recurrence

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crselby
crselby Member Posts: 441 Member
in Breast Cancer #1

It has been years since I've posted, although I get on about 2ce a year to read YOUR posts.  I still recognize some of the user names!      ....     It was 6 years ago I had my first abnormal mammogram that led to a diagnosis of DCIS, high grade, ERPR+. I had a lumpectomy and brachytherapy and took Tamoxifen for 1.5 years until it produced uterine polyps (that I'm STILL dealing with).  Now I've had my second abnormal mammogram and it reveals a cluster of calcifications.    ......     I see the waiting part of this game hasn't changed in 6 years.  "Wait for your doctor to get the report, wait for her to give you the results, wait for a biopsy appointment".........  ARGHH!

So, sorry gals, I had celebrated my 5 year anniversary, but it was #6 that brought the bad news.  I'm ready to board the bus with ya'll once again......   Cry

~~Connie~~

Comments

  • Puffin2014
    Puffin2014 Member Posts: 531 Member
    #2
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    we're here for you

    hope the reports come back better than you're expecting, but we're here for you either way.

  • aisling8
    aisling8 Member Posts: 1,627 Member
    #3
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    Puffin2014 said:

    we're here for you

    hope the reports come back better than you're expecting, but we're here for you either way.

    Yes, we're here for you

    Connie,

    Same thing just happened to me:  five years, my annual mammogram, the same side came back suspicious for malignancy. I had a stereotactic biopsy and a whole lot of waiting. The results came back microcalcifications and stromal fibrosis. Ironically, I already had appointments with the surgeon and the radiation oncologist for my annual visit which seems to always be centered around the yearly mammogram. So I kept the appointments and let them both explain to me that the breast is constantly changing and this could happen again and again. I go back in six months for another mammo of the left side only. 

    I know we're all different and just because that happened to me doesn't mean it will happen to you, but I sure hope you have promising results. And it was quite the refresher course on the trials of waiting and waiting and waiting. So we'll wait with you:)

    xoxo

    Victoria

  • disneyfan2008
    disneyfan2008 Member Posts: 6,583 Member
    #4
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    Good to hear from

    Good to hear from you...

     

    good news...yippe

  • sbmly53
    sbmly53 Member Posts: 1,522
    #5
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    Oh, Connie

    hoping for the best! I am 5 years and still holding my breath at every appt. I think we all do.

     

    Hugs,

     

    Sue

  • jennytwist
    jennytwist Member Posts: 896
    #6
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    sbmly53 said:

    Oh, Connie

    hoping for the best! I am 5 years and still holding my breath at every appt. I think we all do.

     

    Hugs,

     

    Sue

    Hoping only good news....

    ...for you!  The waiting is always the hardest part!!!!  You are in my thoughts & prayers!

    Keep us posted -

    -Jenny

  • GlowMore
    GlowMore Member Posts: 789 Member
    #7
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    Hi Connie

    Just read your Home Page Connie and since there are no dates on your info I'm not sure if all that happened 6 years ago or just lately?   I hope that they get this worked out for you and it is NOT a recurrance of your BC.........   I thought that the DCIS meant 'insitu'  ?  which usually means it was not the invasive kind but was a tumor in one place?  I can't remember half of this stuff.......mine is Triple Negative IDBC ...and I've survived since end of treatment in 2003 so come on in the Pink Waiting Room with the rest of us and have a glass of pink punch  :)   Prayers for Strength and Courage and keep us up on what you are dealing with when you can.

    Glo

  • crselby
    crselby Member Posts: 441 Member
    #8
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    not so much waiting...

    I decided not to go back to all my old doctors and imaging places from 6 years ago but instead called the new M D Anderson cancer hospital that is just a few miles from my house.  It didn't exist 6 years ago.  They were so nice on the phone.  Got me an appointment 4 days sooner than the old imaging place, and called today to bump it up to tomorrow!!  I'm already impressed.  The downside:  they couldn't tell me if I would be having a biopsy at the appointment tomorrow.  It is definitely a consultation with a doctor and from there I'll see what she recommends and when.  I was told to plan to spend most of the day there.  They've called all my old docs and gotten records to look at.  This is gonna be great!

