[Misc] Downer thread - breast cancer.

US Seagull said:

I was hoping to update this thread with some more positive news, but I'm not sure what our recent developments ultimately mean.

We met with the surgical oncologist and she was very nice and spent a good chunk of time with us discussing the diagnosis and treatment. The plan was/is for a partial mastectomy on the right breast. Taking the top of the breast off (including the nipple) along with removing one or more lymph nodes and then after pathology on the removed tissue we would decide what to do next. Probably chemo, possibly radiation.

On the good side, since that discussion we got the results from the genetic testing and she does not have the BRCA gene which would have suggested a double mastectomy and would require my daughter to probably get tested so we'd know what her risk might be. So that's a positive.

However, my wife had an MRI and that identified a lymph node in her abdomen which is abnormal and suspicious, although it also said the nodules on her cervix do not have the typical appearance of cervical cancer and might be something else. Might be. She has a pelvic exam tomorrow and an ultrasound with that too. A call from the nurse today however, said that their "tumor board" met and discussed her case. They aren't happy about that lymph node and won't go forward with the breast surgery until they know more. They now want a PET scan to image that more.

I don't know what any of this all ultimately means. If that other node is also cancer, where else might it be? It's kind of a long way from the breast and it's weird that it skipped all the nodes in between? Is it the same cancer? Is it something completely separate? If it is, or isn't how do we treat that? I honestly don't know.

We'd really been hoping we might knock out the surgery this month and be on our way to recovery and this is, at best, a delay. At worse, a set back.

Hopefully we can get the PET scheduled soon and get moving forward again.

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US Seagull said:

I was hoping to update this thread with some more positive news, but I'm not sure what our recent developments ultimately mean.

We met with the surgical oncologist and she was very nice and spent a good chunk of time with us discussing the diagnosis and treatment. The plan was/is for a partial mastectomy on the right breast. Taking the top of the breast off (including the nipple) along with removing one or more lymph nodes and then after pathology on the removed tissue we would decide what to do next. Probably chemo, possibly radiation.

On the good side, since that discussion we got the results from the genetic testing and she does not have the BRCA gene which would have suggested a double mastectomy and would require my daughter to probably get tested so we'd know what her risk might be. So that's a positive.

However, my wife had an MRI and that identified a lymph node in her abdomen which is abnormal and suspicious, although it also said the nodules on her cervix do not have the typical appearance of cervical cancer and might be something else. Might be. She has a pelvic exam tomorrow and an ultrasound with that too. A call from the nurse today however, said that their "tumor board" met and discussed her case. They aren't happy about that lymph node and won't go forward with the breast surgery until they know more. They now want a PET scan to image that more.

I don't know what any of this all ultimately means. If that other node is also cancer, where else might it be? It's kind of a long way from the breast and it's weird that it skipped all the nodes in between? Is it the same cancer? Is it something completely separate? If it is, or isn't how do we treat that? I honestly don't know.

We'd really been hoping we might knock out the surgery this month and be on our way to recovery and this is, at best, a delay. At worse, a set back.

Hopefully we can get the PET scheduled soon and get moving forward again.

Click to expand...

US Seagull said:

Some good news. Just got the results from the PET scan and whatever is going on with those distant lymph nodes, it doesn't look like cancer. I am so relived.

They will probably still want to keep an eye on them and maybe scan or biopsy them later, but for now, we should be good to go.

Will expect a call on Monday, hopefully, to schedule the surgery. Finally start fighting back!

Click to expand...

US Seagull said:

Some good news. Just got the results from the PET scan and whatever is going on with those distant lymph nodes, it doesn't look like cancer. I am so relived.

They will probably still want to keep an eye on them and maybe scan or biopsy them later, but for now, we should be good to go.

Will expect a call on Monday, hopefully, to schedule the surgery. Finally start fighting back!

Click to expand...

US Seagull said:

Some good news. Just got the results from the PET scan and whatever is going on with those distant lymph nodes, it doesn't look like cancer. I am so relived.

They will probably still want to keep an eye on them and maybe scan or biopsy them later, but for now, we should be good to go.

Will expect a call on Monday, hopefully, to schedule the surgery. Finally start fighting back!

Click to expand...

US Seagull said:

Some good news. Just got the results from the PET scan and whatever is going on with those distant lymph nodes, it doesn't look like cancer. I am so relived.

They will probably still want to keep an eye on them and maybe scan or biopsy them later, but for now, we should be good to go.

Will expect a call on Monday, hopefully, to schedule the surgery. Finally start fighting back!

Click to expand...

