Cancer Merry-go-round, Round II. The waiting begins

[Ms. Toad]

I'm headed for a biopsy early this afternoon to determine if I'm starting this merry-go-round all over again, less than 2 months after the first time around.

Small tumor (.5 x .2 x .4 cm) in the healthy breast. About half of the characteristics suggest it is malignant, half not. I'm leaning toward malignant but (obviously) hoping for not.

I expect I'll have results before the week is out. Wish me luck!

(The benefit to not being able to take NSAIDS in the run up to the biopsy is that I had to medicate my massive headache this weekend with narcotics . . . so I'm already pre-anesthetized for the biopsy Of course the detriment to that is that I didn't get my weekend work done - and the headache is still hanging around (and will be for a couple more days), since NSAIDS or tossing my cookies are the only two ways to make it vanish.)

[Siwsan]

1. I'm wishing you all of the hope and luck vibes I can muster!

And it is a pretty successful muster!

[Ms. Toad]

2. Thanks! n/t

[YvonneCa]

3. Hoping the best...

...for you. SO sorry you are having to go through this a second time.

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. When you feel like it, I have some questions.

"less than 2 months after the first time around. "

does that refer to a previous biopsy?
or to a prior mammogram?
or prior cancer?

That last question is important to me cause I am not sure how often I should be tested for cancer in my remaining breast following my
July 14 mastectomy.

Meanwhile...loads of good vibes to you.

[Ms. Toad]

7. Prior cancer.

I was diagnosed early April 2016, had a partial mastectomy 5/24 and I completed radiation 8/24. I developed a symptom that is consistent with inflammatory breast cancer in late September (inverted nipple, that had never been inverted before, in the healthy breast). In ruling out inflammatory breast cancer, they discovered a new tumor with indeterminate characteristics (about half look like cancer & the other half look benign).

So this mamogram was symptom-driven, and the finding incidental (unrelated to the symptom). My mother's second primary cancer was similar. They were doing biopsies to figure out the source of bloody discharge and the biopsy captured a teeny tiny invasive cancer.

I think, as a general rule, they want to see me every 6 months for a few years - then shifting back to once a year.

[irisblue]

5. good vibes for you

[PennyK]

6. Major Bummer

Not religious or superstitious, so I will just hope it's a benign little blob of shmutz. Those narcotics do come in handy, though...I'm using my surgery leftovers to deal with the Herceptin side-effects (serious joint pain and weakness emanating from my...groin? It hurst when I walk).

[Ms. Toad]

9. I got permission to take ibuprofen immediately after the procedure. Yay!

I'm so peeved a the micromanagement of pain medication just because some people abuse it. I always fill any prescription I'm given, even though I never use more than 2 or 3 for the use for which they are prescribed. I've probably got around 50 pills from various surgeries or other pain inducing ailments, etc.

Are there any alternative medications?

They warned me about Aromasin & joint pain - but so far I haven't experienced it. For that there are alternate medicines - and not everyone reacts the same way to each one.

[Ms. Toad]

8. Okay. Done with that stage.

I broke the machine. What can I say . . .

I'm glad medical procedures don't freak me out. They grabbed three snippets and the machine refused to spit them out. So I had to rest with the needle in place while they played with the machine, ultimately gave up, then retrieved another machine - and then took 3 more snippets since they weren't sure they could make it give up the tissue samples.

I think they were more freaked out than I was. Biopsies are always a somewhat tense setting - since you don't have one unless they suspect something is wrong, and they are nearly always done while you're awake. They do what they can to make it easy - but it's still nearly always tense. This one was a bit moreso because I'd been speaking enough medical lingo that they knew they couldn't revert to medical lingo to avoid letting it slip that things were not going as planned . . . and, we had already established that I'm a lawyer **shark smiley**

They pretty quickly gave up and asked for my patience while they swapped machines, apologizing over and over and thanking me for my patience. . . but, really, it isn't like I'm about to run anywhere while I'm still attached to the biopsy needle :/

[alfredo]

10. Biopsies are fun. Let's hope for good results.

BTW, Peppermint oil rubbed on the headache really helps.

[Ms. Toad]

11. Dodged the bullet!

No new cancer! Further discussion at the regularly scheduled visit in early December - but probably nothing that needs anything beyond watching it. (Some of the benign options are precursors to cancer, but this doesn't appear to be one of them.)

[slipslidingaway]

16. Wonderful news, congratulations!!! nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

18. belated congrats!

We sure know what dangling in that tension of waiting for results can feel like.

[PennyK]

12. Huzzah!

I'm so happy for you!
Now you can really take a deep breath.

[PennyK]

13. Question for you

How many days into radiation did you see or feel anything? I have had six so far. I'm going to have many more than you, and I don't want to use the My Girls cream before it matters...I got some Eucerin lotion to use for now, just to keep the area moisturized. When I asked, the tech said I wouldn't see anything for two or three weeks.

[Ms. Toad]

14. It may depend on dosage -

my daily dosage was likely higher than yours, since my treatment was only 16 days long (my total dose was 42 Gy).

I started to see the outline of the radiation frame by 8 days in (I would see it at night, and it would fade by morning - similar to having been in the sun. It was very prominent by 13 days in.

I never had any tenderness associated with it - just a bit of itching for a week or so after the end of the treatment.

I used My Girls cream from the day it arrived (about 3 days into treatment). Before that I had bought some calendula ointment to get me started. It's supposed to have some preventative characteristics.

[PennyK]

15. Thanks

I haven't been told anything about dosage. I'll ask tomorrow, and, I guess, start on the calendula right away. Your results were so good! I have company coming near the end for Thanksgiving, and I'm really hoping not to be in discomfort while my daughters are here. It'll be our first time getting together since my diagnosis, and they get to see my 1/2" hair, and my half-flat chest, but I'd prefer to be cheerful for it all.

[PennyK]

17. You were right

I'm getting half the dosage, for twice the time (it will be 33 days). Remember, I had a full mastectomy, so the skin is still healing a bit. The technician said the the doctor does expect me to have a skin reaction. I'm currently using just the Eucerin cream and will transition to the good stuff the second I see anything happening. She also suggested using cornstarch powder, should I need it, and "letting air get to the area." Seven down, 26 to go...sigh.

[alfredo]

20. Cancer sucks and so do biopsys. Fingers crossed.