Hi Askinforafriend,

A very warm welcome to our forum.

I am so sorry to hear of your diagnosis. Do you know what type and stage of breast cancer you have? It's not so good to hear that the margins are not clear, but good to know that the lymph nodes were.

After my first bout, I was told that the results post-surgery showed that my surgeon hadn't achieved clear margins. He assured me that he realised this at the time and had taken more away and that they definitely were clear. I accepted this at the time, but developed a lump in my other breast 6 months later. By this time, I was attending another hospital and seeing another surgeon, who was pretty sure that this was cancerous too. Fortunately, biopsy proved otherwise.

Almost a year to the day of my first surgery, I noticed another lump in my original breast and this time, I wasn't so lucky and was diagnosed with a second primary cancer. It is impossible to tell whether or not this would still have happened, if I had achieved clear margins, but it has left me wondering. Although I had a lumpectomy first time around, I had a double mastectomy for the second bout. This was because my surgeon advised me that the lump in my other breast was possibly pre-cancerous, so we decided to go for the double. It is fairly common not to achieve clear margins and surgeons are very reluctant to carry out a mastectomy if they don't feel that it is necessary. 

I must confess that I have never regretted our decision, as I feel that we did all that we could to prevent it from coming back. That was all 14 years ago and I still lead a busy life.

I sincerely hope that all goes well for you tomorrow. Please know that we are always here for you.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

I am due to have a lumpectomy in a couple of weeks and yes I feel nervous about the results too - as the clear or unclear margins can mean more treatment and surgery 

just really have 500 different emotions a day 

thoughts to everyone going through this 

Hi PosPat,

A very warm welcome to our forum.

I am sorry to hear that you too are waiting for surgery. The majority of people get a clear margin, so try not to worry about further surgery, unless it actually happens. We all have those fluctuating emotions, but you will feel better once you have had your lumpectomy. Do you have a date for your operation yet?

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

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi I’m the original poster of this thread, so I had my 2 nd op on the 20th October and went for the results  yesterday and thankfully the margin was clear this time. I’ll now be referred to an oncologist to sort out radiotherapy. My breast surgeon did also say that there was a lot going on in my breast and they found Atypical ductal hyplaysia which is pre pre cancer cells,. So overall I’ve had invasive  breast cancer, along with a dciis on the 1st margin and now ADH . The radiotherapy should eradicate the ADH cells so no need for more surgery.

postpat - with the lumpectomy...have they said what recovery time it usually is and what follows on from that?

I had my lumpectomy and 4 lymph nodes removed on the 22nd September, I recovered really quick I’d say k was fine after a few days, I just took it easy for a week then I was pretty much back to normal. My 2 nd op they went in through the original scar on my nipple and again I recovered really quickly, I was t in any pain.

HI Askinforafriend,

I'm glad to hear that your second op went better than the first and that you have a clear margin this time. I hope that your oncology appointment comes through soon and then you can get on with eradicating the ADH. 

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx