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maggie

Hi! I'm Maggie. I have not been on this site in awhile. I was diagnosed with infiltrating ductal carcinoma breast cancer in 1999. I had 13 lymph nodes out of 17 positive, also. My sister has been having a reddish,brown discharge coming out of her nipple, her doctor is sending her to a surgeon tomorrow. He said that this could be a sign of Breast cancer. I was wondering if anyone new of the prodecure of detecting this type of breast cancer. I do not know anything about this type. I was diagnosed at the age of 30. She is 3 years older than me. Please say a prayer for her and her family tonight. Thanks, Maggie

maud

Dear Maggie,
I was diagnosed in May 2000 with two different types of cancer one being infiltrating ductal carcinoma and the other DCIS and I had 4 lymphnodes out of 19 postive.I was 47 at the time. I don't really know what they do to detect this type of breast cancer,you should probably ask your Dr. I am sure that he could tell you. My older sister had the same type also.I will keep you and your sister and family in my prayers. Let us know and we are here for you both.
God Bless
Debbie

cruf

Hi Maggie. I'm not positive but I would think the MD would take a sample of the breast tissue and examine it,like a biopsy and thru that ,determine if it is BC and the type. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Please keep us informed. HUGS!! Cathy

webaur

Hi, Maggie!!
Good for your sister's doctor!!! I am now 42 years old (41 at the time my symptoms began). In October/November of 2000, I had the same symptoms your sister has. The only difference (I think) being that I had just had a baby in September, 2000 (she was 4 weeks early). At my 6 week check-up after delivery, I had a hard lump in my left breast. My OB (and I) thought that I just had a clogged milk duct...since the baby was more sleepy and less interested in eating. If I knew then what I ultimately found out, I probably would have been more insistant with my OB to check to see if anything was wrong. It took until late January, 2001, for it to be found as cancer. Even so, I am confident that I did everything in the proper order and know that nothing really could have been done to change things.
That being said, I will tell you of what was done in finding my cancer. Once my baby refused to nurse off of that breast and it had been a few weeks and the breast still seemed full, I went back to my OB to have it checked further. He ordered an ultrasound ASAP. The ultrasould showed what was determined to be a cyst and I was told to see a surgeon to have it drained. I had it drained (he took out about 60cc of fluid). The fluid was tested....no cancer. We were relieved. However, the "pocket" filled up again. I had it drained, again, about a week later (this time about 25cc was removed). This time, the surgeon put on a tight ace wrap (similar to what they use after a mastectomy) to try to keep the cavity compressed so that it would not fill up again. It didn't work, of course! :-) The next step was to surgically insert a drain that had a negative pressure bulb attached. The fluid was once again tested....still no cancer. So everything seemed consistent with the cyst diagnosis that we were given. When the amount of fluid draining was the same after about 5 days, they sent me for another ultrasound. This time it showed a lot of "angry" tissue in the area that was once a big "black" (or fluid filled) area. It was decided that the only way to get rid of this problem was to go in and surgically remove the cyst. The decision was made to do this as out-patient surgery. The cavity was larger than thought, so they packed the wound with gauze and kept me in the hospital on strong IV antibiotics. We were told before the initial surgery that it could be cancer, but the surgeon felt that was a very remote possibiity. Boy, was he ever wrong!!! Don't get me wrong.....I do not blame anyone for this. I believe that it was just the way that things were supposed to happen. Anyway, the cyst removal was on a Monday, we found out the next night that it was cancer, I had a CT scan on Wedensday to see if it had spread anywhere else, and I had a modified radical mastectomy on Friday. Almost a year ago, now. My mastectomy was on January 26, 2001. I started chemo on February 13, 2001, and finished my last chemo on September 24, 2001. I have had 4 rounds of A/C chemo, 30 radiation treatments, and 4 rounds of Taxol chemo. I am now playing the waiting game. So far, so good.
I think that I have gone on long enough. So sorry to be so wordy, but I feel that it is VERY important for your sister to stay on top of this and have any and all tests that can be done. My mother still thinks that I should have had a biopsy earlier in the game. Perhaps that is true, but in my case I don't know if that would have been of any help.
Please feel free to e-mail me at anytime if you need to talk or ask questions. I would be honored to be of help. Of course, it goes without saying that both you and your sister and your families are in my thoughts and prayers. You are so young to have to be going through this. May I suggest that you put your faith and trust in God and let Him carry you through this rough spot.
Hugs to you and your sister. May God be with you both and shelter you in His love.

Blessings and hugs.......Wendy

tiger

HI Maggie, tiger here. I had the same kind of diagnosis on onset of bc. There were no lumps to be felt anywhere in breast or pits, no pain in breast or nipple, just red, milky discharge and crusting. so they finally sent me to a surgeon who said it looked like nothing but sent me for a mammogram anyway. Found a bunch of Microcalcifications in my left breast, surgically removed one and it turned out to be cancer. The mets did not show up until I had all the other tests after the mastectomy. Do not let them do a needle aspiration of the spot, that happened to one lady here, teh Dr thought he had the needle in the tumour, but did not and only pulled out normal fluid, sent her home witha clean bill of health, only to die two years later from bc that was not detected properly.

chin up and keep us posted
tiger