Biopsy by mammogram
I had my one year follow-up mammogram. Right breast all clear but now there's a new lump in my (previously healthy) left breast. Doc said he'd book me in for a biopsy under mammorgram. Considering the first mam hurt like hell - what is a prolonged mam gonna feel like? Has anyone had this procedure and can describe it for me please.
Advice please...
Hi everyone. Am newly diagnosed (2 weeks) and have a few questions. A routine mammogram has got me here with the details that a biopsy has found cancer cells. A visit to the specialist didnt tell me anymore information other than I need to have the breast off. Pathology will then tell me what I have and treatment needed. Is this normal? I thought I would know what type of cancer I had, aggressive or not, stage etc before surgery and not after??? Also, specialist only recommends having the one off. When questioning him he says their is a slightly increased risk of it coming back in the 2nd breast. I would love to hear from others who have had to make the decision of one or two off and how they came to that decision. At this point in time i am thinking of having both off so that I wont worry about it coming back but would love to hear what others have to say. Thanks in advance.
Triple negative cancer - what are the options?
Hi all, this is my first post. I have been reading other people's posts on here and have found them to be very helpful and inspirational, you are all amazing women. My story began when I found a lump in my right breast. Mammogram, ultrasound and core biopsy followed, biopsy pathology stated it was weakly progesterone positive and was in one lympth node. This was followed by wide local excision (13/6/14) and all of my lympth nodes removed from the right arm. Pathology has come back as triple negative ( apparently the biopsy pathology results must have been an error) and that only the one lympth node was involved. I am told that it is stage 3 and grade 3. I am seeing the oncologist in 2 weeks and am trying to research as much about TNBC as I can so that I can look at all of my options to discuss with him. I am wandering if I should opt to now have a double mastectomy and reconstruction, rather than just go along with the current plan of chemo and then radiation, as the risk of reoccurrance is so high with TNBC. I'd really loved to hear other women's stories who also had TNBC and what you chose to do. Thank you for reading and thanks in advance for any advise you can offer me. Karen
Core Biopsy
Argh!! Had my 1st mammogram and ultrasound the other week. Have since met with my surgeon to discuss results he seemed pretty pleased, said there was a small area that looked a bit odd but put it down to tissue damage or something because of Radiotherapy. I have till to go for an MRI and the surgeon said I should hear about it in a few weeks. I had a missed call on Monday and had one of those voice to text messages. It was my surgeon and could I call him back needless to say I couldn't get hold of him. But haven't heard anything back so didn't worry about it too much. That was until yesterday I came home and found a letter from the hospital saying I've to go for a core biopsy in on the 11th July. Feel sick with worry now.
Not sure what's to come...
Hi all. This is my first entry on this faulous site. I was first diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer in Sept 2001. A successful lumpectomy followed. I was diagnosed again (DCIS, same breast, same scare opened) in Sept 2004 with 30 sessions of radiation. I have been clear ever since...that is until Tues. I went for my yearly Mammo and ultrasound. There was a 'suspicious" area. l had 3 core biopsies taken. Bottom line, IDC this time...same breast...different spot...Sept again! I can see a pattern here that I don't like :-) My appointment with my breast surgeon is on Monday. I'm prepared for the whole mastectomy, chemo thing. Frankly, I don't think he will have any other options. I know I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here, but I have thought through (over the last few years) what my response woukld be to a mastectomy. I think that a double would be my choice. The main reason is that I am a DD cup, so on the large side, and large isn't all it's cracked up to be. Plus, I'm not that precious about "the girls"...they've been a worry for a long time. I think I'd opt for no reconstruction, and eventually a couple of cool tattos to cover the scaring. Sorry for the immense amount of info, but if anyone has any thoughts/experience, I'd be grateful of the feedback. Janet :-)Roller coaster ride
I was diagnosed with breast cancer on 28 August this year at the age of 44. To say it has been a whirlwind is an understatement! I was intially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at the end of May, I needed to change my diet and lose 13kg to get out of the 'at risk' category. 3 months down the track I had changed my diet, got rid of high blood pressure and achieved my goal of losing 13kg. They say things happen for a reason, by losing this 13kg I noticed some changes in my left breast - very itchy. I thought this was just changes happening as I was in my 40s. had a mamogram through Breast Screen and was confirmed as having BC. Have since had a lumpectomy and sentinel node biopsy. sentinel node came back positive with spottings of cancer, was back in 1 week later and had 19 lymph nodes removed. slowly recovering from these ops, oncology appt this weds and are quite apprehensive as what to expect.
Me so far...
Hi all, at 44 I thought that I should go and have my first mammogram done and booked in for mid April 2014. I had no symptoms and regularly checked for lumps. On 6 May was required to have a followup (which everyone told me was normal so didn't take anyone with me!) more mammograms, ultrasound and 6 fine needle biopsies later I was told that they could see 3 lesions and was referred to a surgeon as a mastectomy was recommended asap. On the 3 June 2014 I had a sentinal node biopsy in the morning and a left breast skin sparing and nipple saving mastecomy. I had a lovely week in hospital (surgery and drains aside), enjoying all my meals cooked and delivered, my bed made for me and bathroom cleaned every day! I actually left hospital very refreshed!! Back to the real world, I now have to have further surgery (axillary clearance) and start chemo shortly after. The rest of my story is still to come...
