Hi
I had a regular 3yrly mammogram on 9th October and recalled for further assessment on15th and had a biopsy. Yesterday 22nd October told I have invasive ductal cancer. Pathology report says grade 2 provisional T3P3M1. Surgery in 2 weeks time 7/11 followed by radiotherapy. .what does Grade 2 and T3P3M1 actually mean. What is latest I can wait to have radio would prefer not too soon.
HI there,
Welcome to the forum. Sorry you find yourself here, but I’m sure you’ll find it a really good source of support through the following few months.
I can help with the grade 2; there are three grades 1,2 and 3. The grades should not be confused with stages! The grades indicate the amount the cancer cells are abnormal, compared to normal. So if you imagine grade 0 being normal cells, then grade 1 are the least ‘changed’ and the slowest growing/replicating and grade 3 the ‘most changed’/fastest replicating. This puts you in the middle at grade 2. I’m not sure what the T3P3M1 means - maybe somebody else would know?
Regarding radiotherapy and when it takes place it depends on a number of factors. The first is if the final biopsy results are the same as the ones you have now, sometimes there are small changes in the final results which can affect treatment plans. Secondly, the date rt starts depends on how well you heal following surgery (are you due a lumpectomy and sentinel node removal ?). Different hospitals have slightly different time-scales for starting rt, but based on my observations, there seems to be on average a 4-6 week start of rt therapy after lumpectomy surgery. My own rt started 4 weeks after surgery, but I’ve known some people wait many weeks longer if they have skin integrity issues.
I hope this helps a bit, I’m not a nurse, but we do have an ‘ask the nurses’ section if that is of further help to you. Ask away if theres anything else I can help with…
x
Thanks Charys
i have had my op date brought forward to 1/11 for a lumpectomy and removal of couple of lymph. How long to wait for pathology
Hi rlt,
What normally happens is you’ll have an appointment with the surgeon for the results about 2 weeks post op.
ann x
I also wanted to say that I have been told it’s small and caught early. I know I am being treated quickly in just over 3 weeks from routine mammogram to surgery. I know I should feel more positive about the outcome. But I also know I have invasive breast cancer and now I feel so sad, despairing and Pathetic and I don’t want to be ill and have surgery and radiotherapy and all that goes with that.
We completely understand the feeling of not wanting to do any of this, I was furious at having to deal with it! But as with everything that life throws at us we just have to go with it.
If your treatment is as straight forward as they have suggested then it really isn’t so bad, of course none of it is a walk in the park but a lumpectomy followed by radiotheraphy is very doable and there is nothing involved that will make you feel really physically ill. I think I started my Rads 6 weeks post op.
The usual wait for pathology results post op is 2 weeks, things can Change from what you have been told so far but often they don’t and treatment will be as they has suggested.
all the best Xx Jo
Hi rlt,
The mind certainly goes into overdrive when first diagnosed.
My diagnosis & treatment plan was similar ro yours, had wle, SNB & radiotherapy followed by tamoxifen.
It was all quite straightforward, I never felt ill & after a few months was done & dusted. Oddly, I even quite enjoyed radiotherapy!
I’m now over 2 years post diagnosis & am absolutely fine.
A full recovery is the usual outcome in this situation & I’m now very glad I went for that mammo, as I nearly didn’t.
ann x
Hello Serenity,
Sorry to hear about your diagnosis. The TPM classification is a scoring system Ito identify grade of cancer cells as far as I know. Not to be confused with the TNM classification used to identify the stage of cancer.
