Breast Issue

Double Whammy said:

I learned a couple of things

I'm a breast and endometrial cancer survivor. Had them both at the same time in 2010.  I luckily had the "garden variety" EC and needed surgery only.  There are more types of breast cancer than you can shake a stick at and as many different treatments.  Like EC, it gets down to type, stage, grade, etc. and the only way to know what kind you have is to get a hold of the tissue, biopsy being the first step.  My biopsy was not difficult at all for me.  How fast and how much they react to it all depends on that tissue.  I had surgery, chemo, and radiation.  More aggressive cancers have more aggressive chemo, sometimes even before surgery.  Some cancers metastasize early, some don't.   It all depends. . . don't you just love that?  My advise is not to ignore anything, I was so calm when I had my biopsy because I was just sure it was nothing - it wasn't.  Know what you're dealing with first and then you can seek another opinion if you choose.  All of that pink hype honestly IMHO makes us think breast cancer is no big deal anymore.  It is.

Suzanne

Yes, Suzanne, I am pursuing this.  The diagnostic radiologist posted an addendum to her biopsy procedural report on Monday.  It merely said "fibrocystic changes" and recommended mammogram in one year.  I have been reading what seems to me a wonderful blog by a Canadian breast radiologist called "Moose and Doc" that has hundreds of pages on the ins and outs of mammography, results, types of breast cancer, etc.  His notes on "fibrocystic changes" shows me more information is needed, i.e., if the cells are atyical they can be an early development of Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS).  So I am tracking down the actual pathology report which I hope reveals how this differential diagnosis was eliminated. I am curious how I went from a BI RADS:4B Suspicious; Intermediate Probability (of Cancer) to a nothingburger.  I've also asked my PCP, who provided the script for the mammogram to follow up and obtain the path report and make sure it gets posted to my patient portal where I can read it. I am being vigilant.  Thanks for your story.

To those urging us to go on this trip.  Thank you for the encouragement.  We are back on track with a week's delay in departure for me to recover from the final chemo this week.  We are looking forward to it and we need it.  Best wishes, Oldbeauty

Double Whammy said:

One more thing . .

One day when I was in the midst of all my drama, I asked my gyn/onc why he thought I had been diagnosed with both breast and endometrial cancers (both diagnosed over the course of routine Well Woman exam).  Of course, the answer was "we don't know", but he did say that it is not unusual for a woman to develop both cancers over the course of her lifetime, just unusual to have them at the same time.  And after saying that, one of my good friends had both at the same time, too!!  Just sayin . . 

Suzanne  

The pathology report has been posted but is not meaningful to this layperson.  The specimens were received in two parts, one is diagnosed "fibrocystic change with intracystic calcifications" and the other is "fibrocystic change."  The tissue color/consistency description for both is "tan-yellow fibroadipose tissue."  I am assured that "microscopic examination substantiates the diagnosis."  This contrasts with my uterine cancer pathology from years ago where there was lots of description to read.  Of course, there was a "there" there and now maybe there's no "there" there hence not much to say.  In any event, I will follow up with my referring doctor.  I do find it odd that I would have breast cancer.  I had years of high-dose progesterone therapy to keep the endometrial cancer in remission and it is an estrogen antagonist so how could breast cancer develop??  I will keep on asking questions until I am satisfied.  Thanks all for your input.  Best wishes, Oldbeauty