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v-ness · 03-05-2011, 02:34 PM

hi everyone-

i have a question - has anyone here current or past ever had a second primary breast cancer diagnosis? i know i am jumping WAY ahead by even thinking about it, but my oncologist yesterday kept saying "if it is cancer" and since i only finished treatment in october, naturally my thoughts revolve around 'what if?"

what happened is i went in for an MRI on tuesday feeling completely at ease and positive. i had a clear mammogram 5 months ago, this is just a routine screening. my onco called me that night saying the radiologist says all looks well with my original cancer breast, but saw several spots in my originally clean breast. he said "they might be a whole buncha nothing" but they showed some odd characteristics, so he ordered an ultrasound. the tech was doing the US when a doctor came in and took over. it seems i have 5 spots in my right breast ranging from a few mm's in size to 1 cm. he said "they're probably fibroadenomas, but we've never seen them look like this on an MRI". not real reassuring and rather confusing. it seems they have more enhancement than they should (all of them) (i.e. a glow around them) that is usually a sign of carcinoma. but then he's rattling off 98% chance they're FA's, but we need to biopsy the biggest one.

i read on the net that FA's aren't terribly common in women over 50 and it seems they don't usually come in gangs of 5 either. i ordered the MRI report sent to me and saw my onco yesterday. the 1 cm is not palpable. scheduling a wire biopsy of it for next week. i find her so hard to read, and i know she was trying to cover all bases and knew where my mind would go - cancer. she said if it is, it would be considered a new primary breast cancer.

the odds are so stacked against it being cancer at all, i should be calm and cool, but i'm struggling with that. i never thought i'd be biopsied again, nevermind 5 months after i finished herceptin. and i know MRI's run the risk of showing false positives. intellectually i think "yeah, i have dense breasts and they are fibroadenomas". emotionally i think about what were the chances of me getting cancer after losing bob to it, and what were the chances of mom dying of it right after i finished rads? i don't think much of odds anymore.

anyway, i am rattling on. nobody understands like others who've had or have cancer. my friends say "focus on the 98%!" and i do try, honest, but they have no idea what it feels like to have ever had cancer in the first place. i just needed a place to vent to those who know the fear and anxiety. 98% is a good number and i really do need to focus on it because the 2% can drive you up a wall.

thank you for listening.

valerie

03-05-2011, 02:34 PM	#1
v-ness Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: western ma Posts: 280	second primary breast cancer hi everyone- i have a question - has anyone here current or past ever had a second primary breast cancer diagnosis? i know i am jumping WAY ahead by even thinking about it, but my oncologist yesterday kept saying "if it is cancer" and since i only finished treatment in october, naturally my thoughts revolve around 'what if?" what happened is i went in for an MRI on tuesday feeling completely at ease and positive. i had a clear mammogram 5 months ago, this is just a routine screening. my onco called me that night saying the radiologist says all looks well with my original cancer breast, but saw several spots in my originally clean breast. he said "they might be a whole buncha nothing" but they showed some odd characteristics, so he ordered an ultrasound. the tech was doing the US when a doctor came in and took over. it seems i have 5 spots in my right breast ranging from a few mm's in size to 1 cm. he said "they're probably fibroadenomas, but we've never seen them look like this on an MRI". not real reassuring and rather confusing. it seems they have more enhancement than they should (all of them) (i.e. a glow around them) that is usually a sign of carcinoma. but then he's rattling off 98% chance they're FA's, but we need to biopsy the biggest one. i read on the net that FA's aren't terribly common in women over 50 and it seems they don't usually come in gangs of 5 either. i ordered the MRI report sent to me and saw my onco yesterday. the 1 cm is not palpable. scheduling a wire biopsy of it for next week. i find her so hard to read, and i know she was trying to cover all bases and knew where my mind would go - cancer. she said if it is, it would be considered a new primary breast cancer. the odds are so stacked against it being cancer at all, i should be calm and cool, but i'm struggling with that. i never thought i'd be biopsied again, nevermind 5 months after i finished herceptin. and i know MRI's run the risk of showing false positives. intellectually i think "yeah, i have dense breasts and they are fibroadenomas". emotionally i think about what were the chances of me getting cancer after losing bob to it, and what were the chances of mom dying of it right after i finished rads? i don't think much of odds anymore. anyway, i am rattling on. nobody understands like others who've had or have cancer. my friends say "focus on the 98%!" and i do try, honest, but they have no idea what it feels like to have ever had cancer in the first place. i just needed a place to vent to those who know the fear and anxiety. 98% is a good number and i really do need to focus on it because the 2% can drive you up a wall. thank you for listening. valerie