It may be a recurrence

Abbycat2 · February 2015

Hello,

I am from the uterine board but have been reading the post lately on this board as my closest friend, a sister to me really, may be facing breast cancer again. She was diagnosed in Sept, 2011, with bilateral breast cancer. What a nightmare that was! She first had biopsy surgery which showed that she had a grade 1 cancer in one breast and a grade 3 (HER2neu) in the other. From all that I've read this is not uncommon. She then had two more surgeries on both breast before clean margins were obtained. As she had micromatastasis in one lymph node in the breast with the HER2neu, she then faced 6 rounds of chemo and 36 radiation treatments in both breast. She then starting taking Anastrozole daily. Fast forward almost 3 years later since her radiation ended, she was on a yearly mammogram schedule. She had a recent mammogram followed by an ultrasound due to "suspicious findings". She has a 1 cm spuculated tumor in a lymph node where she had the HER2neu. I went with her to her appt with the surgeon. He is recommending an MRI and he wants to know what her oncologist plans to do regarding treatment once the lymph node is removed. I think that if she has cancer, that she should have a mastectomy. What do you think? Is she facing more chemo? Can she have more radiation treatment (something tells me she can't)? Any advice/suggestions are most appreciated.

Thank you!

Carhy

desertgirl947 · February 2015

I opted for a double

I opted for a double mastectomy (2012), even though one side could have been done diferently. (The start of trouble there was not picked up with a mammo. An MRI and ultrasound showed it.)

I did not want to go through all of this more than necessary because I am an active person. I chosevto go at this aggressively. Radiation was a given. The chemo hinged on the finings from surgery. I had to do that.

I hve heard once a person has rads, that's it. Chemo is a differnt story. I found chemo for me was not all that horrible. A lot has been done to make it more bearable.

BTW: I chose not to do reconstruction. I did not want more surgery or recovery time, for one reason

TraciInLA · February 2015

Some really general statements

I'm so sorry that your friend is dealing with a recurrence. Her case sounds really specific and a little different from what many of us have dealt with, but I'll try to give you some VERY general information. With the strong qualifier that there are exceptions to all of this, and many differences in what one doctor may recommend over another:

In general, you can't have radiation to the same body part twice. So, if she had radiation to both breasts, she can't have radiation to her breasts again. There's a difference, however, in radiation to the breast and radiation to the lymph nodes.

For example, in my case, I had radiation to both breasts in 2009 following bilateral lumpectomies -- because my lymph node biopsies were all negative, the radiation did not include the lymph nodes. So, in theory, if necessary in the future, I could have radiation to my lymph nodes only. It will be important to know whether or not your friend's radiation in 2012 included radiation to the lymph nodes or not.

Because radiation is nearly always recommended after lumpectomy, if a woman who's had lumpectomy + radiation has a recurrence later on down the road, a mastectomy is usually her only option.

However, in your friend's case, her tumor is actually in her lymph node, if I'm understanding you correctly, and I have to say I haven't heard of that before. It's entirely possible that there's a different treatment plan in a case such as hers.

Don't know if any of that helps?

Traci

Abbycat2 · February 2015

TraciInLA said:
Some really general statements
I'm so sorry that your friend is dealing with a recurrence. Her case sounds really specific and a little different from what many of us have dealt with, but I'll try to give you some VERY general information. With the strong qualifier that there are exceptions to all of this, and many differences in what one doctor may recommend over another:

In general, you can't have radiation to the same body part twice. So, if she had radiation to both breasts, she can't have radiation to her breasts again. There's a difference, however, in radiation to the breast and radiation to the lymph nodes.

For example, in my case, I had radiation to both breasts in 2009 following bilateral lumpectomies -- because my lymph node biopsies were all negative, the radiation did not include the lymph nodes. So, in theory, if necessary in the future, I could have radiation to my lymph nodes only. It will be important to know whether or not your friend's radiation in 2012 included radiation to the lymph nodes or not.

Because radiation is nearly always recommended after lumpectomy, if a woman who's had lumpectomy + radiation has a recurrence later on down the road, a mastectomy is usually her only option.

However, in your friend's case, her tumor is actually in her lymph node, if I'm understanding you correctly, and I have to say I haven't heard of that before. It's entirely possible that there's a different treatment plan in a case such as hers.

Don't know if any of that helps?

