Hi MickeyM,

Thank you for the update. I'm sorry that your diagnosis is cancer, but your nurse is correct. If you have to have cancer, this is one of the best types to have, as it is one of the least aggressive. This is the type of cancer that I have. It is also called Colloid cancer. Only about 1% of people get it and it doesn't always show up on mammogram or ultrasound, which may be why you needed the stereotactic biopsy.

I also have the micro calcifications and am ER positive. 8/8 is a great score, as this means that some of the hormone therapies should work well for you. Yes, ER+ is ifferent from HER2+. HER2+ is a protein which is found on the surface of breast cancers and stimulates them to grow. Generally they are more likely to grow and spread faster than most types of HER2- breast cancers.. If your cancer is HER2+ you will usually be advised to have chemotherapy and a targeted therapy such as trastuzumab (Herceptin). Targeted therapies block the growth and spread of cancer. (Breast Cancer Care)

I hope that your stereotactic biopsy results help to indicate a definite treatment plan for you and am glad to hear that you got on well with your breast care nurse. This is helpful, as she is the person that you can contact with any worries or queries throughout your cancer journey.

How do you feel about your diagnosis? No matter how reassuring the news is, it is always a lot to take in.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Morning Jolamine and thank you for your reply yesterday. 

Firstly I hope you had a nice well deserved break. 

I still haven’t had the stereotactic biopsy yet, that’s on Tuesday but is solely for the calcifications and breast tissue in respect of the dcis. 

The mucinous lump did strangely show on the ultrasound, my sister came with me for that and saw it as my back was turned the wrong way. She said it looked like a rock, was black and had rectangular edges to it. They obviously confirmed what that was by the biopsies on that though, not sure if the look of it held any suspicious clues? 

How strange that you and I share this very rare cancer. Can I ask is yours the ‘pure’ or ‘mixed’ version(s)? Mine is mixed with dcis and other pre cancerous cells that I assume they will also biopsy on Tuesday. 

Thanks for asking how I feel about the diagnosis. I guess I feel better now I know I really do know, but it’s such a shock it’s like my body and mind are in a state of collapse. Not knowing my treatment plan for another three weeks (probably) will be hard as I can’t plan my time off work. I don’t want to eat into my full sick pay when I have no idea how long my treatment will take, but at the same time I work in an office with people who do not follow our mask wearing policy and see clients and I’m fully aware I cannot afford to get covid or flu now and cannot put myself at risk of that - so that’s my immediate problem to try to resolve!! 

Thank you for explaining about HER etc that helped. 

I will see my breast care nurse after my biopsies on Tuesday and so I need to try and think of what I need to know before my next results are in. 

Thank you Jolamine for your ongoing kindness and support xx 

Hi MickeyM,

I had a lovely break thanks. Weather wasn't great, but we enjoyed ourselves, despite that. Mine is pure mucous.

I have taken some questions from Breast Cancer Care's information booklets which you might find helpful. You probably won't need to ask them until you see your consultant with your stereotactic biopsy results, but you might find it helpful to ask your nurse some of them to allow you to plan time off work.

Coming to terms with the diagnosis can take some time. You are likely to feel anger and denial in equal measure, but as treatment commences, you'll gradually get to grips with it. I can understand your problems working in an office and, I imagine that these will be difficult to overcome.

I hope that all goes well for you on Tuesday.

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Hi Jolamine,

I'm really glad you had a lovely break. Makes all the difference to have lovely time away. I was lucky to have a break just before all this started and I'm grateful for that. 
 

Thank you so much for choosing those questions for me, that's really helpful and very much appreciated. 
 

I guess the other one I need to ask is how likely the mucinous or combination of mixed mucinous cancers are to start in my other breast and how quickly that can happen? 
 

I certainly find it hard to believe that my last mammogram was totally clear (which my letter said) only last October, when so much variety is going on in my breast now. 
 

it's a lot to digest you are right, I am going to speak to my GP also over next few days re work and not sleeping etc. 
 

I'll keep you posted and thank you again Jolamine. 
 

Mickey xx 
 

Hi MickeyM,

I'm glad to hear that you managed a break before all this happened. 

I was told that my cancer was unlikely to spread to the other breast, but I agree that it's worth asking. You will probably think of a few more questions from time to time. If you do, make sure to write them down straight away, as you'll soon find that you forget them again.

I attended all of my routine mammograms and I discovered both of my lumps when I was taking a shower. My previous mammogram was also clear, although I was recalled about 4 years previous to that, but was given the all clear at the time.

I'm glad to hear that you are going to speak to your Gp and I hope that she can help you. Have you broken the news to any relatives or friends yet and if so, how have they reacted?

