Diagnosed with this on 20/1. Grade 2 ( hormone receptive 7/8) They say there are 2 tumors (multifocal) 17mm and 15mm, but affected area is 10 X8 cm with mix of DCIS and LCIS so booked for mastectomy on 22/2. Ultrasound says nodes are clear but I am so terrfied of spread to nodes. Can anyone advise me of prognosis if spread to nodes? Feel really lost
Hi Flower20,
Sorry to have to welcome you to this site, but you will find it a great help, I would have been lost without it.
I was diagnosed in November with Stage 2 (>2cm), Grade 2 Invasive lobular Ca. Mine was also multifocal, with DCIS, LCIS and invasive tubular Ca. ER+ but no LN spread. I had a WLE initially, then went on to MTX. I am now half way through chemotherapy which I was strongly adviced to have to prevent recurrence from blood spread.
It is a terrible roller coaster, but none of it has been as bad as I thought it was going to be. The surgery was OK, are you having a reconstruction at the same time? I was not allowed reconstruction at the same time, but can at a later date. The chemo is not great, but definitely survivable.If you want to know prognosis you should ask your BC team. I was not given prognosis, but was told chances of recurrence over 10 years. My chance of recurrence over 10yrs was initially 37%, but drops to 11% after chemo and tamoxifen. This all depends on your age and stage and grade of BC.
It is the loss of control at the beginning which is really hard, it does get easier once treatment starts- promise.
Take care.
Fiona
Hiya flower
Been wondering how you are doing.
With treatment spread to the nodes has prognosis of over 80%. They don’t normally look at the type of cancer when working out the prognosis but the size of the cancer, the grade and the extent of any spread. With A few nodes affected and invasive tumours under 2cm this would give me a prognosis of around 80% at 10 years. It my tumours were triple negative so does t get the benefit that you would from tamoxifen. Will try and check it again but on my phone and can’t access the page.
Got my final chemo today but give me a call or text if you wanna chat. I should be home after teatime. Take care
Love Lulu. Xxxx
Hi Lulu34,
By prognosis, do you mean being alive in 10 years? I think the recurrence stats. are different in as much as they appear less favourable. I read somewhere that the recurrence stats. compared to the living stats. don’t seem to tie up. Perhaps that is because the living stats. Include still having cancer rather than cancer-free.
If anyone knows a place for good information on all this, I’d love to know.
Kathy
Hi Flower20
It sounds like you’re having a pretty tough time at the moment. As well as the support you are receiving here it might help to talk things through with someone on the BCC helpline. Here you can share your concerns with a trained member of staff who will offer you a listening ear as well as emotional support and practical information. The free phone number is 0808 800 600 and the lines are open Monday to Friday 9.00 to 5.00 and Saturday 9.00 to 2.00.
Best wishes Sam, BCC Facilitator
Hi everyone. This is my first time writing on this site, and it is my sister who has just been diagnosed, following a mammogram.
She is not really ‘taking anything in’ at the moment, and I am trying to get my head round all the info, to then try and relay it back to her.
They took a biopsy and carried out ultra sound, and said that she has 2 options, mastectomy, or latrozole to shrink tumour and then partial excision. Following this, radiotherapy and possibly chemo.
She has decided on latrozole, which she started yesterday, but tonight says she is not sure if she should have a mast. They did not grade the tumour, but said it wasn’t in her lymph nodes under arm, but have done a biopsy on an enlarged lymph node next to tumour.
My question is, has anyone else had the latrozole treatment and excision, and how effective is it. How do they know what treatment to give without analysing the tumour? Sorry to ramble on but I am going to appointments with her and want to know what to ask.
I have to say that I am struggling to hold it together, I am completely devastated - as I know you all must be!
Hi everyone - just to let you all know I was diagnosed with lobular cancer in Feb 2008(25mm.) Stage 2. I had a mastectomy and reconstruction then chemo (I was on the tact 2 trials so had more than normal of two types of drugs).
I am fit and well and enjoying life.
thanks for that holly. that is really encouraging.
mika- they can’t grade the tumor properly until after the surgery. i guess they are just going on scans that they have. seems at the moment that she has a clinical diagnosis, but the pathological diagnosis will follow after surgery. they will then use this to determine the best course of treatment. i was diagnosed three weeks ago today and I am still traumatised by this- it is with me every waking moment. i have to have a mastectomy on 22/2 ( i’m only 37), so please let your sister know that she is not alone and will get loads of help on this and the mcmillan website. i never ever thought i’d get breast cancer: i’m young, fit, run all the time, eat healthily, noone inf family has it and I never smoke and was a moderate drinker- it is completely indiscriminate. i wish you and your sister all the best. there will be others on this site who are much further on than me and will be able to give you more info. take care x
Echium…
Recurrence stats are very difficult to determine as there are variables… Not all recurrence or relapse is actually secondaries… You can have a recurrence of the tumour which is treated and no further adverse effects… You may get a second tumour a new primary again this may not cause any future adverse effects… But even if ou do get secondaries nowadays you have a longer life expectancy with secondaries than you did 10-20 years ago when the started compiling these stats… The treatments are improving all the time and in another 10 years time the figures we started compiling today will be out of date too… With bone mets for example they are often not classed as terminal now but as a chronic condition and many women live well in excess of 10 years with bone mets.
Mika letrozole prior to mastectomy is a very effect way of managing breast cancer in post menopausal women… They wouldn’t offer it if it wasn’t beneficial… She may still get a mastectomy or may still opt to have a mastectomy after a few months when they scan her to see how much shrinkage there is.
If its lobular cancer she has they are not always grades as the grading system applies to ductal cancers NST (no special type) however lobular is a special type and the rules for Working out grades on NST BC is not always transferable to special types… Typically they are classed a grade 2 being neither the most aggressive nor the least aggressive.
The treatment with letrozole is for 5 years for people with hormone receptive breast cancer so she would either be on letrozole then have the surgery or have the surgery first then letrozole later on… Chemo tends to be given for large tumours or those with positive nodes so you should know the result of the biopsy soon and this will maybe help with her decision… Being on letrozole first won’t cause any problems if she needs to have chemo…which can be given prior to surgery now these days too… Having a biopsy is how they identify the pathology of the tumour.
BCC has a very useful booklet about questions to ask… I’ll see if I can find a link to it.
Lulu
Thank you so much for your replies.
Flower - I wish you every luck, I’m not religious, but at times like these I wish I was.
I will keep you posted, and when she is ready see if she will come on to this site herself.
Taking her to London tomorrow with a bunch of friends!
Just a quick response to the original poster/question as my dinner is almost ready.
I also had a large area of invasive lobular cancer. 9cm. I had myself convinced it must have spread to my nodes, my thinking that it must have been there for some time etc. But there is no correlation between size and likelihood of spread to nodes I was told. And lo and behold it wasn’t in my nodes. So hold onto that thought, you can’t assume anything, difficult I know.
Good luck xxxxx