hi all
well went to see nurse today
steri strips off and stitches out
she says looks good and swelling to be expected
she was pleased with the movement i have so far but ive to keep pushing to raise arm higher
when she said she had my results i burst into tears i was so scared
anyway
i dont need more surgery hurray!
it was as they thought
10mm all removed with 4mm margin all clear
none in blood vessels??
7 nodes removed and 1 affected
not sure why they dont need to take more out??
hormone receptive so i can have drugs, still testing for the hr2 thing to see if i can have new drug begining with H lol
ok so, she says she thinks they will deffo recommend chemo but it will be up to me
with drugs and chemo it gives me a nearly 7% better survival
but a % of what???
still not sure i can do chemo
i so dont want to be the sick mummy in bed all the time for 6 mths, my poor 4 yr old
i said to her with him being so young and bringing so many germs does it put me more at risk of always ending in hospital
she said she couldnt really answer that
so pleased no more surgery, bit annoyed at the pesky node but she said it could have been so much worse
so for today celebrating n more surgery
and totally undecided about chemo
will get an appointment thrugh with in 2 wks to see onc
so thats me
Glad to hear that you got good margins and just the one node involved in the end…
The “none in blood vessels” means that you have no vascular invasion… sometimes the tumour develops its own blood supply and is another way for cancer cells to spread around the body via blood - so that is good news…
If you turn out to be herceptin positive you can only have that drug if you have chemo as well…
It is a hard decision whether to have chemo or not… in my case there was no choice as i have a really agressive type that has to have chemo first before surgery…
Was your tumour grade 3…? i know that younger patients with node involvement and particulary grade 3 do tend to be advised to have chemo…
Glad you got your results early from nurse. Same thing happened to me but she phoned me with them. I was shaking when she started telling me and cried with relief afterwards!
Great you got clear margins and lump was only small. Mine was 11mm, so pretty much the same.
None in blood vessels is also good (and same as me). ( I think it means the little tiny blood vessels around the tumour)
Hormone positive means you will be joining us on the Tamoxifen thread!! The new drug is Herceptin. I had to have extra test for that as well but it came back negative.
They are probably recommending chemo because you had one node involved.You have got time to have a think about it and work out some questions for onc before you go in 2 weeks.
Someone on here has posted a link to a % survival calculator, with and without chemo. I will try and find it and post it for you.
I think you do have to be careful with germs etc. if you have chemo because it lowers your immune system, but you are best talking to other people who are having it. Plenty of advice on this site.
So pleased for you that you haven’t got to wait any longer for the results and NO MORE SURGERY!!
7% is quite an improvement in prognosis.
I haven’t had chemo ,so hopefully someone who has, can reasure you that you won’t spend 6 months in bed.
Think about it this way,how would you feel if it came back and you hadn’t had chemo.I know its an awful thought to put yourself forward for something that will make you feel worse.But you need to think of your son and your future.
Give it some thought and read some of the chemo threads.You will come to a decision that is right for you.
Hugs
Dot
x
Theresa is right, you need to know the grade as well to help with your decision . Did they tell you that…? It will be 1, 2 or 3.
Theresa, is it you that posted the link to the calculator thingy?Could you point it out for lincslady (if she would like to have a look) as I can’t remember what thread it was on ? Thanks
i know some people find the idea of it quite scarey but for others it can be quite reassuring to see how good their prognosis is / what a difference treatment could make… although it can only give an indication as none of us can predict exactly what might happen to us…
lincslady
I am grade 2 as well.
There is a thread called “grade 2s”, come and join us on that !! There are people who are having chemo and others who aren’t.
Anna x
I found it reassuring on the whole, and the different graph presentations are useful if you find statistics a bit confusing !!