Experiences with breast surgery and chemo options

Hi out there,

I just got dx with invasive ductal carcinoma, hormone receptor negative and the lump is pretty large 4.5cm.  They said it's a different breast cancer called metaplastic cells and there isn't alot of research answers.

My male surgeon is nice, but I told him I'd rather even an extensive lumpectomy than a total mastectomy.  I know getting the tumor and a "clear" margin is critical to removing the cancer.

Also, since it's not certain what chemo is most effective, what ones seem best in your experience for invasive breast cancer?  I read they try to treat this as invasive ductal breast cancer to the best of their ability.

Whatever effective options and "building yourself up", say with Reclast or alternatives would be appreciated.  Thanks...sad today.

I had invasive infiltrating lobular carcinoma and lymph node. Did ac/t which is adriamycin/cytoxan and then taxol before double mastectomy. Was expecting a lumpectomy  and the margins also were clear but doctors said the best was a mastectomy. Even though the cancer was only in one breast I would not go thru the surgery twice so I elected for a double.  Had reconstruction right away and had a small rash on my chest which was missed by all the doctors and turned out to be cancer. Get more than one opinion, which I had done. Sorry you had to join the club. 

Hi there,

I was diagnosed with metaplastic carcinoma breast cancer last March.  I had a 5 cm lump with no nodes involved.  I chose to have chemo first - 6 rounds of Taxotere, Adriamycin, and Cyclophosphamide administered every 3 weeks.  The chemo reduced my lump to 1.8 cm, but I chose to have a bilateral mastectomy anyway since it is such an aggressive cancer.  I also had 33 radiations treatments to my chest wall after the surgery.  It has been 3 months since I finished everything and I am feeling 100 percent again.  I just saw the oncologist this week and he said everything looked good.  I am quite content with the bilateral mastectomy and have no plans to get reconstruction.  I don't mind wearing the protheses during the day and my husband has been very supportive of my decision to not reconstruct.  I see no reason to have more surgery. 

I know all too well the frustrations of trying to make the best decisions with so little information out there about this type of cancer. I can only tell you that after reading many books, communicating with others through this message board, and deep soul searching I made the decisions about my treatments and chose never to second guess whether my decisions were the best ones.  I had to do what felt right to me and you must do the same for yourself.

I'm sorry that you have this fight ahead of you, but I am living evidence that the battle can be won!  Stay strong, look for humor every chance you get and keep in touch.  I wish you the very best!

 Chris

 

 

 

Hi Ninasuzie,

I'm sorry you had to join this club.  Scary and disheartening stuff, that's for sure. 

I am a big advocate of breast conservation for most women, but invasive cancer can be quite a different beast.  While they can't accurately stage the cancer until the surgery, were they able to grade it based on the biopsy, and have they been able to say how aggressive they think it is?  With staging, the lower the number the better, but with grading, the opposite is true - the higher the grade number the better.  So, if this is a not very aggressive cancer with a higher grade, you might be ok with a very thorough lumpectomy.  However, if this is aggressive (as it might be - 4.5 cm is a pretty big tumor) and/or low grade, you might do well to consider telling them to just take the whole thing so as to maximize the chances of removing all the cancer.  (Also, consider - if the margins AREN'T clear when they do the path exam of tissue from  your lumpectomy - as happened with me - you're gonna have to have a 2nd surgery anyway, at which time they may or may not be able to conserve remaining breast tissue, depending upon the location of the tumor in the breast.)

I think societies through out the ages have done women a HUGE disservice to place so much emphasis on the breasts in terms of what constitutes attractiveness and social worth.   Breasts play such a huge role for many women in terms of self image, but I think that's a learned process rather than a trait we are born with.   While our breasts are indeed part of WHAT we are, they really are not WHO we are; WHO we perceive ourselves to be results from the very active decisions we make about how to respond to the world around us. Consider the great women of our time, some of whom are (or were) actually quite flat-chested (and no, I'm not just talking about Twiggy!  Katherine Hepburn, yes!) They forged ahead with life regardless of how much padding they did or didn't have!

To combine the comments of two other frequent posters to the board:  They're just boobs.  You can replace the girls, but you can't replace your life!

I wish you the best in making this tough decision, and in your treatment.  Please keep us posted on how you are doing.  Cancer Compass is one of the greatest clubs in the world - we collectively try to support those in need, and we all love to do the happy dance when we hear good news!

Take care, 

Tre

hello there i'm a college student i am studying about breast cancer ..i just want to ask if ho many times a breast cancer patient undergo chemo therapy??? and what are the other test that you take ??? are they all painful???

 

 

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