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Anyone dealing with Atypical Ductal Hyperplasia (ADH)?
Breast Cancer | Last Active: Sep 11 9:29pm | Replies (227)Comment receiving replies
Thanks for your reply. My mom hasn’t had a major illness and hasn’t had regular check up for 20 years. We recently convinced her to do a thorough physical checkup, hence the mammograms and biopsy. So we don’t know how long her ADH has been there. She doesn’t like to take medicines. 20 years ago she had a broken rib in a traffic accident, she refused to take any painkillers! That was the last time she had a complete physical examination before recent checkup. She’s stubborn. it’s her decision and we can only hope she change her mind.
Her doctor Didn’t really push her one way or the other, the doctor simply told her the options and reasons behind them. The doctor also told her the risk of ADH becoming cancerous is “not very high”, about 14%. So I think her doctor is rather neutral in his recommendations. I got more concerned from all the googling, not from the doctor’s comments. My mom agreed to the 6-month follow up option and see what the doctor say after a new check up in January.
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jzcareformom - Well, your Mom and I have something in common. I'm not a fan of medicines or doctors either and I rarely use (or can't use) medicines. She sounds tough and pragmatic and that's probably a good thing.
I found the biopsy very uncomfortable so maybe that experience is also leading her to shy away from further treatment? Also, if her risk is low per the doctors, perhaps the 6 month wait will show that her ADH is manageable and maybe has always been there and not giving her additional trouble.
My background is that I had ALH (atypical lobular hyperplasia) vs. ADH (more common ductal). The lobular type is trickier. I had a mammogram which showed a possible problem, I did the biopsy and then had to wait 6 months to remove the area surgically because of insurance issues. It was still a Stage 0 cancer at that point and I was monitored every 6 months. After two years my cancer became invasive lobular breast cancer and I had a bi lateral mastectomy. I am much younger than your Mom however (61 now) and when this all started I was just in my mid 50's.....so I had many years of worrying about the cancer progression. I chose to remove as much possibility of cancer as I could to avoid further drug treatments, etc. But again, I was younger and had a much longer time to consider and see if the cancer went anywhere.
And there's the perplexing part - I could very well have never gotten invasive cancer after that biopsy, but I did. I had equal chances of NOT getting cancer and so does your Mom. Allowing your Mom to wait 6 months with her doctors approval will be ok.
Keep researching and helping your Mom understand the options. The 'average' age for breast cancer is the mid 50's and your Mom's risk is perhaps much lower given her age. Try not to worry too much and try to alleviate your Mom's fears about that second surgery......truly not that bad and if she doesn't need painkillers much (I don't either) then it wouldn't be too bad at all for her to endure (not much fun either) but not nearly as disruptive as one might think.
Hugs