Invasive Ductal Carcinoma Grade 3

HopeLoveLive

Hello everyone,

My mother was diagnosed with Invasive ductal carcinoma grade 3.

Estrogen receptor Negative

Progesterone receptor Negative

HER2 - Don't know yet

The size is small, not sure of the exact size right now.  

 

This is something new to me and my family. Is there anyone in a similar situation or that went through something similar? 

I am concerned about the survival rate. My mother will have surgery next Wednesday. We are not sure if she should do a bilateral mastectomy. Her sentinel node will be removed for sure. Her other breast doesn’t have signs of cancer and she hasn't had a BRAC test due to insurance issues. Therefore, we do not know the probability of a cancer reoccurrence. We think that a bilateral surgery could be a little more dangerous since it is more time and more cutting. But if we do not know the result of the BRAC I feel we shouldn’t take a risk of her going through the same in the future. It is a tough decision and I wish I could help her more. I love her very much and we are all worried. She is strong and positive but she gets worried sometimes too. This is something we were not expecting; there is no history of breast cancer in the family that we know of.

Any input will be appreciated. Thank you all for taking your time to read my post, and I hope you are all doing well while reading this.

Best wishes,

 

JS

camul

In 2002 I had a single.
I wanted the bi, insurance denied it. I was upset as I wanted the least chance for recurrance possible. One onco at the time said a bi-lat mast. was the best option as my bc was most likely HRT induced. A second onco at the University onco center said I only needed a lumpectomy and no chemo.
Fast forward 8 years and I was dx with mets to bones and skin. I am so thankfulnthat I took the advice of the breast surgeon who said mast. and my onco that I kept for 12 years.
I dont know what your moms age, med conditions etc. but I still wish I would have had both at the beginning.
All you can do is get as much info as you can, then make an educated decision. I dont think it would have taken much longer to do both when I had the single and I have always wondered if there was cancer in both that didnt show on the mamogram!
I wish your mom the best.

Lilly9

camul said:

In 2002 I had a single.
I wanted the bi, insurance denied it. I was upset as I wanted the least chance for recurrance possible. One onco at the time said a bi-lat mast. was the best option as my bc was most likely HRT induced. A second onco at the University onco center said I only needed a lumpectomy and no chemo.
Fast forward 8 years and I was dx with mets to bones and skin. I am so thankfulnthat I took the advice of the breast surgeon who said mast. and my onco that I kept for 12 years.
I dont know what your moms age, med conditions etc. but I still wish I would have had both at the beginning.
All you can do is get as much info as you can, then make an educated decision. I dont think it would have taken much longer to do both when I had the single and I have always wondered if there was cancer in both that didnt show on the mamogram!
I wish your mom the best.

I was diagnosed with IDC

I was diagnosed with IDC Stage 3 w Nodes in January 2013.   I elected to have a bi-lateral.   There was no evidence of cancer in my left breast but I did not want to take the chance or have to go through the treatments a 2nd time.  I knew I'd do reconstruction and felt I'd have a better end result as well.

Kaleena

Dear JS:
Sorry your mom has

Dear JS:

Sorry your mom has to go through this.  My mom is going through the same thing.   She just had her first ever mammogram and found out she had Grade 4 IDC, HER2 positive.   She was just going to opt for surgery, but after a PET scan, it was found that she had one lymph node and one tiny nodule in each of her lungs.  Therefore, they would not do surgery.  She is 81 years old.   Since she is HER2 positive, we are just treating her with Herceptin.   My mon did not want to do the chemo.    She started this in November and receives a treatment every 3 weeks.   Her most recent PET scan showed that the tumors have shrunk so we are just keeping her on this treatment plan.

At first, the doctors wanted her to do chemo along with the herceptin, but given my mom's age, she didn't want to do that and the fact that she is very independent and still drives.   She still wants to do things on her on and the Herceptin doesn't have any side effects.

My best to you and your mom and your family.

Kathy

Margeaux

HER 2 cancer

JS - Here is my story:  I was diagnosed Sept. 2009 with IDC in left breast, Stage IIB, Grade 3, Hormone negative, HER Pos., 2 lymph nodes involved.  Oncologist suggested the following treatment - 6 months chemo, surgery, radiation, total of 1 year Herceptin.  There were 2 lumps in the breast, one 3.5 cm, the other .9 cm.  I was told the surgery had to be mastectomy, I had a very hard time with this.  3 months after starting chemo the lumps were no longer visible on the mammogram.  At the end of chemo again no cancerous lumps on the mammogram and nothing visible on the PET Scan.  It was therefore decided to do a lumpectomy.  Unfortunately the surgeon insisted to also remove lymph nodes, 18 in total.  I have had nerve pain ever since from that part of the surgery and am on Gabapentin probably for the rest of my life.  There has been no recurrance and I am told considering I had such response from chemo it is likely in the oncologist's words "all those little devil cells floating around and about in your body were killed off as well".  That is not to say there is not another cancer lurking somewhere in this almost 82 year old body, but that one is, may all the Gods in Heaven be thanked.

This is not to give you or anyone any advice, this is just my story.  I wish you and your dear Mother all the best.  Let us hope that in your life time this beast will be defeated once and for all.