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Thank you again Jolamine, I apologise if I got it wrong, I read so much on this site, but I thought you got cancer in your other breast about a year later? Again, really sorry if I've mixed that up? But that's what made me wonder if this mucinous cancer may be more likely to come back in the other breast? X 

I've taken a day off today - took me over 90 minutes to get through to GP surgery this morning, but I'm now positively on the list for a call from the GP I saw when I found the lump, so that's good. 
 

I have told my closest friends and family only.  They've all reacted differently, to be expected. Some are checking in and others have just gone off the radar and so this site really is the well needed source of support at the moment. 
 

tomorrow the horrid stereotactic biopsies and then once that's done - hopefully I'll feel a bit better (although sore as I've been warned) xx I know it sounds silly, but I've been dreading tomorrow more than anything xx 

hope you have a good day. 
Mickey xx

Unfortunately the hospital just phoned to cancel my stereotactic biopsy tomorrow - staff sickness.

I'm sure that this is the last thing you wanted to hear. Have you been given another date for your biopsy yet?

Jolamine xx

Hi MickeyM,

You are almost right. I discovered a larger lump in my other breast 6 months after my first surgery. My surgeon refused to test it, just saying that it was fine. He wanted me to have radiotherapy for my original lump, but I refused this on the basis that there was no point in treating one breast whilst ignoring the other. 

After a Mexican standoff for 11 months, my surgeon referred me to the surgeon who was in charge of the surgeons in the area. He had been led to understand that I was refusing radiotherapy. I told him that this wasn't the case, I just wanted to have the second lump investigated first. He agreed to do this straight away and said that he was pretty sure that this new lump was cancerous. However, the biopsy came back benign. This new surgeon offered to take over my care and, although this made my visits to hospital much longer, I was happy to take up this offer. I was quite delighted with this, as I was considering going privately for a second opinion at this stage and, this was the surgeon who I had decided to see.

Almost a year to the day of my first surgery, I discovered another lump in my original breast and this time I wasn't so lucky. Because I had lumps in both breasts at that stage I had a double mastectomy and changed over from Tamoxifen to Letrozole. Please don't let this panic you. After any surgery the tissue removed is sent to Pathology to be microscopically examined. When these results came back my original surgeon told me that the Pathology results showed that he hadn't achieved clear margins. 

At this point it is usual to operate again until clear margins are in place. However, my surgeon assured me that there was no need to do this, as he had realized this at the time and removed an additional sliver, which would have got the clear margin. At the time of the second diagnosis, I was told that I had a new primary cancer of the same type and grade as the original cancer. However, I do wonder if this was just a convenient way to cover up the first surgeon's mistake? I may well be wrong and there is no way of proving this, so I just have to accept what I was told.

After I saw the second surgeon, I was referred to see 2 eminent researchers in radiotherapy with a view to having it then. I was given two totally different viewpoints. The first felt that I might as well go ahead with it anyway, whereas the second was quite insistant that, if I hadn't had it within three months of my first surgery, there was no point in having it. He seemed much better informed than the other gentleman, so I took his advice.

You soon discover who your true friends are when you get a cancer diagnosis.You will find that support often comes from the most unexpected quarters, whilst some who you would have expected to be there for you will just disappear off the radar. You will find that how they react depends to a great extent, on how you break the news to them. I was like most people at first - absolutely terrified. When I first broke the news, some of my friends *** footed around me, asking all sorts of inane questions. 

Once I became a bit stronger in myself, I was advised to break the news in as positive a way as possible. When I did this the reaction of family and friends was much better and I now try to approach my cancer journey in this way.

I am glad to hear that you eventually managed to get through to your surgery this morning and that you were scheduled for a phone consultation with the doctor who you saw when you first discovered the lump. Did she phone back and, how did you get on?

Kind regards,

Jolamine xx

Morning Jolamine and thank you so much for your messages. I really value the fact that you took the time and effort to explain your situation to me. Don't worry, you didn't scare me, I'm sorry it was a difficult journey for you, but on a strange way it reassured me that we have to deal with this and have faith in what our bodies are telling us (if that makes sense). 
I eventually got my call back from GP and she's basically asked my work to be flexible, home work and avoid face to face for next months until we know more about my treatment plan, but that's obviously something that's since been delayed further. She was shocked the lump was cancer, so I reassured her that the type it is could easily be mistaken on feeling for a benign lump. She also gave me 7 days sleeping tablets. I haven't taken one yet, but probably need to tonight as I still didn't sleep last night. 

My BCN also rang back, she sorted the stereotactic reschedule, but soonest is two weeks 25/10. I'm going to see consultant Thursday anyway I've decided - he can at least give me leaflets on these cancers and I want to ask him how he thinks he could save my breast even if only two wide excisions, as I just can't see that being possible. Xx