I was diagnosed with Grade 2 invasive ducal carcinoma 4 weeks ago. I have met with my surgical oncologist and will meet with a plastic surgeon on Monday. The plan is to do a unilateral mastectomy with immediate reconstruction. We are hoping for a skin sparing mastectomy and straight to implant (I am a DD cup so I think there is room to keep the skin?). What I find the hardest is A) the wait is EXCRUCIATING! I am not scheduled for surgery until January 8th. That will be a full two months since diagnosis. I am guessing there are ladies with more invasive cancer and, of course, they should get treatment priority. My tumor is 1.8cm, however, according to the oncologist, my MRI is troubling because it’s hard to tell what is cancer and what isn’t since that breast has very dense tissue. Her aftercare notes indicated that she feels the “disease” is more extensive than what was reported (it’s a hot mess in there when looking at the MRI). For me, the hardest thing is I would like to know what stage my cancer is? I’m guessing I will only know that once I have surgery? I also would like to know the likelihood of needing chemo as that, for me, will be the biggest blow. I am 49 years old with a 10 and 22 year old. My 10 year old is terrified of course and I find that, while I don’t think about cancer all the time, it is never far from my thoughts and it leads me to be utterly exhausted, sleepless, anxious and full of body aches. Stress is really something
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