Margeaux

 

HopeLoveLive

Margeaux said:

HER 2 cancer

JS - Here is my story:  I was diagnosed Sept. 2009 with IDC in left breast, Stage IIB, Grade 3, Hormone negative, HER Pos., 2 lymph nodes involved.  Oncologist suggested the following treatment - 6 months chemo, surgery, radiation, total of 1 year Herceptin.  There were 2 lumps in the breast, one 3.5 cm, the other .9 cm.  I was told the surgery had to be mastectomy, I had a very hard time with this.  3 months after starting chemo the lumps were no longer visible on the mammogram.  At the end of chemo again no cancerous lumps on the mammogram and nothing visible on the PET Scan.  It was therefore decided to do a lumpectomy.  Unfortunately the surgeon insisted to also remove lymph nodes, 18 in total.  I have had nerve pain ever since from that part of the surgery and am on Gabapentin probably for the rest of my life.  There has been no recurrance and I am told considering I had such response from chemo it is likely in the oncologist's words "all those little devil cells floating around and about in your body were killed off as well".  That is not to say there is not another cancer lurking somewhere in this almost 82 year old body, but that one is, may all the Gods in Heaven be thanked.

This is not to give you or anyone any advice, this is just my story.  I wish you and your dear Mother all the best.  Let us hope that in your life time this beast will be defeated once and for all.

Margeaux

 

Thank you Margeaux

This was very inspirational. Thank you very much, and I am so glad of receiving replies from great and strong women.

My mother had surgery and they did a radical mastectomy in her left breast. We decided not to remove the other one because we did not have much informatio. Her BRAC petition was not approved yet, and she was not feeling sure about removing both; therefore, I also told her not to worry about the other one and do frequent checkups instead. She couldnt see an oncologist before surgery. I called many of them and none could give us an appointment. The sentinel node was removed and they havent found anything there. The lab is repeating all the exams and hope she gets any hormone receptor or HER2 postive because for now all of them are negative :-( so she do not have many treatment options.

The doctor also told her that he left a piece of skin with cancerous cells and he wants to remove it soon.

My mom is now eating healthier. She is reading a great book called "Mis recetas anticancer" (I tried to look for an english version and I dont think they have it). She has learned from it and she is trying to change her lifestyle for the best.

She is strong. But we worry sometimes. I love her so much.

 

Thank you again for your reply.

May God bless you!

 

HopeLoveLive

Kaleena said:

Dear JS:
Sorry your mom has

Dear JS:

Sorry your mom has to go through this.  My mom is going through the same thing.   She just had her first ever mammogram and found out she had Grade 4 IDC, HER2 positive.   She was just going to opt for surgery, but after a PET scan, it was found that she had one lymph node and one tiny nodule in each of her lungs.  Therefore, they would not do surgery.  She is 81 years old.   Since she is HER2 positive, we are just treating her with Herceptin.   My mon did not want to do the chemo.    She started this in November and receives a treatment every 3 weeks.   Her most recent PET scan showed that the tumors have shrunk so we are just keeping her on this treatment plan.

At first, the doctors wanted her to do chemo along with the herceptin, but given my mom's age, she didn't want to do that and the fact that she is very independent and still drives.   She still wants to do things on her on and the Herceptin doesn't have any side effects.

My best to you and your mom and your family.

Kathy

Thank you Kaleena

I am also very sorry to read your mother is going through something similar. I recommend her to read books about healthy eating and positive thinking; there are some good cancer books out there.

I hope this treatment keeps working and that you and your mother dont have to think about it never again.

Thank you

 

HopeLoveLive

Lilly9 said:

I was diagnosed with IDC

I was diagnosed with IDC Stage 3 w Nodes in January 2013.   I elected to have a bi-lateral.   There was no evidence of cancer in my left breast but I did not want to take the chance or have to go through the treatments a 2nd time.  I knew I'd do reconstruction and felt I'd have a better end result as well.

Thank you Lilly

I believe you made a good choice. Now you do not have to worry about check-ups.

Best of luck to you, keep fighting and you will see it will be over soon!

HopeLoveLive

camul said:

In 2002 I had a single.
I wanted the bi, insurance denied it. I was upset as I wanted the least chance for recurrance possible. One onco at the time said a bi-lat mast. was the best option as my bc was most likely HRT induced. A second onco at the University onco center said I only needed a lumpectomy and no chemo.
Fast forward 8 years and I was dx with mets to bones and skin. I am so thankfulnthat I took the advice of the breast surgeon who said mast. and my onco that I kept for 12 years.
I dont know what your moms age, med conditions etc. but I still wish I would have had both at the beginning.
All you can do is get as much info as you can, then make an educated decision. I dont think it would have taken much longer to do both when I had the single and I have always wondered if there was cancer in both that didnt show on the mamogram!
I wish your mom the best.

Thank you Camul

Thank you very much for the reply. I really appreciate it. She already did one because we could not see an specialist and it was a tough decision for such a short amount of time. Even when I was more convinced about doing a bi-lateral at the beginning, I wouldnt have make her go through it when we did not have many exams done (including the BRAC). We made the decision the day before, and I hope it was the best for her.

I wish you the best and thank you again,

 

JS