Lobular Breast Cancer: Let's share and support each other

Posted by mjay @mjay, Jul 28, 2022

Since lobular breast cancer is only 10-15% of all breast cancer diagnoses and now understood to be a unique subset of breast cancer as a whole with different characteristics than ductal breast cancer necessitating different treatments and inherently different risks, I would like to see a separate category under the breast cancer forum so that the most appropriate info is being disseminated for this specific subset of BC. Just a thought.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Breast Cancer Support Group.

@glendy

Good Morning! I go back for more sonograms on 2 spots, 1 on each breast, tomorrow. If they are anything, they will take more biopsies. The MRI was terrible! It seemed like all my weight was on my sternum and created great discomfort that last for days. Hopefully I won't have to do that again or they will have to give me something beforehand. Surgery is still scheduled for January 5th, what type is still a lumposcopy but I'm sure that could change. Will let you know what they find after tomorrow.

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Only needed a biopsy on the original breast. The other spot was gone, PG! Now waiting to see if it is the same type of cancer. It is right next to the other one. Invasive Lobular Carcinoma...Hate the word Invasive but I guess that's why another spot showed up! Surgery still January 5th, just not sure what kind. Everyone is telling me to go ahead and have the whole breast removed. I'm kinda leaning towards that, will see what the Dr suggests.

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@glendy

Only needed a biopsy on the original breast. The other spot was gone, PG! Now waiting to see if it is the same type of cancer. It is right next to the other one. Invasive Lobular Carcinoma...Hate the word Invasive but I guess that's why another spot showed up! Surgery still January 5th, just not sure what kind. Everyone is telling me to go ahead and have the whole breast removed. I'm kinda leaning towards that, will see what the Dr suggests.

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Glendy,
I’m navigating similar waters as you. I just got biopsy results today. Atypical lobular hyperplasia bordering on lobular carcinoma in situ in a background of slightly fibrotic breast tissue. Negative for atypical ductal hyperplasia, DCIS or invasive carcinoma.

Pathology is high risk and concordant. Breast surgical consultation is advised.

Breast specialist wants to do lumpectomy but I don’t want to face this potential ugly beast down the road. I’m putting serious thoughts on prophylactic mastectomy. I had genetic testing 1.5 years ago which revealed check 2 gene mutation making me high risk breast cancer. I also have had 10+ years of nipple discharge which was tested and deemed non-problematic. I wonder if this little nugget has been with me a while?! I’m a realist…I want to be strong and make wise decisions that are not alarmist, but make sense with my situation. I have just found this forum while researching today. I’m happy to mesh information with people sharing the same worries and situations as me.

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@amolson

So I can see some are much worse off then me...but this is all so new and scary to me I thought I would get advice from those of you who have gone this route 🙁 I was just informed I have focal atypical lobular hyperplasia after my biopsy. The doctor said "this finding less likely needs to be excised further because they have a low likelihood of progressing to an invasive carcinoma" (no idea what that means yet) and she does recommend a visit with a breast surgeon to help decide on best next steps. Are there any comments or advice on what I should request or ask or do? 🙁

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Have you had genetic testing to see if you have genetic predisposition to cancer? Just curious? I had that done 1.5 years ago and found I was check 2 positive (increased breast cancer risk). Just received biopsy results following multiple 3D scans, ultrasound and biopsy results show:
Atypical lobular hyperplasia bordering on lobular carcinoma in situ in a background of slightly fibrotic breast tissue. Negative for atypical ductal hyperplasia, DCIS or invasive carcinoma.

Pathology is high risk and concordant. Breast surgical consultation is advised.

I’ve got a breast specialist who has been following me since genetic testing was done and he definitely wants to do lumpectomy. I worry if that’s enough???

Thankful this is not cancer, but want to get a step ahead if possible. I hope you get answers for your situation. Let’s share notes.

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@hobo

Have you had genetic testing to see if you have genetic predisposition to cancer? Just curious? I had that done 1.5 years ago and found I was check 2 positive (increased breast cancer risk). Just received biopsy results following multiple 3D scans, ultrasound and biopsy results show:
Atypical lobular hyperplasia bordering on lobular carcinoma in situ in a background of slightly fibrotic breast tissue. Negative for atypical ductal hyperplasia, DCIS or invasive carcinoma.

Pathology is high risk and concordant. Breast surgical consultation is advised.

I’ve got a breast specialist who has been following me since genetic testing was done and he definitely wants to do lumpectomy. I worry if that’s enough???

Thankful this is not cancer, but want to get a step ahead if possible. I hope you get answers for your situation. Let’s share notes.

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SOOOOOooooo appreciative that you took your personal time to respond. YES...I am VERY thankful at this point it is NOT cancer as I KNOW some of the hell others have been and are going through but I too am like you and want to get a step ahead of it IF at all possible because once that rotten cancer grows it never stops!!! My specialist said that we should go ahead and remove what they say (only the size of a walnut so I know I am much luckier than most) so they can do a full pathology analysis on everything they removed. As that let's wait and see IF what you have grows more and then we can always remove it just scares me. I feel like a ticking time bomb just waiting and wondering if it is turning into cancer while we are waiting to see :(. It is good to hear that someone else wants to stay a step ahead like I do. THANK YOU again for your input and I HOPE NOTHING but the BEST for you!!

