My preliminary pathology report

[bejuce]

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.

[Lien]

I'm glad there was no cancer in your breast tissue, and I hope that those clogged lymphatic vessels are caused by the chemo, effectively killing off any residual cancer cells.

Anyway, you were a given a chemo regimen that's highly effective. May this be the last you hear about cancercells in your body!

Now start healing, you hear!

Love

Jacqueline

[suzan w]

Sounds like you are on the right path...and that is good news about the tumor being obliterated! Maybe the clogged lymph vessels were clogged with DEAD cancer cells!!!xo Suzan

[Laurel]

There are members of this board who were stage III at diagnosis and remain NED years later. You have had what appears to be a wonderful response to the chemo. Now let the radiation and tykerb get any lingering cancer cells! Hang in there!

[Linda]

Dear Bejuce:
I just wanted you to know -- I had neo adjuvant chemo and was still stage 3 after all my chemo. Then I had surgery, rads, herceptin. That was four and half years ago and I'm doing great!
Good luck
Linda

[Laurel]

Hope you are doing well. There's an awful lot of life left for you to live, I just feel it!

[Joan M]

It's great there was no tumor left in your breast, so it seems the chemo got in there to do its job.

Joan

[vickie h]

Good news that there's no tumor in that breast. Hang in there, sister. Sending you love and healing energy right now.

[Jackie07]

What wonderful news! So happy for you.

I happened to have read one of our members treatment history today. Couldn't remember who, but she had 21/21 lymph nodes involvement and she's been doing fine. And if the cancer cells in the breast had responded to the chemo, it's just a matter of time for it to reach the lymph nodes - now that they are out, you don't even have to be worried about them. Whatever residue cells left in your body, Herceptin is going to take care of them - since you've had good response in the breast area already.

Keep the faith. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[Unregistered]

Hurray, good news. Amen