All Booked In
I'm all set for more surgery next Wednesday. I'll be having a wire inserted under mammogram before surgery. Sounds awful! Apparently not as squishy as a mammogram but they haven't been able to find the marker clip under ultrasound so this is what we have to do. My very brilliant surgeon says she'll go in through the original scar, take out the tissue above it and then lift the breast slightly when she rejoins the scar. Still a bit of wiggle room because I'm lucky enough to have developed cancer in my slightly larger breast and even after the first surgery in January it remains slightly larger. My surgeon also tells me that it's 'likely' that the calcification is 'exhausted' (dead) cancer cells however there is a possibility that it's active cancer and we can't be sure until the pathology comes back a week after surgery. Thanks to everyone for your messages of love and support. X
lets talk about st vincents fitzroy
My journey really began at St Vincent's Fitzroy - mainly because the great job I landed when I got to Melbourne was in the private consulting rooms of a pretty great bunch of St Vincents nuerologists so I got to know the Victoria Parade hospital buildings pretty well. Actually, I should just mention here how lucky I am to have such an amazing employer, although it's hard to find the words for the fabulous support I've received from them. When I was diagnosed I hadn't yet completed my probation period with them so they would have been within their rights to tell me that they needed an employee who they could actually rely on to turn up on the days they were supposed to work, rather than sitting in the waiting room across the courtyard. But, they didn't - in fact while I was going through surgery they paid out my sick leave and said that the job was mine as long as I wanted it but to just focus on getting well and not to worry about working until I was ready - it was after all, just a job and they would get by until I was ready to come back. Honestly, they have been beyond amazing and I'm so grateful to them. However, I digress. So, because I worked for a St Vincent's specialist I was able to go to the staff GP clinic when I found the lump that I was sure would turn out to be nothing. The doctor I saw that Wednesday afternoon in May was lovely, but she was worried about the lump and some others that she found on examination as well, so she sent me off to Diagnostic Imaging with a request for a whole bunch of delightful sounding tests. Go now, she said, because they might be able to see you today and I will be here tomorrow so I can go through the results with you right away. So, off I go across the courtyard. My heart sank a little when the receptionist said that there was about a month's waiting list for imaging in the public system (because of course I had no health insurance) but when I gave her the request form something in her face changed and she told me to sit for a minute and she'd see what she could do. She disappeared for about 3 minutes and then came back to say they could fit me in tomorrow. Which of course just made me freak out even more, but mostly I was incredibly grateful that they fit me in so quickly. And thus began an absolute whirlwind of tests and scans - by the end of the next day my head was spinning. All of these tests are exactly as horrible as you would imagine them to be, there's nothing nice or remotely comfortable about them at all. But my story would not be what it is without mentioning the staff at Diagnostic Imaging St Vincents, Fitzroy. I have never known such kindness and care as I got there that first day (and subsequent days). Every single person that I came across - whether they were checking my Medicare card, or sqeezing my poor boobs into a terrifying mammogram contraption, or sitting there for more than an hour while they meticulously scanned my boobs for every single little lump and cyst, or just showed me where the toilet was - was just amazing, and really made what was a very traumatic day for me a lot easier than it could have been. Say what you like about the public health system - the people that work in it are hands down the best you will find. For me, by far the scariest prospect was the biopsy (that is until I knew what a lymphocyntogram is - bloody hell that's painful). Everything happened with lightning speed for me, so my biopsy was only a couple of days after my first mammogram and scans. My head was spinning and all I could think about was the massive needle that was about to be plunged into my lovely boob. I was scheduled for 3pm so I worked in the morning and one of my workmates suggested I pop down to Imaging and see if they could recommend anything I could have that would take the edge of my anxiety - maybe a valium or something? So, off I went and instead of telling me to man up, they were just really lovely to me. One of the nurses sat me down and went through the whole procedure with me and explained what was going to happen. He said that if I wanted to take something to relax I could, but I'd need a script (no problem) and they would have to go through the consent with me beforehand otherwise I wouldn't be able to sign it if I'd taken anything that could impair my judgement. So, he very kindly tracked down the doctor that was scheduled to do my biopsy that day and he came and did the consent and off I went back to work with instructions to take something about half an hour before my appointment. Believe me, I felt much better about the whole thing at this point and as I'd never taken valium before I was almost looking forward to the experience. I'd been back at work for about half an hour when the lovely nurse rang me and said Darling we know you're really anxious about your biopsy, why don't you come down in about half an hour and we'll do it for you now and get it over with? Do you see what I mean about how wonderful the staff are at St Vincents? The biopsy was every bit as terrible as I thought it would be, even with the edge taken off with a little white pill. But, that lovely nurse changed his lunch break so that he could be in there with me just to hold my hand through the procedure. I will never forget his kindness as long as I live.
Recently diagnosed triple neg & due for masectomy
Hi I've been reading a few posts which has been really informative and positive. Thank you. Recently I was diagnosed with BC, which was a whirlwind on first mammogram to lumpectomy and auxillary clearance. Initially it was difficult to understand how I could get BC as I had no family history, recently finished breast feeding my last baby and eat fairly well. Now I'm ok with it, by example of having drawn the short straw of 1 out of 8 women getting BC. After my surgery I was called in a week early to the surgeon and told that my breast wasn't clear of cancer and now we needed to do a masectomy. It was quite a shock. My results had also changed in that from the biopsy I was told I was estrogen positive but now from the lumpectomy results I was triple negative. I don't really understand how it can change, so hoping to get some answers from the doctor. Now the shock of needing a masectomy is over I have booked a appoint with the surgeon to see if I can get my other breast removed too at the same time. As I feel quite uneasy about it getting BC in that one too. Really not sure if the doctor will do this or not. Good news is though that I won't need radiation, only chemo. Would rather not chemo as well, but also don't want any of those cancer cells running around my body anymore. Anyway hoping when my treatment starts, it goes by super fast. There is never any time for the mum to be sick. I have 4 children and a wonderful husband, and am planning ahead to when this BC is behind me.