Regards,
Chick ? X
Hi I have also just been diagnosed with the same and my op in next Monday. I just want to run away from all this. I do not want to be ill, I dont want surgery or any related treatments but we have to deal with it. I dont think my psychi is set up to cope with this as I feel so bad and not sure how I am going to manage. Mine too is provisional grade 2 but I have to have a batwing mammoplasty on Monday and then wait to see if there is lymph node involvement. Looks like we will be going through this journey at the same time …
I know how you feel Serenity… I was given my results on the 18 October (my 43rd wedding anniversary) and I have been having good and bad days all last week. Now have my operation planned for 9 November…can’t wait to get this thing cut out off me. A bit down today …as I was told that it is hormonal and Have to wait for HER2 result which may mean chemotherapy …when I was thinking I would only need op and radiotherapy. Hoping that it’s negative for HER2.
Hi
I’ve never posted on a forum before but have read through many to try and ease my mind. Feel like I am going crazy with paranoia! Aged 39,on 28th September I was diagnosed with lobular type invasive breast cancer. Didn’t show on mammogram but did on ultrasound and MRI. Provisional grade 2 5cm right breast. On Thursday I had a right mastectomy and 4 nodes taken. Feeling sore and tired and now waiting for histology results of SNB and to find out next steps. Keep imagining the worse which causing huge anxiety! Xx
Hi Alb40
I seem to be in a constant state of anxiety too. At the moment, It seems to be constantly waiting for more results and just worrying all the time that it is going to be the worst. I’m sure oce we know everything and what the treatment is after the op …the anxiety should lessen and we will start to feel …lets get this done and finished ! …that’s what I’m hoping for anyway .
Hi Stirts
Yes it’s just horrid! Everybody says the waiting is hardest and the mind works overtime! One step at a time is the key I’m told, just wish could turn the mind off for a while!
X
Ho Alib,
Of course you’d rather not be here, but a warm welcome anyway & glad you found us.
The uncertainty of not knowing is the most difficult part to handle when going through this, but once this is resolved, it does feel much better, as we feel more in control again.
Not easy, but it does help to take it one appointment & one step at a time & to try not to get into the ‘what ifs’
Do come & chat or vent whenever you need to, we’ve all been there & understand.
ann x
Thank you Ann, it does help coming on here talking with others who have been through/going through the same process. Think I must be having a bad day today, tired & tearful!
Xx
Hi Serenity,
All we can do here is share our experiences & hope it can help others now facing it, we have all been there.
Some of us here are 2-3 years post diagnosis & do have a different perspective to when first diagnosed, however, we can remember all to clearly how it felt at the time & what we went through.
My bc too was early, picked up by mammo, had wle, snb, radiotherapy & now tamoxifen. For me, treatment was not nearly as scary as I imagined & yes, it was straightforward. I was back to life as normal after a few months & have been well ever since.
So glad I went for that mammo.
It will get better.
Sending hugs
ann x
Hiyer ladies; particularly Serenity and Ali40 and Stirts,
Can I clarify - People say its ‘doable’ to encourage you only. Not sure who said it, neither am I going to read back and check, and I’m sorry if you got the impression it sounded like it was making your fear and pain feel less valid, but it would have come from a kind and thoughtful place and the intention would never be to make you feel upset.
Its hard sometimes, when you don’t know someone on-line, to find the right words- as everyone has individual needs and some things ‘trigger’ people, whilst those same things help other people. I think the ‘doable’ might have made me a bit upset actually, when I was at your phase of diagnosis and treatment, as it honestly felt quite impossible at the early stages and as if some people thought it was easy, whereas it can be extraordinarily hard. However, just as those of you having treatment now are all individuals with different responses, those of us who had treatment before you have a vast array of personal perspectives. As Ann said, we aren’t mental health professionals, just people like you who have ‘been there’. There certainly are some treatment plans which are much longer and much harder to work through, mine was finished many months before some people diagnosed at the same time, and was deemed a fairly ‘straightforward’ one.
However…Serenity…you will ‘do it’. Possibly it may be slowly bit by bit crying (as mine felt to be lol) that you get the treatment ‘done’, but you will do it and you will come out the other side. I promise. The same applies to everybody here - take courage from the people who have gone before you - you will inch through this and it will become the past. We are here and happy to listen and help if you need us. x