Beacon
Ideal_Rock
- Joined
- Jul 14, 2006
- Messages
- 2,037
I posted that I needed a breast biopsy and I had it done on the 22nd. I got the results back: lobular carcinoma in situ.
This sounds terrible, but I will start at the end and say that apparently this is not breast cancer. It means I will need to remove whatever left of it there is and I will have to go into some treatment modalities to make sure things stay fine.
BUT, the way I found out about it was something else! By total coincidence, I had an appt with my OB/Gyn today for my normal annual exam. This doctor gets a copy of my lab reports from my mammograms. When I went in I did not know the results of my biopsy but she did.
The ob/gyn came in an I noticed she looked really grave. She asked me how I had been and sort of beat around the bush. I told her, hey I had a biopsy two days ago and I don''t yet have the results, but you might have them by now. She looked at me and as best she could, handed me a tissue and told me, "I am sorry, it was positive for cancer." Man did I feel bad! She did the exam, which i totally forgot she was even doing. I had not seen the report and I asked her what it said and she told me: lobular carcinoma in situ. I kind of had heard about this type of thing and I vaguely remembered it as not being the worst thing. But I asked her if it was bad and she hedged and told me the surgeons and team would tell me and she was very sorry.
I was by myself after that and the feeling was bad. I had cancer. Not a good feeling. It was Friday afternoon and I was wondering how the heck I would make it through the weekend. I really needed consultation, ASAP.
As it turns out the breast surgeon I know is in the same building so I walked to her office and requested an appointment as a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient. The receptionist got the surgeon on the phone and read her my report. This all took a while. I sat and contemplated calling my husband, but just couldn''t call. I knew I would start to cry and he was at work and it would really mess him up. So I just hung out. After a while the receptionist came back and gave me an appointment date and said, "the surgeon told me to tell you that you don''t have breast cancer."
I just looked at her like she was from Mars, and said, "umm, ok". Now I was just like a zombie - I could hardly remember how to get out of the building, I felt like I was on drugs. But I carried on and realized there was someone else I could call on.
I went over to my radiologist''s office. She is head director of the breast center here and very busy. I had no appointment but asked to see her. She graciously took time out to meet me and go over the whole thing.
LCIS is not cancer, it is a collection of noninvasive cells that mean you are at substantially higher risk to get cancer. These cells are quite abnormal looking (mine are grade 3 in places) and will need surgery to remove and make sure there is no other cancer around them. But it''s not cancer, not yet, and my radiologist called the pathologist and talked it over with him line by line to be sure this was the final diagnosis and correct. She is so wonderful.
Then the surgeon called my cell and told me about it and what we were going to do and that it was not breast cancer. This was exceptionally kind of her, as she had just performed 6 hours of surgery.
So I am not out of the woods, there is much more to do, I have an MRI coming and some surgery, but unless something else pops up (which could happen), we have done well to find this trouble and get after it. My appointments for these are already on the books, within two hours of receiving my results. I feel ok going into the weekend. Jarred and appropriately concerned, but not freaking out and crying.
Take home message: ladies - get your mammograms and if anything is even slightly odd - get a biopsy. In my condition, there is not lump, no mass, nothing to feel, no mass to see on mammo no abnormality on ultrasound. It was located due to some tiny calcifications the mammo picked up. I am grateful to the technology that allows this to be found.
This sounds terrible, but I will start at the end and say that apparently this is not breast cancer. It means I will need to remove whatever left of it there is and I will have to go into some treatment modalities to make sure things stay fine.
BUT, the way I found out about it was something else! By total coincidence, I had an appt with my OB/Gyn today for my normal annual exam. This doctor gets a copy of my lab reports from my mammograms. When I went in I did not know the results of my biopsy but she did.
The ob/gyn came in an I noticed she looked really grave. She asked me how I had been and sort of beat around the bush. I told her, hey I had a biopsy two days ago and I don''t yet have the results, but you might have them by now. She looked at me and as best she could, handed me a tissue and told me, "I am sorry, it was positive for cancer." Man did I feel bad! She did the exam, which i totally forgot she was even doing. I had not seen the report and I asked her what it said and she told me: lobular carcinoma in situ. I kind of had heard about this type of thing and I vaguely remembered it as not being the worst thing. But I asked her if it was bad and she hedged and told me the surgeons and team would tell me and she was very sorry.
I was by myself after that and the feeling was bad. I had cancer. Not a good feeling. It was Friday afternoon and I was wondering how the heck I would make it through the weekend. I really needed consultation, ASAP.
As it turns out the breast surgeon I know is in the same building so I walked to her office and requested an appointment as a newly diagnosed breast cancer patient. The receptionist got the surgeon on the phone and read her my report. This all took a while. I sat and contemplated calling my husband, but just couldn''t call. I knew I would start to cry and he was at work and it would really mess him up. So I just hung out. After a while the receptionist came back and gave me an appointment date and said, "the surgeon told me to tell you that you don''t have breast cancer."
I just looked at her like she was from Mars, and said, "umm, ok". Now I was just like a zombie - I could hardly remember how to get out of the building, I felt like I was on drugs. But I carried on and realized there was someone else I could call on.
I went over to my radiologist''s office. She is head director of the breast center here and very busy. I had no appointment but asked to see her. She graciously took time out to meet me and go over the whole thing.
LCIS is not cancer, it is a collection of noninvasive cells that mean you are at substantially higher risk to get cancer. These cells are quite abnormal looking (mine are grade 3 in places) and will need surgery to remove and make sure there is no other cancer around them. But it''s not cancer, not yet, and my radiologist called the pathologist and talked it over with him line by line to be sure this was the final diagnosis and correct. She is so wonderful.
Then the surgeon called my cell and told me about it and what we were going to do and that it was not breast cancer. This was exceptionally kind of her, as she had just performed 6 hours of surgery.
So I am not out of the woods, there is much more to do, I have an MRI coming and some surgery, but unless something else pops up (which could happen), we have done well to find this trouble and get after it. My appointments for these are already on the books, within two hours of receiving my results. I feel ok going into the weekend. Jarred and appropriately concerned, but not freaking out and crying.
Take home message: ladies - get your mammograms and if anything is even slightly odd - get a biopsy. In my condition, there is not lump, no mass, nothing to feel, no mass to see on mammo no abnormality on ultrasound. It was located due to some tiny calcifications the mammo picked up. I am grateful to the technology that allows this to be found.
I''m just really glad that this was caught early and that you can remain vigilant.
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