    ~~Connie~~

  • Double Whammy
    Double Whammy Member Posts: 2,832 Member
    #9
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    crselby said:

    not so much waiting...

    I decided not to go back to all my old doctors and imaging places from 6 years ago but instead called the new M D Anderson cancer hospital that is just a few miles from my house.  It didn't exist 6 years ago.  They were so nice on the phone.  Got me an appointment 4 days sooner than the old imaging place, and called today to bump it up to tomorrow!!  I'm already impressed.  The downside:  they couldn't tell me if I would be having a biopsy at the appointment tomorrow.  It is definitely a consultation with a doctor and from there I'll see what she recommends and when.  I was told to plan to spend most of the day there.  They've called all my old docs and gotten records to look at.  This is gonna be great!

    ~~Connie~~

    Well, hi

    I remember you, Connie.  I hope your appointment at MD Anderson turns out well and you didn't grow anything bad.  Let us know!

    Suzanne

  • crselby
    crselby Member Posts: 441 Member
    #10
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    Thanks for your support everyone.  It is always nice to be among those who know what you're going through, from their own experiences!

    Well, it doesn't bode well for MD Anderson to do any better than my experiences with individual doctors and imaging places last time around....   I went to get the biopsy (Friday) pathology report from the internist today and the lab hadn't sent it yet.  She called, the pathologist looked at it, and said she saw DCIS but she hasn't looked at the whole thing yet.  The doc will call when she gets the full path report.

    If Monday was too early for the path report appt. why did the internist's office make both the biopsy appt. and this follow-up for the report appt. so close together?  My husband took time off to go with me ... for nothing.  I mean, I was quite sure it was DCIS since clustered micro calcs don't mean anything else, especially when they are just outside the old DCIS lumpectomy site.  The rad tech let me see the mammogram and I saw it for myself. 

    I'm thinking of refusing to pay for this morning's appointment that told me nothing I didn't already know.... grrr.

     

    I will go back to my home page and put in some dates...!

     

    ~~Connie~~

  • crselby
    crselby Member Posts: 441 Member
    #11
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    I don't like this at all !!!!

    The path report said DCIS, nothing invasive, intermediate grade (it was high grade last time). 9mm

     

    The M D Anderson tumor board usually follows protocol that says no further lumpectomies after radiation so I would need a mastectomy.  But then I would need a bilateral mastectomy since the unaffected breast is so large, they could not match it with the largest 800cc implant.  I don't want to hang bags of saline or silicone from between my chest wall muscles to create "mounds" and pretend they are breasts.  They would be just unfeeling, numb, mounds, not at all replacements for my living, changing, nurturing, sensation-giving breasts.  They would make clothes fit better I suppose.

     

    When you do not have reconstruction and the surgeon does not remove any of the chest wall or muscles, are you still concave, or just flat?

     

    ~~Connie~~

  • GlowMore
    GlowMore Member Posts: 789 Member
    #12
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    crselby said:

    I don't like this at all !!!!

    The path report said DCIS, nothing invasive, intermediate grade (it was high grade last time). 9mm

     

    The M D Anderson tumor board usually follows protocol that says no further lumpectomies after radiation so I would need a mastectomy.  But then I would need a bilateral mastectomy since the unaffected breast is so large, they could not match it with the largest 800cc implant.  I don't want to hang bags of saline or silicone from between my chest wall muscles to create "mounds" and pretend they are breasts.  They would be just unfeeling, numb, mounds, not at all replacements for my living, changing, nurturing, sensation-giving breasts.  They would make clothes fit better I suppose.

     

    When you do not have reconstruction and the surgeon does not remove any of the chest wall or muscles, are you still concave, or just flat?

     

    ~~Connie~~

    Hugs and Prayers

    Know you are in a bad place Connie....sending hugs and prayers....  Glo

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