Mother Newly Diagnosed

misterace
misterace Member Posts: 37 Member
in Breast Cancer #1

Hello All, 

Last night my mom (early 60s) shared with me that she had a biopsy and that the result came back positive for Grade 2 invasive lobular carcinoma with signet ring cell features. According to the mammogram & ultrasound, the tumor appears to be roughly 18mm x 17mm x 16mm diameter. She is having an MRI today and we are meeting with the surgeon later this week. We are in southern California. 

This year has been a tough one for my family. Back in June, I was diagnosed with kidney cancer and had a partial nephrectomy in July. Thankfully it all went well and I was stage 1 and caught it early. Now it seems we are going through this. The silver lining is that I have become somewhat well versed in the lingo of cancer and can help my mom navigate and proivde support because I know exactly how it all feels. 

I would like to draw from your collective knowledge in this forum in what questions I need to ask to understand treatment options going forward so that I can assist her as best as I can. Any advice will help. 

From my understanding, the MRI will hopefully rule out any other lesions and give us a more accurate read re: the size of the tumor? And the full scope of treatment will not be fully understood until the tumor (along with perhaps some lymph nodes) are removed and it is properly staged/graded?

Thank you all for your time and support in reading my post. 

Comments

  • Deanie0916
    Deanie0916 Member Posts: 628 Member
    #2
    Misterace

    Yes now comes the waiting in between mri and possible biopsy. I'm 10 years out so I'm sure there are better treatments. Prayers and best wishes for good outcomes and minimal treatments.

  • Primavera
    Primavera Member Posts: 231 Member
    edited October 2020 #3
    I had a different way

    I had mammograms, biopsies and ultrasounds. The tumor is grade 3, 3.2cm and it was on a bed of more cancerous tissue, so I got sent to chemo first. I had X-rays to rule out spread and then I was sent to have an MRI when they found a cyst on the liver, that luckily was just a cyst.

    I got sent to a surgeon first, who said he recommended chemo first and sent me to an oncologist. Oncologist gave me a schedule for chemo that will take me from now to March next year, when they'll do a mastectomy of left breast. I've already talked to the plastic surgeon for the reconstruction. I'm on second chemo treatment and still have about 17 to go before the operation. Then I'll have another drug on IV every three weeks for a year.

    Oncologist said she was looking at maybe a stage II. One of my lymph nodes near the tumor was positive for cancer, too.

    I guess they'll see how chemo works and then I'll go through the operation and see if I need radiation, and then I'll have the reconstruction.

    But your mom might have it easier. Some people have a lumpectomy and are done with it. Prayers for your mom. Wishing her the best. Let's hope it was caught in time. I had uterine cancer last year and I got off with just an operation and a little radiation.

     

     

  • Chickadee1955
    Chickadee1955 Member Posts: 356 Member
    edited October 2020 #4
    It sounds like you have a

    It sounds like you have a pretty good handle on this.  As for questions to ask, all I can suggest is to keep a running journal of questions to take with you to each visit with each provider.  I'm a big one for writing everything down because my memory fails me too often.  I'm sure it will help your Mom to have you there to take notes of the answers as well.  

    Best wishes for both of you!

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