Zeberdi said:

So relieved for you - that’s the biggest fear with a cancer diagnosis isn’t it? - it is the first question most of us need to immediately know - ‘Yes, Doctor, but how far has it spread?’ - so the waiting game is incredibly stressful for all of us who go through that/are going through it - but it has never ceased to amaze me over the past 24 months how even in this difficult times for the NHS, within a few weeks of going to the GP with ‘suspicious lumps’, we get ultrasounds, ct scans and every other diagnostic test available on the NHS to speed up the start of necessary cancer treatments. I started yet another two week cancer referral today from the GP (the 2nd within 6 weeks) after finding a lump in my groin yesterday - that is while waiting for the results of a MRI scan on a suspicious cyst on my pancreas - so I totally empathise with you and anyone else going through this right now.

I wholeheartedly wish you and your wife every good thought for a successful surgery a good prognosis and in particular, because as @Questions said above, it is much more of a psychological trauma for a woman to have a mastectomy- I hope you get plenty of TLC from friends and family to cope with the aftermath.

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US Seagull said:

Surgery scheduled for next Wednesday, the 7th.

Good news but still

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US Seagull said:

Surgery seemed to go okay today. Doctor said they only needed to remove one more lymph node after the one they already knew was bad. I think that's a good thing.

Still not sure what's going on with the one remote lymph node. She (the doctor) said they might biopsy it later, or just scan it again to see if it's changed.

Mrs Seagull is resting now. Doesn't seem to uncomfortable at the moment, but we'll see once the drugs start to wear off.

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US Seagull said:

Surgery seemed to go okay today. Doctor said they only needed to remove one more lymph node after the one they already knew was bad. I think that's a good thing.

Still not sure what's going on with the one remote lymph node. She (the doctor) said they might biopsy it later, or just scan it again to see if it's changed.

Mrs Seagull is resting now. Doesn't seem to uncomfortable at the moment, but we'll see once the drugs start to wear off.

Click to expand...

Zeberdi said:

So relieved for you - that’s the biggest fear with a cancer diagnosis isn’t it? - it is the first question most of us need to immediately know - ‘Yes, Doctor, but how far has it spread?’ - so the waiting game is incredibly stressful for all of us who go through that/are going through it - but it has never ceased to amaze me over the past 24 months how even in this difficult times for the NHS, within a few weeks of going to the GP with ‘suspicious lumps’, we get ultrasounds, ct scans and every other diagnostic test available on the NHS to speed up the start of necessary cancer treatments. I started yet another two week cancer referral today from the GP (the 2nd within 6 weeks) after finding a lump in my groin yesterday - that is while waiting for the results of a MRI scan on a suspicious cyst on my pancreas - so I totally empathise with you and anyone else going through this right now.

I wholeheartedly wish you and your wife every good thought for a successful surgery a good prognosis and in particular, because as @Questions said above, it is much more of a psychological trauma for a woman to have a mastectomy- I hope you get plenty of TLC from friends and family to cope with the aftermath.

Click to expand...

US Seagull said:

So we've been through a bit of a rollercoaster this week, but I think we're doing okay now.

The wound under the arm started to swell and then start to turn red. We had the follow up appointment coming, so we just waited until then. It was infected, but they've prescribed some antibotics that should knock it out. However, they also decided that they needed to biopsy that remote lymph node in her pelvis, so we had that scheduled for right after the post-op appointment. During the post-op the surgeon told us that if that remote node was breast cancer, then that would be considered stage 4. They don't cure stage 4. You just hold it back as long as possible. Needless to say, that hit me like a ton of bricks.

So we went for that biopsy and it seemed to go okay. They were running painfully late and she didn't go down for the procedure until about 4 pm for her 12:30 appointment. But after finally making it home, at about 12:30 in the morning, she woke up in agony. We rushed back to the ER, where I eventually had to just leave her because we'd left our daughter home alone. After several hours of waiting, they saw her and told her that she had internal bleeding. Presumably something got nicked during the biopsy. She stayed 2 nights in the hospital before they released her yesterday. They decided that they didn't need to do more surgery to fix it and it looks like it had stopped bleeding. She been instructed not to exert herself for the next couple of weeks. Easier said than done.

Anyway, all this with the threat of a potential diagnoses of incurable cancer hanging over us.

Then today, on a follow up for the swelling under the arm, the nurse was able to tell her that they had the results of the last biopsy. It's negative. Not cancer. Thank f***.

I am so relieved. We should be hearing from the medical oncologist next week and get started on chemo in the near future. I don't expect it to be a picnic by any means, but Mrs Seagull was particularly down on the idea that if it was stage 4, then there really wouldn't be any point to it. Which is not an observation that I have any way to answer.

I really appreciate everybody's kind words of support and sharing of experiences. This has been awful and I wouldn't wish this on anybody. But it has helped to have somewhere to vent. I hope everybody else who has shared their own journeys are doing well and get through your own trials.

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US Seagull said:

So we've been through a bit of a rollercoaster this week, but I think we're doing okay now.
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