Traci

Thank you

Thank you for your responses. I misspoke, my friend's mass inside her lymph node is actually 2 centimeters large and spiculated. I am not sure if her radiation treatment previously was to the entire breast or directed towards the lymph nodes. I suspect it was to the entire breast. Given how large this mass is, I can 't help but wonder if she may have breast cancer that has spread somewhere outside of the chest area.

camul · February 2015

Abbycat2 said:
Thank you
Thank you for your responses. I misspoke, my friend's mass inside her lymph node is actually 2 centimeters large and spiculated. I am not sure if her radiation treatment previously was to the entire breast or directed towards the lymph nodes. I suspect it was to the entire breast. Given how large this mass is, I can 't help but wonder if she may have breast cancer that has spread somewhere outside of the chest area.

That could be or
it could eben be a new cancer altogether. Sometimes when someone has radiation, they can end up with other vancers from the treatment. I am reall vurious as to what comes ba k from the biopsies.
I had radiation twice to my hips, tailbone, pelvic and lower spine. I was able to go a round 2 due to the fact that she only did 13 treatments the first yime and 12 the second, then I had it to thighhs, knees hips and thorasiv spine. Now I can no longer have external rads becuz not enuf good bone marrow left to produce good cells.
I was told that you can only have so much rads to an area, and I think when you get 33 tx to the breast, you. are using it all at one time.
Wish your friend the best.

Abbycat2 · March 2015

camul said:
That could be or
it could eben be a new cancer altogether. Sometimes when someone has radiation, they can end up with other vancers from the treatment. I am reall vurious as to what comes ba k from the biopsies.
I had radiation twice to my hips, tailbone, pelvic and lower spine. I was able to go a round 2 due to the fact that she only did 13 treatments the first yime and 12 the second, then I had it to thighhs, knees hips and thorasiv spine. Now I can no longer have external rads becuz not enuf good bone marrow left to produce good cells.
I was told that you can only have so much rads to an area, and I think when you get 33 tx to the breast, you. are using it all at one time.
Wish your friend the best.

Camul, I suspect you are correct

I would be surprised if she could get more radiation to her breast. It didn't occur to me that all that radiation could cause a new cancer. Let's pray that is not the case. It is stressful enough coping with my own real fear of a uterine cancer recurrence and now facing my friend's situation just about breaks my heart. Although I try to remain positive, it is not always easy to remain so.

Cathy

GlowMore · March 2015

Abbycat2 said:
Camul, I suspect you are correct
I would be surprised if she could get more radiation to her breast. It didn't occur to me that all that radiation could cause a new cancer. Let's pray that is not the case. It is stressful enough coping with my own real fear of a uterine cancer recurrence and now facing my friend's situation just about breaks my heart. Although I try to remain positive, it is not always easy to remain so.

Cathy

Please

Please be sure to let us know about your friend Abby and Prayers for the both of you.

Double Whammy · March 2015

GlowMore said:
Please
Please be sure to let us know about your friend Abby and Prayers for the both of you.

More than one disease

Hi Cathy- As you know, bc is more than one disease and your friend has already proven this by having different types in each breast. Our doctors say a lot of "we don't know". But what they do know is how to get as much information as possible and what the best treatments are for whatever they find. I'm thinkin that maybe her breast itself may still be fine and the node may have cells that traveled from the original node. Having a tumor in your breast is not life threatening, it's when it is outside the breast .. . just like our uterine cancers. We can live without a breast or a uterus and we all hope that when the original tumor is removed, it didn't have an opportunity to go anywhere else and we're done with it all. Stats get better the farther out you are from the original diagnosis but as many folks here have discovered, bc can show up again many years later, even though it is statistically less common. Stupid cancer.

I hope she does well. It has to be so frightening to have a potential recurrence lurking, both for her and for you. Please let us know what the doctors have to say about all of this, what her choices are, and next steps.

Best,

Suzanne

Abbycat2 · March 2015

Double Whammy said:
More than one disease
Hi Cathy- As you know, bc is more than one disease and your friend has already proven this by having different types in each breast. Our doctors say a lot of "we don't know". But what they do know is how to get as much information as possible and what the best treatments are for whatever they find. I'm thinkin that maybe her breast itself may still be fine and the node may have cells that traveled from the original node. Having a tumor in your breast is not life threatening, it's when it is outside the breast .. . just like our uterine cancers. We can live without a breast or a uterus and we all hope that when the original tumor is removed, it didn't have an opportunity to go anywhere else and we're done with it all. Stats get better the farther out you are from the original diagnosis but as many folks here have discovered, bc can show up again many years later, even though it is statistically less common. Stupid cancer.

