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My preliminary pathology report
Thank you all for your support, prayers, and positive thoughts last week as I had my surgery after months of neo-adjuvant chemo.
I had an appt with my oncologist yesterday to get my 2nd dose of Herceptin (went really well this time, with no side effects) and was able to get some preliminary results on the pathology of my tumor.
The good news is that chemo completely obliterated the tumor in the breast tissue. There was no invasive cancer left in the breast, woo hoo!
The bad news is that they found extensive lymphatic invasion in the lymphatic vessels of the breast. The surgeon removed 13 nodes, and apparently 10 out of the 13 had some signs of being positive at some point. The final pathology will determine the status of the lymph nodes at surgery.
I've always heard that lymphatic presence is one of those bad prognostic factors, but I'll try to focus on the positive and hope that aggressive radiation will do its magic and kill any remaining cells. I'll update the board with further news when the final pathology report is released.
Apparently, the lymphatic vessels on my breast were completely clogged and not draining anything - the radioactive dye inserted the day before surgery, for example, did not even flow to the lymph nodes. Because they were so clogged, the chemo drugs probably had a hard time reaching them. Hopefully that means that nothing was draining out of them to the rest of my body either.
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ER+ (30%)/PR-/HER-2+, stage 3
Diagnosed on 02/18/09 at 38 with a huge 12x10 cm tumor, after a 6 month delay. Told I was too young and had no risk factors. Found swollen node during breastfeeding.
March-August 09: neo-adjuvant chemo, part of a trial at Stanford (4 DD A/C, 4 Taxotere with daily Tykerb), loading dose of Herceptin
08/12/09 - bye bye boobies (bilateral mastectomy)
08/24/09 - path report shows 100 % success in breast tissue (no cancer there, yay!), 98 % success in lymphatic invasion, and even though 11/13 nodes were still positive, > 95 % of the tumor in them was killed. Hoping for the best!
September-October 09: rads with daily Xeloda
02/25/10 - Cholecystectomy
05/27/10 - Bone scan clear
06/14/10 - CT scan clear, ovarian cyst found
07/27/10 - Done with Herceptin!
02/15/11 - MVA-BN HER-2 vaccine trial
03/15/11 - First CA 15-3: 12.7 and normal, yay!
10/01/11 - Bone scan and CT scan clear, fatty liver found
now on Tamoxifen and Aspirin
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