My Pathology Report

Today is the 10th day after surgery and my doctor gave us the pathology report when I went in for my check-up.

First of all, he said I'm healing fine. The incisions are leaking a bit, but he said that's ok. He didn't take my drains out, but he said the plastic surgeon will do that. I see  him on Wednesday.  I got a good report on the healing process anyway.  It's slow to recover from this surgery, but it eventually happens.

I am still in a considerable amount of pain from the surgery and I am very weak. I cannot use my arms much neither. It's going to take a while. I need to continue to rest and try to keep my iron level up out of the anemia zone.

Then he went over the pathology report with us.  Three of the breasts were normal, no cancers, nothing of significance to find, normal tissues.  Very good.

The cancerous breast had three spots of cancer. We knew of two, but there were three.  The tumor that was less than  a centimeter at the time of biopsy was 2.5 cm in diameter.  It was an aggressive one! It was labeled "Infiltrating ductal carcinoma". I don't know which spot of cancer the report talks about but some of the other key phrases when discussing the right breast are: DCIS present, High grade, Cribriform growth pattern, Necrosis  present, Calcifications present, margins clear, Estrogen Receptor Positive, Progesterone Receptor Positive,  and  Ki-67 = 15%.

Overall, I was given a Breast Cancer stage of IIA.

Lymph Nodes: They took 5 Sentinal nodes and 12 other lymph nodes. One sentinal lymph node had two isolated tumor cell clusters within it.

To summarize all of that medical jargon:  The breast cancer has all been removed from the breasts.  I am breast cancer free!  That's the good news.  The bad news is that the lymph node was not clear.  There is potential that cancer cells have escaped from the breast tissue and entered the lymph system, which is to say: everything.

The doctor said I will be having chemo.  100% chance of chemo. He will be sending me to an oncologist and that doctor will decide what type of chemo, and what (if any) other treatments are necessary.

I came home and had a good solid cry about having to have chemo. I really don't want chemo! It ravages your body. I can only assume that chemo itself takes years off of a person's life. But, I read that if breast cancer goes wild it likes to settle into your lungs, bones or brain. That really sounds awful! I have no idea what is in store for me, but I don't think it will be pleasant. I'm headed down a rough road. I only hope that I can recover from this surgery before they send me off down chemo road. We'll wait and see what the oncologist says before totally freaking out.

So, there you have it. The update. You know everything that I know. Any questions that pop up, my answer is simply: "I don't know. That's a good question."  Ask anyway, maybe it's something I can ask one of my doctors.  Encouraging comments are much appreciated!