As most of you know mum had a partial mastectomy, is taking Letrazole and started Rads yesterday.
For the time being she will be having at the Marsden six monthly mammograms. I know people very often have them yearly so asked why this was. Her answer was that Lobular is very likely to come back in the other breast, and because it is not easy to spot like a lump as it is a thickening, they will be keeping an eye on it so if it does return there is less chance of it spreading.
My question is why is there a high chance of lobular returning in the other breast than other breast cancers.
Who knows Jules - it’s just the nature of the beast. Mine was lobular and sure enough it came back in the other breast. But i found it myself as a large fast growing lump. I think I would suggest your Mum asks why mammograms - this is not always the best method of detecting lobular.
It was the routine three yearly mammogram that found her thickening. And it did start of at 4cm before the Letrazole started to shink it. Could it be missed then if it was smaller?
I keep reading on this site about the peculiarity of lobular in terms of it being likely to mirror in the other breast. I have “researched” this quite a bit on a hugely respected Amercian site and the opinion expressed there is that medics used to think this but it is now really not the case. Hope I don’t have to eat my words…
Really, that has cheered me up Janey. I do have some comfort though, that if it does come back, that it will be found much quicker and won’t get a chance to attack her nodes.
I don’t think that the majority of consultants would advise that it could come into the second breast if there wasn’t a fair bit of evidence that it did. You can find all sorts of conflicting advice on the net, but all I personally know is my own experience and I can testify that lobular spreads very quickly, I do know that. From a tiny pea size lump in the October, which sometimes could be felt, and sometimes could not, so much so that my GP said he couldn’t feel anything, and sent me away, by the February I could feel two distinct lumps size of my thumb end, and thickening further down. By the time my breast was removed in May (ended up having bilaterals), the cancer had infiltrated right through the breast, my Surgeon said it was all through the breast. At the alarming rate it was spreading, and given the advice I was given, I certainly wasn’t prepared to take that risk. A neighbour had lobular, she had a mastectomy, and it came back in the second breast 9 months later. She has just recently had a second mastectomy, luckily it wasn’t in her nodes.
Mums tumour was 4cm, which seemed pretty big, considering she could not feel it. Buts the nature of the beast with lobular. I am still amazed that a tumour that size did not have node involvement. If it does come back, would her regular checks stop it going as far as the nodes, or is that like asking the length of a piece of string.
Jules my first one was 5cm then came back in same breast and like julie went right through it still with no node involvement. It was larger in the other breast when it spread there and there was node involvement. But if your mum survives as long as I have she will be seeing a good old age :). I have lasted 18 years so far LOL.
I must admit ladys, I was feeling postive about her not having node involvement and the fact shes having such regular mamograms, but now I realise it could come back and be in the nodes, even if it was caught quickly is very worrying.
Dawn, I know I keep saying it but your such an inspiration!
Yes, it could, but then anything can happen in life, and if you spend every hour of every day worrying about the “what ifs and buts”, then you just stop enjoying things. When you’ve had something major like this happen in your life, such as BC or any other life threatening illness, you appreciate every day for what it is. None of us know what is going to happen to tomorrow, but then it would be a boring life if we did.
Hi Julie - very true ! I used to not look forward to the next birthday but looking forward to being 54 in December !!
Jules - it’s always in the back of your mind about “if” it comes back but at least they will now keep an eye on your mum. I had my 1st mammogram in May on the other boob and wasn’t too worried but would have faced it if it had been bad news. How is your mum coping? x
Thanks Lizzie, I can understand what you mean about birthdays. And now appreciating things. Mum is doing ok (I think) she doesnt always let on when things are wrong! She is having her third lot of rads today, so far so good.
I am okay thanks. But did too much last week doing 4 mornings so I am doing 2 full days this week and was sent home at 3.30 yesterday. I thought it would have advantages doing full days ! I am enjoying being back in the workplace and all the lovely ladies I work with.
You say your mum is having 6 weeks worth of rads within 3 weeks. How does this work? does she have a longer session or a stronger dose ? I had mine over 5 weeks and it was only that last week the skin started to break. They gave me some gel but I found the best thing was a cotton handkerchief which soaked up any leakage. Then towards the end I got very tired and it actually hits you about 2 weeks later. I am still easily exhausted with all the treatment I have had.
I agree two days is much longer than four, because you get lots of time off before you go back again! I work as a temp, but would ideally like to work two days a week or three!
Yes mum is having a double dose of rads. It is quite a new thing. I spoke to Lindsyloo about it as shes a nurse and she said only certain criteria have it that way.
The main reason she is having it is because she didn’t have the full mastecomy, only a partial and the margins are very tight. They had clear margins, but not having the full breast of made them tight. My feelings are she should have had the WHOLE breast off and been done with it, but at the end of the day its not my boob, so I had to stay silent (my sister agrees with me)! So due to this shes having a double stronger dose quicker in case an stray cells go where they shouldn’t.
I see ! I have that frame of mind but everybody is different. My first thought when the surgeon said about a reconstructions was NO - I want it taken away and don’t want anything there. Then I spoke to the nurse and she explained that they keep the skin and take the tumour and flesh out of where your nipple was so I am left with what looks like a normal boob (when I have my clothes on). It is such a hard decision and a very personal one x
I’d only want to be immortal if I didn’t age ha ha. Couldn’t stand the thought of being 150 and everything dragging along the floor, not that my boobs will ever, they’ll still be sitting there, when my bottom, and my chin, and neck are dragging along the pavement. As Christina Applegate (actress) said the other week after her mastectomies etc, she will have the best boobs in the nursing home.
On a serious note when I had my liver scare a few months ago, that was a wake up call for me. I was talking to one of the ladies on the secondaries site Kay, who kept me going through the 3 weeks of uncertainty, until MRI came back and she said she felt as if she was falling off a precipice, (I might not quote her words exactly, but it will be somewhere in the secondaries site about Jan/Feb time) and that when I found out I was okay, that it wasn’t liver mets, that somehow she felt I had been hauled up over the edge of the cliff to safety, but that she was still hanging there precariously. They were not her exact words, but it was to that effect. And it really made me sit up and think how precious everything is, how the little things that we enjoy in life, walking on the beach with the dog, having lunch out somewhere nice, going shopping, buying something for the house, stupid things really, just even sitting in my lovely office at work, just the simple things in life, my fab OH, all those normal everyday things, when you actually have them you take for granted, and so although I will still worry from time to time, still got to find out the results of a CT scan, (not unduly worried about that though), I don’t really want to waste too much time trying to worry about things I can’t change. Plus I feel like I have given this “sodding” breast cancer enough of my time, thank you very much ha ha.
Well said Julie - I try to be like that but get down and think my life should be more than this. But it could be worse couldn’t it. what are you doing on this forum from work??? We all got notification on the intranet that they are stopping us going on our emails such as google mail, hotmail, yahoo - I think that’s very mean of them.
Sorry Jules for hijacking the thread for that bit of info !