I hope she does well. It has to be so frightening to have a potential recurrence lurking, both for her and for you. Please let us know what the doctors have to say about all of this, what her choices are, and next steps.

Best,

Suzanne

Thank you for your support and information!

I appreciate your responses to my post! My dear friend had a biopsy one week ago and after the surgery, her surgeon told me that the lymph node was frozen and sent to the hospital pathology dept and it came back negative! I have since learned, however, that freezing the mass at the time of surgery and having that evaluated is not fool-proof, because it is not a complete and thorough assessment. My brother is a surgeon and he told me that it takes several days to evaluate the tissue sample thoroughly which is placed in wax and than sliced thinly to view the mass. But the initial report is good and so far the surgeon and the oncologist have not called her to tell her otherwise. She will be seeing the surgeon tomorrow and I am praying that she is ok.

Suzanne, it really is frightening for both my friend and me. As you know, I face the unknown, too, when it comes to a uterine cancer recurrence. My oncologist told me last week that I am now almost 1 1/2 years out from surgery and the longer I go without a recurrence the greater the likelihood that I won't have one. I pray for my friend and me and all the women I have come to know on these boards dealing with cancer and the unknown. Ditto for the men, too!

Warm Wishes,

Cathy

VickiSam · March 2015

Abbycat2 said:
Thank you for your support and information!

I appreciate your responses to my post! My dear friend had a biopsy one week ago and after the surgery, her surgeon told me that the lymph node was frozen and sent to the hospital pathology dept and it came back negative! I have since learned, however, that freezing the mass at the time of surgery and having that evaluated is not fool-proof, because it is not a complete and thorough assessment. My brother is a surgeon and he told me that it takes several days to evaluate the tissue sample thoroughly which is placed in wax and than sliced thinly to view the mass. But the initial report is good and so far the surgeon and the oncologist have not called her to tell her otherwise. She will be seeing the surgeon tomorrow and I am praying that she is ok.

Suzanne, it really is frightening for both my friend and me. As you know, I face the unknown, too, when it comes to a uterine cancer recurrence. My oncologist told me last week that I am now almost 1 1/2 years out from surgery and the longer I go without a recurrence the greater the likelihood that I won't have one. I pray for my friend and me and all the women I have come to know on these boards dealing with cancer and the unknown. Ditto for the men, too!

Warm Wishes,

Cathy

Cathy,

Thank you so much for the update .. Shoot, the unknown and the waiting - grrrrrr. Your brother is correct, it takes at least a good 4 days to get the final results -

We are here waiting, and praying with you.

Strength, Courage, and HOPE for a Cure.

Vicki Sam

Abbycat2 · March 2015

VickiSam said:
Cathy,
Thank you so much for the update .. Shoot, the unknown and the waiting - grrrrrr. Your brother is correct, it takes at least a good 4 days to get the final results -

We are here waiting, and praying with you.

Strength, Courage, and HOPE for a Cure.

Vicki Sam

Great news!

My friend just called me after her follow-up appointment with her surgeon. Everything was benign!!! The doctor told her that they think it was blood in her lymph node and not to worry about it.

I am sighing with relief as I know that with cancer it is impossible to know what may happen next. Thank you all for your wonderful support!

Warmly,

Cathy

jennytwist · March 2015

Abbycat2 said:
Great news!
My friend just called me after her follow-up appointment with her surgeon. Everything was benign!!! The doctor told her that they think it was blood in her lymph node and not to worry about it.

I am sighing with relief as I know that with cancer it is impossible to know what may happen next. Thank you all for your wonderful support!

Warmly,

Cathy

YAY!

I was reading through the posts, ready to give some words of encouragement and came to your post!!!!! Best news ever for your friend!

Thanks for letting us know!

Jenny

aisling8 · March 2015

jennytwist said:
YAY!
I was reading through the posts, ready to give some words of encouragement and came to your post!!!!! Best news ever for your friend!

Thanks for letting us know!

Jenny

Whew

That's fantastic!!

Love reading good news like this:)

xoxo

Victoria

Double Whammy · March 2015

aisling8 said:
Whew
That's fantastic!!

Love reading good news like this:)

xoxo

Victoria

Good news

"they" consider it part of their job to check out anything suspicious. Suspicious doesn't always mean cancer. Whew! Very happy for you and your friend.

Suzanne

It may be a recurrence

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