Hi all, just back from consultant meeting and she said the area of cancer is 9cm as opposed to the 3.8cm she thought from the ultrasound. It sounds so massive and I dont know if thats because its grown loads in the past couple of weeks or the MRI showed more. Its grade 2, ER+, PR+, Her -. Has anyone else had this? I have an ultrasound on Monday for them to get a better view of it so will ask them then, the BCN was great and said that they can start me on hormone blockers now if that will help me mentally to feel like its not growing and taking over my body.
On the positive, mastectomy surgery is booked for 23 Dec which I am really pleased about as the waiting is horrendous - and should be out on 24th and dont have to go to mother in laws on Christmas Day - BCN told me to eat lots of M&S Party food and relax on painkillers! Its going to be a shitshow of a Christmas but was going to be either way so this is definitely better than more waiting
Hi RubyTuesday, yes I had similar to you, very large so stage 3, and it definitely grew loads between first appointment (ultrasound) and getting diagnosed and onto the drugs. Best of luck for your op and recovery.
Thanks, can I ask what treatment you have had and how you are? No problem if you dont want to talk about it, just feeling a bit overwhelmed by the size of it and it feels like its growing and I am very aware of it whereas lots of people say they dont even feel theirs
Mine was too large for mastectomy, so I went straight on to Ribociclib and Letrozole, with the hope that it will shrink it. I have been on that for 6 months, and it is working, but slowly.
I was very overwhelmed at the start, but have got used to it. It twinges occasionally so I know it is still there, but it is a bit smaller now, and much less painful than at the start.
Sorry for your curve ball @rubytuesday not at all what your were expecting I bet. Great news about the hormone blockers though Iām going to ask to start these myself haha. And great news they can do the op before Christmas, the perfect time to rest and recover
New year, new you. You are well on your way to getting this sorted
Sorry you find yourself on the forum but the best place to be in the circumstances. Good that you can find some humour in it all though (hope your mother-in-law isnāt tuned inš). Breast cancer alone is definitely a shitshow, never mind BC at Christmas.
You havenāt mentioned here what type of tumour you have. The lobular tumours are notoriously difficult to get the size correct and often end up bigger than first thought because they can be largely āoccultā to both mammogram and u/s, but the MRI scans are more accurate. So it may be the imaging, rather than rapid growth that makes it suddenly seem so much larger.
I had a lobular tumour measuring 1 cm on both mammogram and u/s but the histology revealed it to be 4.5cm. Also had 3nodes undiagnosed prior to surgery. I had a mastectomy, arimidex(hormone blocker), chemo and radiotherapy. That was nearly 18 years ago and all is still well. I had a second round in the other breast with a ductal, her+ tumour 8 years ago and that is all good too .
The treatments now are excellent, so just trust in the process. The mastectomy is fairly easy to recover from, assuming you arenāt having reconstructive surgery, so you should have a fairly decent, comfortable Christmas. When you get āspat outā the other end of all the treatment, look for a āmoving forwardā course near you. They are great. If there isnāt one close check out the online version.
Thanks @Eily your message made me feel so much better.
At my last consultant meeting they said it was NST but I have an ultrasound on Monday and will ask some questions about it. I do have total faith in my team at the Western General and know they will do whatever needs to be done and I just need to trust them. A few colleagues have been through similar situations over the past few years and I know just need to have faith. Iām so pleased to hear how well you are doing x
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