No longer waiting . . . (edited)

[Ms. Toad]

Last edited Mon Apr 18, 2016, 08:27 AM - Edit history (1)

I am likely about to join this little club. I had a core biopsy on Thursday for 1.3 cm (ultrasound measurement) - 2 cm (palpation guestimate) solid tumor. Funny how everyone's demeanor changes once they look at the films, and their experience tells them it is not good news. Even though they can't formally say anything yet.

Not unexpected, but I'm a bit younger than everyone who came before me (mother x 2, grandmother, great-grandmother).

The results should be back early next week.

This is not really a convenient time for me to be at the beck and call of doctors - I'd really appreciate it if cancer could reschedule and come back in a couple of decades. I'd even settle for a month.

Edited 4/18:

I got a phone call from my doctor, bright and early this morning. Cancer (of the carcinoma variety). No more information yet - still more pathology to come with information about whether it is lobular or ductal, and whether its receptors are positive or negative.

So - I guess I am still doing some waiting, but I have confirmation that it is cancer.

[Rhiannon12866]

1. I am so very sorry to hear this, not knowing is incredibly tough and you imagine the worst.

But it's early days yet. Please let us know how you're doing. And you're still very much missed on MIRT.

[Ms. Toad]

7. Thanks.

My normal M.O. is to research things to death so that nothing surprises me - my forever coping mechanism for both the waiting period and early disease management. I'm finding that I don't have enough information to do that yet - so that part of not knowing is frustrating. I thought the doctor said that sarcoma was the most likely - but my research tells me that (generically) that's least likely. Since we collect medical unicorns in our family I may well have collected another (or at least a zebra), or I may have heard her incorrectly.

[In_The_Wind]

2. I'm so sorry, Ms. Toad.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Thank you!

[alfredo]

3. I felt relief at the diagnosis. Not knowing is the killer.

Be a happy warrior, even when puking out your guts. Chemo barf is better than a booze/ greasy food barf. Chemo and radiation is an effective weight loss program.

Whatever comes down, deal with it.

Let's hope you hear the word benign.

[Ms. Toad]

9. I cope much better with the known than the unknown.

I don't much care how I get to "known" - most things I know (from personal research) before I hear the actual diagnosis from the doctor. This one is frustrating because I know too little to get close to a reliable self-diagnosis. So that makes the waiting more challenging.

Benign would be a pleasant surprise!

[alfredo]

11. I avoided self diagnosis on this one.

[PennyK]

4. Yeah, inconvenient doesn't quite cover it!

To me, the most annoying thing is that our own bodies turn on us!
Here's hoping you'll get a happy surprise. And as time goes on, treatments improve in their abilities to target the "sleeper cells" lurking within. With the drugs I have for helping with side effects I haven't really been nauseous once...okay, plenty of other fun surprises, but nausea was my worst fear.

[Ms. Toad]

6. Definitely annoying -

and particularly so, since I've just spent the last 7 months getting my health in order following a fall diagnosis with the other two family diseases. (Down 54 lbs & within striking distance of diabetic remission. And this is how it repays me!)

[polly7]

5. Best wishes that it turns out better than you're fearing, Ms. Toad.

Not knowing is horrible. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

[Ms. Toad]

10. Thank you!

[Solly Mack]

12. Sorry to hear that.

Keep us posted. We've got ears and shoulders here, as well as a sense of humor.

Oh, and we all know how cancer likes to crash life's party.

[cate94]

13. Thinking of you and hoping for the best.

I hope you don't join this club.

[PennyK]

14. So sorry

Get ready for a bunch more tests. I don't think you said where it is.
I'll hope for the best possible outcome for you, and that you'll come out of this just fine! (I plan that for myself)

[Ms. Toad]

16. Breast cancer.

I have tests scheduled Thursday and Friday, and a second opinion on Wednesday, and a second meeting with the surgeon next Monday.

[BuelahWitch]

15. So sorry, Ms. Toad

Here's hoping you caught it early.

[Ms. Toad]

17. Yup.

Not as early as I should have, due to a crazy life and a doctor who pawned me off on someone else since he couldn't find my cervix . . . but that's another story. It's been a bit longer than it should have been since my last mammogram - and this one was triggered because I found the lump.

Based on size, it is stage I. It might slide into stage II, if there are traces of it in my lymph nodes.

[Uben]

18. That damned wait!

Sorry you're having to deal with this. This is a good place to chat about it and there are some REALLY good people here.

[Solly Mack]

19. I'm so sorry!

Please keep us posted.

I am not good at waiting. Even after the diagnosis, I wanted my treatment to start right away. Then I wanted the treatment over and the cancer gone.

[Ms. Toad]

20. I've had that conversation with two doctors now -

I'm inclined to wait ~4 weeks. They are used to people who want it cut out yesterday! I've had 3 relatives with 4 breast cancers. Two of them died from something else and the third is still living 18 years after the 1st tumor, and 5 after the second (unrelated) tumor. That gives me a little different perspective.

The one today acknowledged that it had likely been there between 2 & 8 years (likely closer to 8). Another month to research, wait for genetic screening, and a slightly more convenient time to be out of commission for a couple of weeks, is not going to make any difference in the long run.

We'll see. I have another appointment Monday and we'll start planning.

In the mean time, another bit of good news: ER+, PR+, and HER2- (the best combination possible).