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It can be frustrating contemplating the options. Prophylactic mastectomy, although scary, somehow gives me peace of mind that I’d be doing something to remove future possibility of anything coming to get me later. My Dad had prostate cancer years ago and he took baby steps in the process trying not to be too over reactive and spare removal. He did not win his battle. I’m coming from a daughters perspective of his cancer path. I don’t want to re-live that. I have Pre-cancer. It is different, this I realize. I know I sound a little crazy, but our life experiences make us who we are. Helping him through his battle I am finding gives me courage to contemplate taking the steps that others may not. I’m not saying I’ve decided I’m going to have a mastectomy, I just found out less than 7 hours ago about my biopsy results. I will meet with my breast specialist on Tuesday to discuss the direction that is right for me. I hope you will soul search and ask your doctors and yourself the tough questions too. It’s such a lonely feeling. My husband thinks I’m jumping the gun…I don’t know, I just don’t know? It’s nice having a forum like this where we can talk openly and freely. I hope I am not offending anyone by doing so. It is not my intension to scare or make anyone question what is right for them. I’m remembering testimony from Trump’s press secretary Kayleigh-Mcenany and actress Angelina Jolie. Both had double mastectomies. I’m going to do lots of research and listen to my doctor and decide what is right for me. Every story is inspiration to be strong. If you chose not to take dramatic measures, I would think about getting genetic testing to see what you are dealing with. It can also allow you to get a baseline. I’d love to keep the dialog going as you explore options.

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@amolson

SOOOOOooooo appreciative that you took your personal time to respond. YES...I am VERY thankful at this point it is NOT cancer as I KNOW some of the hell others have been and are going through but I too am like you and want to get a step ahead of it IF at all possible because once that rotten cancer grows it never stops!!! My specialist said that we should go ahead and remove what they say (only the size of a walnut so I know I am much luckier than most) so they can do a full pathology analysis on everything they removed. As that let's wait and see IF what you have grows more and then we can always remove it just scares me. I feel like a ticking time bomb just waiting and wondering if it is turning into cancer while we are waiting to see :(. It is good to hear that someone else wants to stay a step ahead like I do. THANK YOU again for your input and I HOPE NOTHING but the BEST for you!!

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I have been diagnosed with alh and had tissue removed. Now deciding on more treatment. I am so scared that since it was removed. Scared that it is just going to go to a deeper tissue and cause cancer.

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@rebecca55

I have been diagnosed with alh and had tissue removed. Now deciding on more treatment. I am so scared that since it was removed. Scared that it is just going to go to a deeper tissue and cause cancer.

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Valid fears. I’m almost right in sync with you sister!! Right there with you. I can certainly relate. I don’t know what insurance covers, not that I would boil it down to cost, but I’m just curious if insurance will require you and me both to take step by step measures before they’d allow for more aggressive approach? Questions to ask. Mulling to do.

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Wow!! It is amazing to hear us all feeling the same way!! I have all those same feelings too! I watched my mother die horribly from lung cancer that metastasized to her brain and within 6 months my dad got pancreatic cancer and died miserably and broke my heart to watch!! I too want to be proactive and cut out whatever might progress to that!! It is just so scary!!!

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@amolson

Wow!! It is amazing to hear us all feeling the same way!! I have all those same feelings too! I watched my mother die horribly from lung cancer that metastasized to her brain and within 6 months my dad got pancreatic cancer and died miserably and broke my heart to watch!! I too want to be proactive and cut out whatever might progress to that!! It is just so scary!!!

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Same here! I watched my sister who had stage 4 breast cancer at age 48. It was terrifying! She had a lumpectomy and then was prescribed Tamoxifen. I need to make a decision with alh. I am a healthy 67 years of age. Going to an Oncologist in January. Think I want a double mastectomy.

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@kware75

Hi, I am 47, I have been getting mammograms and ultrasounds since my 30s due to dense breast tissue. I had ultrasound guided biopsies in 2019 on both breasts, all results benign. 3 hydramarkers in right, 1 in left. Was on 6 month plan for mri and mammogram for a year. Then moved me back to one a year mammos. Fast forward to July 2022, noticed a different feeling than my normal cysts in left breast and noticed slight dimpling near nipple only when my arm was raised above my head. Was referred for ultra and mammo because my year wasn't up yet. Thankfully they got me in quickly and referring doctor also put in a referral for breast surgeon 🙏. Ultra snd mammo results: radiologist said they didn't see any changes. I kept appt with breast surgeon who said he also didnt see anything of concern but ordered mri due to dimpling. Mri showed suspicious. Did Stereotactic biopsies, Diagnosed with ILC August 22, 2022. Sneaky cancer...hard to detect...curable...treatable, slow growing, best kind of breast cancer you can get, no signs that it's in the lymph nodes..all those things I held on to. They determined it was 5.9 cm before surgery. 5.9?! Cm!! That's huge! What??? I had bi lateral mastectomy with beginning reconstruction (expanders) on October 13th. My pathology report was a shock to me. Cancer was 55mm, smaller than what they determined; great news! Then I kept reading ..carcinoma present at margins, sentinel node micrometatasis. My heart sunk and fear, anger, confusion overcame me. Final diagnosis: ILC stage 1b, low grade, micrometatasis. Oncology recommends 5 months chemo, followed by, 33 radiation treatments, endocrine therapy, and removal of ovaries. I am so overwhelmed today. I don't know what to do. I want the cancer killed, and also want quality of life...surprise. If anyone can share their journey, the choices they made for treatment, what they have gained or lost because of treatments, and how they affect/affected survivorship, I would be so grateful. ❤️ also, forgot to mention, estrogen receptor positive, but not her2.

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I am 46 and we are going through a similar time

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