I had my biopsy at San Ramon Regional's Breast center later the following week. It went as well as expected. I got the call a few days later. I had Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC)Stage 1/hormone receptor positive. I also had traces of (DCIS) stage 0 around the perimeter area of the ILC. Double whammy. As I ended my call, I started to silently let the tears come rolling down. Frank knew immediately we had a problem.
I spent the next couple days researching this new type of cancer in my life. What I found out matched what Dr. Gottlieb had said. See below to my link that explains the specifics. There are 2 disturbing things with this breast cancer. This type of breast cancer is not usually detected with a mammo. It is the ultrasound that normally catches it first. It is not a lump like other breast cancers, it forms a singular line within the Lobular glands and then breaks thru the gland and spreads like a sheet of paper. It can metastasize to other areas of the body as well. Once it is detected by mammo, it typically is a larger area. The second disturbing information was that it had a tendency to jump to the other breast. This is a characteristic of ILC.
My area was 2.5 cm as measured by the ultrasound. The next step Dr. Gottlieb wanted me to do was an MRI and a genetic test. The genetic test is to see if I was positive for the BRCA mutent gene. What was clear as I began to absorb all this information was I had a major decision ahead of me and it was becoming clearer to me, a double mastectomy was going to be in my future.
Keep me company as I travel thru my journey facing breast cancer again.
Why would anyone want to read about someone else's problem when you have plenty of your own? Maybe one day a loved one, a friend, or you will be diagnosed with breast cancer. My blog might offer insite into cancer resources, thoughts, questions to ask, or guidance in helping you deal with this disease. These are my experiences and suggestions. Every breast cancer is different. If you are touched by breast cancer, be sure to consult your Dr. for direction in treatment.
I equate my blog to the emergency evacuation instruction the flight attendants do before you take off on an airplane. Nobody pays attention to them but when your plane is about to crash you think, "sh*t, why didn't I pay more attention to them? Which color cord do I pull first again?" We have so many things going on in our lives that one more thing to dwell on that doesn't apply to us right now may not be important but when it does, we wish we would have paid attention.
My blog is something you might read a couple times or maybe follow. Hopefully you gain some knowledge about breast cancer, in particular, Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC). It is the 2nd most common type of invasive breast cancer however it only accounts for approx. 10% of all invasive breast cancers. It is the silent breast cancer. It is generally not detected with a mammo but rather an ultrasound. Invasive Lobular Carcinoma (ILC) is what I have been diagnosed with. My suggestion to every woman who is of mammo age insist on an ultrasound with your mammos.
UPDATE 3/2011
I have had my bilaterial mastectomy and I am recovering. ILC is a sneaky cancer as I said above. My various Dr.'s here and at UCSF confirmed the size of my tumor should be between 2.5cm-3.5cm with possibilty but not most likely, 7cm. After my surgery, my tumor was confirmed to be 11cm. My Dr.'s are very knowledgeable and are on top of things. This is simply the truth about ILC. I had mammos every 6 months, ultra sounds, and MRI's. With all of these, it was not picked up until 1/2011. The good news, if you can call it that, only 1 sentinel node out of 2 has micromastic findings and 5 aux. nodes were negative.
Be sure to start my adventure from the blog history on the right. I have tried to bold points to make it easier to extract the important information. If there is anything you get out of this blog, refer to my Dr.'s listed below if you know someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer in the East Bay. These Dr.'s; Dr. Gottlieb, Dr. Wotowic, and Dr. Sherman are my 3 musketeers....all for 1 and 1 for all!
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