Hi hopefulholly,
I saw that you popped in on a reply to Jilly1998, so I thought I’d go to this posting to answer you.
Here’s my take on things:
Pathology Report
Under NHS guidelines you are entitled to a free copy of your report if you have attended hospital within the last 40 days. At my meeting with my breast surgeon after my first operation he went through the report with me. I asked politely to have a copy of the report to take home with me. He explained it was procedure to request a copy from Access Health records at the hospital. I did get the forms but when I read through the applicants guide it said that the report would be with me within 40 days.
It is at this point I made what I think is a big mistake. I am writing this paragraph not so much for you because you have had ANC but anyone else who is reading this. All correspondence and the pathology report is sent to your GP. I didn’t know about the pathology report being sent to the GP but of course it makes sense. I should have gone to my GP and got her to go through the pathology report with me then before I had the ANC.
I was in the broom cupboard with the breast surgeon, breast care nurse, hospital registrar and my mother-in-law when he went through the pathology report. ANC was discussed or radiotherapy to the armpit but the radiotherapy not focused on; he focused on ANC. I regret making the decision there and then to go for ANC and feel I did not give myself time to reflect on what that meant and to research exactly the implications of this. Remember it was 1 out of 3 nodes that was positive and I was not expecting this because the biopsy appeared fine. Research shows that 1 in 3 nodes has shown that it is likely (93%) that no other nodes with be affected.
Anyway, going back to the pathology report. I did not see the GP until after my ANC because it was only then that chemo was mentioned and it was then that I could really look at the report for the first time in GP’s office. " The oncologist will discuss chemo with you as well as rads and tablets," was what I was told by my breast surgeon. This was despite all the other nodes being clear. I assumed ( one should never assume) that nodes clearance would mean no chemo.
So, after the GP I saw the oncologist the next day, or may a couple of days later. At the meeting with the oncologist we went through predict on line and various other things. I also asked her to go through the pathology report with me and said that I had not seen/ did not have a copy of the report. ( The GP could not print it out for me when I saw her because the printer was not working.) I told the oncologist that I had been told by my breast surgeon that I had to fill in a form to request the report. Smiling sweetly, I asked if she could print me a copy. As there was no printer in the room she said she would give me the copy from the file and print out another copy for the file. " That’s very kind of you," I replied.
I had 2 cancerous sections in my right breast. One 7mm (grade 3) by my right nipple and the other 2mm(grade 2) further back in the breast. There were cancerous “legs” going into the right nipple, which meant the nipple had to go along with the aerola. The night before the operation I said, “Farewell, dear friend, you’ve given me lots of fun but now it’s time to say adieu.”
I don’t know which day you are meeting your onocolgist but I am sure you are doing plenty of research. I had no vascular invasion in the blood, or lymph fluid. The sentinel node did not have “legs”, which I think is what capsular spread means.
I am, as I have said in the other post, having chemo. I didn’t want to but my husband begged me, given that the 7mm cancer was grade 3.
At the end of the day, The Medical Team can only advise you and ultimately you make the decision. It’s a lonely place to be.
I asked my oncologist why they strongly recommended chemo. More to the point I asked if it would have made any difference if it was 4, 8, 12 etc nodes. In the end, I got the oncologist to admit that because it was in one node I ticked the chemo box, along with the fact that the 7mm bit was grade 3. To which I said, " I understand that but I am a person not a statistic and a box to tick." It was a very friendly conversation and I ended it by saying that I would think about it, discuss it with my family and then get back to her.
I’ve waffled on here, so if you would like I can send you a private message with my thoughts on chemo and anything else that comes to mind concerning making a decision.
I’ll p.m. either later today or sometime over the next couple of days, if you would like me to do so.
Make sure you go with lots of questions for the oncologist to answer. I began the meeting by shaking hands, sitting down and then getting out my notebook and saying, " I have one or two questions to ask."
I smiled all the time and my mother-in-law came with me and she asked questions and took notes. I’m used to being the one who asks the questions so it was easy for me and this time I was very focused. I could kick myself that I was in too much shock at the beginning to really focus at the time but such is life. xx