I'm HER2 - . Er+ had a mammogram that was clear last year but found a lump under my arm in the shower in November.  Had biopsies to find a 13 CM growth in the breast. So gutted but glad I found the lump under my arm. 

Hi LyndaW,

A very warm welcome to our forum.

I am sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Were you told what type of breast cancer you have? The grade shows how different your breast cells are from normal cancer cells, along with how quickly they are growing.

After your surgery, the tissue that is removed is sent for testing, which should give you all the answers you want. If your surgeon feels that you might benefit from chemo, there is an additional test which can be carried out. This is called the oncotype Dx test. It has to be sent to America for testing, so it can take a little longer to get the results back. This shows how likely the cancer is to recur and how effective chemo treatment would be in your case.  This test gives a recurrence score from 0-100. The higher the score, the more likely the breast cancer will come back and the more likely you would benefit from having chemotherapy. If the score is very low, then you may just need radiotherapy. 

Your cancer is unlikely to spread while you are waiting for surgery, as this is round about the normal waiting time for most of us.  There are a number of people on the forum with grade 2, who are doing well, many years after treatment.

Please keep in touch and let us know how you get on. We are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx