

I should point out I'm invasive carcinoma lobular with ductual features. So many words. Lol

I'm in Melbourne bayside. Xx

Thankyou. Xx. I'm grade 2 but couldn't see stage, so was alittle worried, but you have explained that well. Mine is clear from nodes and clear margins, but I have LCIS so they want an MRI to see if there's future cancer  mayb around. Thankyou again for taking the time to explain. Xx

I didn't have lobular but my tumour was twice the size than estimated from the mammogra and ultrasound. Our imaging is good, and improving, but the technology is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. You'll find the increase in size story quite common.

Regarding the stage, like @sister, none of my doctors paid anytime to discussing it. As far as I can tell it's just a short form of describing a patient's diagnosis without detail. Grade and ki67 are more pertinent.

Stage describes the size and spread of a cancer. There are many shades in between so it's further divided, eg Stage 2A. The grade refers to the activity of the cancer cells, how fast they're multiplying. 1 is slow, 3 is fast. It's shorthand for how aggressive the cancer is.

The breast cancer learning curve is vertical. You'll soon get the hang of it, and emotionally it will get better once you have a treatment plan. One day at a time is the way to get through this. Big hug, K xox