i have just been diagnosed. one week now. all i know so far is invasive ductal carcinoma. its high grade on nottingham gradinf scale so that scares me. there is another word that scares ne more though. it has desmoplastic stroma. it musnt be that common as i cant find it on any of the usual breast cancer sites. all i can find are very scholarly articles that i couldnt comprehend. the two words i clearly understoid though were "poorer prognosis" has anyone out there had this or know ANYTHING about it. scared stiff. as a paraplegic i havent had a mammogram for 6 years since my accident. i was regular before that. could have been there years as i only found it by accident. although maybe the fact it is so aggressive could be good!!! it may be huge but may not have been there long at all, just grew fast. do that could be a good thing?

Basically this is just a response of the body to try and contain the abnormal cancer cells but not being as successful as we would like. It apparently occurs around non cancerous growths as well. My cancer had a high prolifetation rate also, so was a grade 3. I guess the good thing about this is that it response well to chemo. I'm 14 months on now.Don't get caught in the cycle of over reading in google. Basically I think they say poor prognosis with all breast cancers. Know the stats. 90% of women in Australia with breast cancer will survive at least 5 years. The best we can do is try to believe we are 1 of those 90%. And yes ...most live much longer than that...I'm planning on at least another 20.The pic is from the slideshow information provided at the BCNA Summit held 15-17 March. We are lucky to live in a country with such fantastic outcomes.Ask your surgeon or breast care nurse to explain the patholgy to you in more detail.Take Care. Kath x

thanks so much !! i feel like i have fallen into some black canyon, my emotions change by the second, happy, furious over nothing, crying, totally denying the report, its hard to keep up with the minute by minute mood swings, think i nead a psychiatrist lol keep well, i see surgeon tomorrow morning at 10 :#

Yes, totally normal to feel that way. My IDC was also abnormal as it had growth consistent with a lobular carcinoma but the staining apparently showed it was still a ductal carcinoma. Having an abnormal cancer just ramps up the stress about it I can assure you, however, my Oncologist wasn't concerned about it.You are eligible for a mental health plan, see your GP to arrange this, they can organise you to see a psychologist and work through the stress if you feel you need it. It should be covered by Medicare. My sister says you will go through the 5 (or was it 7) stages of grief when you are diagnosed with a serious illness, and I certainly am. My most common stage is anger and I revisit it often.I go back and forward through the stages, and still sometimes think it is all a bad dream.if you go onto the resources section of the BCNA website, there is a fact sheet about Dr Google, it lists the reliable websites for you to access.it also has many other fact sheets you can order in hard copy or download yourself.I thought I knew a lot but found many there that were very helpful, including the one on the mental health plan.we are here for you to ask questions too, and to just listen if you need to let rip about something, ask your Surgeon a lot, they should give you lots of information too, mine gave me the My Journey information book, and they had a brochure for contacting the breast care nurse, who is a fund of information.hoping you can find a way through the jumble of thoughts and can get your treatment plan in action soon, it really helps.

: ) I am so glad I got the my journey kit and found this site. I think my biggest issue at the moment is that these stages of grief which I have recognized, are not happening in any order and they go between each otehr minute by minute, you know its like all 4 seasons in one day. I dont know if you got the my journey journal or not but it has you circle, on a scale of 1 to 5, how you felt that day, I usually circle three of more of them lol now im smiling and happy but 15 minutes ago I was swearing and upset. I think I get angry as I really do blame the nursing home I am in. I am a paraplegic and I came in here 4 years ago, before that I had 2nd yearly mammograms. I was due for one when I came in here and got a reminder. It never happened though and I get a bit angry cause I think that if I had kept having those mammograms, yes, I would still have got it, but would it be grade 3? and IDC? I doubt it, it would probably have been detected very quickly and been insitu still. I know there is no point being angry now, but it doesn't seem to take anything to make me angry. I am always such a passive person, a doormat my daughter used to say :) shes probably proud of my anger lol

Use that anger, Bevvzy, I did, and yes, I went up and down at a frantic rate to start, it has settled more now, but I can still go through all the stages.A week after diagnosis is still raw, no wonder you are having all these feelings.I did my research and became a lot more proactive in my care and treatment. No more relying on the experts. I never used to question things, now I do it all the time.A grade 3 is the rate at which it grows, that probably wouldn't have changed, it is the stage that is the issue, which is how big it is and if the lymph nodes are involved.You probably won't know what stage it is for certain until the pathology after surgery.I hope you get a lot of help and support from your team through all this, it really helps having so many people trying to get you well again.

desmoplastic IDC anyone?? | BCNA Online Network

bevvzy
Member
8 years ago
:)
Pammy46
Member
8 years ago
Hardening
Pammy46
Member
8 years ago
Hi @bevvzy
sorry I have been away just saw your post my lymph nodes were clear with clear margins
had my check up with breast surgeon today and asked her she said s stroma means dense tissue gardening nothing to worry about x
bevvzy
Member
8 years ago
@Unicornkisses thanks for the good vibes
Unicornkisses
Member
8 years ago
Hi Bevvzy, so glad you have finally had your operation and I hope you are okay recovering from it. Hoping too that the lymph node status is clear for you. Pathology reports can be a surprise, sometimes good, sometimes challenging.
Sending you some healing hugs and warm thoughts. Jennie
bevvzy
Member
8 years ago
Hi pammy46. What was your lymph node status?
bevvzy
Member
8 years ago
Hi i had/have grade 3. Had mastectomy yesterday and was to just have the sentinel node removed for biopsy but surgeon told me this morning had to remove a number of auxillary nodes as were enlarged. So seems may have spread to lymph glands
Pammy46
Member
8 years ago
Hi @bevvzy
i just found this post my path report also said I had desmoplastic stroma my oncologist never mentioned it and was never worried I had 3 tumours all grade 1 stage 1 didn't have chemo but surgery radiation and now tamoxifen I think it is similar to scar tissue around cancer tumours?
bevvzy
Member
8 years ago
yes, I tend to think too far ahead, I am trying just to focus on the mastectomy first but then find myself looking up all the after options and side effects. I had it in my head that once its chopped off its all over, but now im thinking maybe im naive????
mum2jj
Member
9 years ago
Good on you @bevvzy, it does take a while to sink in and I get the overthinking as I am like that. My motto through all of this was one day at a time, one foot in front of the other.
Huge hugs.
Paula xxxx