newly diagnosed

Hi all
I was diagnosed yesterday with grade 2 invasive ductal carcinoma after being first told it was a cyst.
To be shocked is an understatement, to be honest I am not really sure what it all means, yesterday was a blur.
I am going to have surgery on Wednesday next week
Does anyone know what grade 2 means and what is the surgery like?
I woul like to hear from other who have been through this before
thanks

Hi BMW07

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To BMW07
,I have not had this Sort of breast cancer , but sending you a hug and love
Love

Rosie chin xxxx

Hi sorry to find you are in here with the rest of us. There are plenty on women in here that can give you the ins aoutputs of the diagnosis and the Internet will tell you everything you need to know. There are so many types of breast cancers and they are all usually graded by size and how aggressive the cancer grows. There are also many different types of surgery depending on where it is situated and you wol have to wait for your surgeon to explain what surgery you will need. Try not to get obsessed with what you have compared to someone else, each cancer is different and individual to you.
If you are the type of person who needs to know everything then make a list of questions you want to ask your surgeon, oncologist and breast care nurse. If you prefer not to know all the details then just take heart that once you have the operation things will get better, the cancer is out and you can concentrate on mending and getting stronger to deal with it.
Best of luck x

Hi Carrie 35,Rosie
Thank you for your comments, since my original post I have had 2 operations and still no clear margin!!
I was told on Thursday that I need to see plastic surgeon so that they can do clearance , breast reduction and uplift. has anyone had this done and how long is the stay in hospital etc.
I feel like this is taking a long time to get sorted. I am also now on taxmoxfin been 4 days now.
Im taking one day at a time as things keep changing.
Big hugs

Norma

Hi Norma
I had grade 2 IDC diagnosed back at the end of May. Had a therapeutic mammoplasty, this includes doing the wide local excision whereby they take four times the amount of breast tissue to give you good clear margins. This then gives you the breast reduction/uplift at the same time. I was offered this surgey from day 1 as I have/had DD cup size so there was plenty tissue to play with. She warned me that just having a lumpectomy alone usually ends up with more surgery because of poor margin clearance. Saying that I still only had 1mm clearance to the front of my chest wall but she said there was no more tissue left to take. She did something called a shave around the margin and that came back ok so team were happy it was all out. I also had node clearance at the same time. If you google the Bupa website and look for breast reduction surgery it shows you where the suture lines will be as they have to move your nipple up and stuff. I am very pleased with the result, it puts my other boob to shame! I was in for one night only and suffered only with the usual post surgery pains and uncomfortable sleeping positions. I coped on Paracetamol and Ibuprofen. I will be back next year to get the other one matched up once my chemo and radiotherapy is done.
Hope all goes well for you.

Luv
mandyj

Mandy j

Thanks for your reply, I am a D cup. I have to have radiotherapy so does that mean they only do 1 and then the other at a later date ?
What cup size did you go down too??
Thanks for the reply it makes me feel more comfortable with op

Big hugs
Norma

Hi Norma
My surgeon said that the radiotherapy may reduce the breast size slighty so she would never try and match the other side until we were sure how the first one looked. At the moment I am still wearing the same DD bra’s as I did before surgery. The swelling has more or less settled now after 5 weeks. I find that I have to hitch the good boob up a bit at times as the new one is much more pert! The only problem is when your nipples become erect it is quite clear one is higher than the other! Without a bra it looks quite bizarre, but people with larger boobs like us tend not to spend time outdoors without bra’s on!! I don’t think I will be any smaller than a large C cup when it is all over and done with.

luv
mandyj

MandyJ
Sounds like you are coping ok - I do hope you are and are well on the way to recovery .
Thanks for the advice , at least now I will not be shocked or surprised if they only do one before my radiotherapy.

Big hugs

Norma