Please help me understand my pathology report

[Ambie]

This is my first post although I have been avidly reading all the posts here. I am a 41 year old lady who was diagnosed with infiltrating ductal carcinoma following excision biopsy done on 1June. However one of the resected margins showed cancer cells. Therefore I underwent a total mastectomy and axillary clearance on 15 June. My mastectomy biopsy report has just come and it states that "there is no evidence of residual tumor in the present mastectomy specimen". Please help me understand how it is possible when the lumpectomy report stated that cancer was seen on one of the resected margins???? Was mastectomy unnecessary or is there something that I am missing?????

[kontak TeamBCI]

Hello Ambie. Welcome to our family. In this case there are 2 things to understand. The excision biopsy showed it had cancer cells. The second thing is mascetomy biopsy which shows that there was no evidence of RESIDUAL TUMOR.

Both are different things. Its good that there was no RESIDUAL tumor. The question of debate then comes if mascetomy was unnecessary done. It all depends on the condition of the patient and Oncologists decision. Hence now don't take tension. Your Doctors are the best judge. Have faith in them and continue the treatment. Very soon you will be all right

[Ambie in reply to kontak]

Thank you for replying. Actually I am really scared as the report says that it is triple negative BC and the chances of recurrence are higher with this. Feeling very depressed right now like what is the use of the treatment when it will just come back 😔😔

[kontak TeamBCI in reply to Ambie]

Hello pl dont get tensed. There are a lot of Triple negative BC patients. Do discuss with your oncologist. Go through the related posts on the right hand side of the site. You will get relief. Continue your treatment as doctor says

[Ambie in reply to kontak]

Thank you for your kind words. I will definitely talk about this with my oncologist. I just googled it and scared myself. From now on I am not going to Google anything. Fingers crossed 😉

[MsLockYourPosts TeamBCI in reply to Ambie]

Oh, absolutely stay away from Dr. Google when you are new and just trying to figure out what is going on. I made the mistake of going there when I was diagnosed with leukemia. Everything said I'd be dead in five years. That was 15 years ago. I am 11 years out from breast cancer. I'm doing well in both cases. Find a doctor you trust and work with him/her to find the best treatment for you!

[Ambie in reply to MsLockYourPosts]

Thanks. Just saw your reply. I curbed my desire to Google everything so much that I did not log into the site. My chemotherapy will probably start from Wednesday and i am so scared that i have an upset stomach now, something which I don't need.

[MsLockYourPosts TeamBCI in reply to Ambie]

I won't tell you to not be scared. It is very normal when going into treatment. The longest 5 minutes of my life were the five minutes sitting in an infusion room waiting for my first treatment to start. And I won't tell you that treatment will be easy. Everyone responds differently. You will probably have good days and bad days, both physically and emotionally.

I will tell you that you will get through this and past it. There are thousands and thousands of us who have been where you are right now and have moved forward to living a full life again. You won't see most of those people in support groups because they have put the cancer in the back of their minds and are busy thinking about other things.

I had two surgeries because there was a question about whether there was cancer in the margins after the first one. I actually ended up having 4 reads of my slides at 4 different top labs, because of changing doctors and everyone wanting things rechecked. Only one reported the possibility of some cancer remaining. I was fortunate to be seen by one of the top breast oncologists in the US. She told me that it is very common to have a second surgery if there is any doubt about remaining cancer. I really wanted to trust the 3 reads that said I had clean margins, but decided it just wasn't worth the risk.

When a tumor is removed one thing that is looked at very carefully is the extra tissue (the margins) taken from around the tumor to be sure that the cancer has not spread beyond the tumor itself. In your case, and mine, the biopsy after surgery showed cancer outside of that area. The fact that you now show no residual cancer is great news.

I know it's hard, but try to think forward, rather than questioning whether you should have had the mastectomy. We are both fortunate to have had doctors who were checking everything carefully and paying attention to details.

Let us know how things go next week.

Pat

[Ambie in reply to MsLockYourPosts]

Your words have given me strength. Everyone is so optimistic & telling me it will be okay when I know it's going to be hard. I am going to start my chemotherapy this week.