Probably Benign

Thanks to you both. I did tell surgeon's nurse that I wanted her to check with radiologist (same center) to see what he was looking at and why he had wanted extra films. Also mentioned that I wanted the detailed report. I also pointed out that I had some uptake in September in breast and axilla and elevated tumor markers so I'm not willing to be comfortable for six months. I also mentioned MRI or possibly another PET to insure these are surgery/radiation changes.

I hate being the aggressive patient, particularly as I like most of my doctors. I feel so often like a spoiled brat while at the same time realizing that it's the spoiled brat that gets the extra ice cream, or in cancer care those extra scans.

Thanks again.

[AlaskaAngel]

Grace, I am 5 years out, stage I, and my last mammo was BIRADS 2 (probably benign) with 6-month follow up. But by chance I happen to know fairly precisely how fast my original tumor grew, and now that 3 months have passed I have an appointment next week to have my surgeon examine me in Seattle (he has a sono machine in his office as well and will probably take a closer look himself). My last mammo has been sent to his office for me so he can review it and the report about the right breast ultrasound done at the same time the mammo was done, when I see him.

In the past year I posted an article on the articles forum that indicated that HER2 bc does generally grow faster.

As a rule, radiologists generally are not told what kind of cancer bc patients have had already, and my thinking is that they recommend 6 months based on seeing the broader range of bc patients. Therefore I don't think it makes good sense to wait 6 months.

AlaskaAngel

[Belinda]

I like my surgeon too, and what's more, his kids and mine go to the same primary school, and are in the same after-school care group.

BUT he allows the consideration of a wider range of options when I politely and respectfully engage him in equal-to-equal, informed and sometimes pushy "what if..." and "what about" conversations. Sometimes I have to be insistent, but we get there in the end. We have had a laugh about the fact that he referred me to a therapist who promptly loaned me a booked on 'how to be the impossible patient'! The title (as an affirmation) has been more useful than the content....

Be the brat, I say, one of the kind that ends up being given the icecream because they intelligently manipulate it that way, rather than screams the house down for it (but do that too if you need to!) - Bx

[KellyA]

Grace,


Please push for further tests. My story is very similar. I had (7 years ago) 2 separate surgeries, and each time had the lumps biopsied- both were benign. Well, in February of last year, I found another small lump in the same breast. It was immediately written off as another fibrocystic lump and I was made to feel like a hypochondriac. I can't explain it, but this time I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and wouldn't let up. My doc rolled his eyes at me and ordered an MRI (I think just to shut me up). Turns out that 2 cancerous lesions showed up. One directly behind the scar tissue where the previous two surgeries were and the one thatI found. If it were not for the smaller one that I found, I would have never even known that the larger tumor was hiding behind the scar tissue.

My point is not to scare you, but to take each incident into account separately and NEVER take someone elses word that its probably nothing. In the end if they're wrong, its your life, not theirs. It's probably OK- but get an MRI or a biopsy to be sure. Then you will not have it lurking in the back of your head.

Love, Kelly

I took your advice, all of it excellent, and have sent an email to my doctor asking for an MRI or PET, or whatever. I'll let you know what happens.

[caya]

Hi Grace,


I agree with everyone - try to get an MRI - I had a mammogram and breast ultrasound at the end of June, 2006 - showing nothing!!!- went in for a breast reduction on Oct. 16, 2006 (not even 4 months later!!) - my plastic surgeon found and cut out my 1.7 cm. tumour - had a breast MRI in November before my mastectomy - that breast MRI found another tumour in my right breast (which was coming off anyways) - final pathology did find a second 1.0 cm. tumor -
I am premenopausal with very dense breasts - a recent study showed that gals like me are 5x more likely to get BC - so I will insist on getting the MRIs from now on -
I've always been the nice, good girl - not anymore - You just do what you have to and get whatever you need - we are fighting a beast, so I guess we'll have to behave like one (within reason).

keep us posted
Caya

[heblaj01]

Grace,
You may ask your onc if a double PET/CT scan at about one hour interval may be indicated in your case to eliminate any doubt about a false positive.
As you probably know, the second scan should show no increase in uptake (SUV number) to signify that a suspicious spot is not malignant.