Stage 2 Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma - so many questions

Roni1961
Roni1961 Member Posts: 8
edited February 2014 in Breast Cancer #1

I am 53 years old and perimenopausal. I had a total thyroidectomy last January and a neck dissection in August for papillary thyroid cancer. I just went in for my yearly physical and mammogram last week and was diagnosed with stage 2 infiltrating ductal carcinoma breast cancer. I will know more on Thursday after I meet with my surgeon.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this happen and are the two types of cancer at all related? Do I need to be concerned that there are other types of cancer hiding in my body too? It is all very new and scary. Should I consider a double mastectomy even though it is still in early stages, just to prevent recurrance later? Will i hace to have radiation and chemo?

Other than the little bit of cancer I am in the peak of health, which makes this all the more frustrating.

Comments

  • RozHopkins
    RozHopkins Member Posts: 578 Member
    #2
    Hi

    Oh dear lots to think of.  You must really sit down with your hospital team and get all those questions asked and answered.  Everything depends on your staging, type, even the size.  The only reason I had the chemo is because it was just big enough on record that chemo advised, not the stage.  

     

    Mine me was a different cancer than yours and tends to appear in both sides.  It had, so I had double mastectomy.  Take the gene test BRCA.  Ask your question about cancer connection, I don't know.  But it is a good question and you need to know.

     

    keep in touch, good luck.

  • CypressCynthia
    CypressCynthia Member Posts: 4,014 Member
    #3
    I am honestly not sure and I

    I am honestly not sure and I don't know your family history.  I would check with your onc and you can always ask for a referral to a geneticst - never a bad idea if you are worried about a pattern.

    In my family (and this is rare), there is a very strong hereditary-appearing pattern of breast and colon cancer.  I have 2 sisters who have also had breast cancer at a young age, a father with colon cancer, etc.  One of my brothers did have thyroid cancer and my younger sister and I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis.    We are BRAC negative, but I have an appointment with a geneticist Friday to check and see if there is new testing out there that he recommends.

    Like you, all of us have been hit by cancer in the peak of health.  We are all active and rarely sick unless related to cancer.  I was 33 and doing Jane Fonda exercises when I was first told I had breast cancer. 

    I can't tell you your prognosis, but I can tell you that I will be 61 next month and have been 27 years since I was diagnosed in February 1987 and, all of my relatives are doing well except my dad who died of a stroke (not his colon cancer) at age 81.  Keep fighting!!!

     

  • Double Whammy
    Double Whammy Member Posts: 2,832 Member
    #4
    CypressCynthia said:

    I am honestly not sure and I

    I am honestly not sure and I don't know your family history.  I would check with your onc and you can always ask for a referral to a geneticst - never a bad idea if you are worried about a pattern.

    In my family (and this is rare), there is a very strong hereditary-appearing pattern of breast and colon cancer.  I have 2 sisters who have also had breast cancer at a young age, a father with colon cancer, etc.  One of my brothers did have thyroid cancer and my younger sister and I have Hashimoto's thyroiditis.    We are BRAC negative, but I have an appointment with a geneticist Friday to check and see if there is new testing out there that he recommends.

    Like you, all of us have been hit by cancer in the peak of health.  We are all active and rarely sick unless related to cancer.  I was 33 and doing Jane Fonda exercises when I was first told I had breast cancer. 

    I can't tell you your prognosis, but I can tell you that I will be 61 next month and have been 27 years since I was diagnosed in February 1987 and, all of my relatives are doing well except my dad who died of a stroke (not his colon cancer) at age 81.  Keep fighting!!!

     

    I was a first

    I had 2 primary cancers, diagnosed 4 days apart.  Breast and uterine.  I well remember thinking, "where else do I have cancer?", but so far so good.  I have a thyroid nodule that has been watched for years - many years, maybe 15.  I worry about it especially now that I have had these other cancers, but it seems to just be body junk and remains unchanged.  Wish I could be helpful with some bit of information for you that might say we're only allowed 2 in our lifetime and we've had ours, but that's not the way it works I guess.  My 2 cancers were probably "related" in that both were estrogen driven.  I sort of understand that, but what the heck made me grow them in the first place?  I think that once we have any cancer diagnosis, we are more likely to develop other cancers because of something about our "environment".   Bad cells in a bad neighborhood if you want to use Dr. Susan Love's terms.  BTW, her book, "the Breast Book" is a great read - long but great.  Explains a lot in terms we can understand.  There problem is even our medical researchers don't understand it all. 

    Good luck on your journey.  As Eileen, says, Keep Fighting!!

    Suzanne

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