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O.k Next appontment time. Monday 5th August

This time I saw the main consultant, she told me the type of tumour, how big,grade,  and kind of receptors. Also tht it was also in my lymph nodes for definite. My husband came with me and took some notes as it ws hard to remember everything she said. She did send me a letter tellng me all she'd said but it took a few days to get to me.

Mine is ‘invasive ductal cancer’, grade 3, Er+ pr+HER2 +3 with some axial lymph nodes affected.

The plan is to do Chemotherapy 1st, then lumpectomy, then radiotherapy.

I've had a full body bone scan which was clear & a CT scan of chest, stomach, bowels. They found somethig just above m y collar bone which turned out to be thickening lymph nodes a result of biopsy quite normal and wll go away again and something in my cervix,. I was sent for another ultra sound scan and it turned out to be a thickened area, again quite ok for a woman of 50. So all clear.

Next step was to be an appointment with Oncologist, who deals with the Chemo side of things. That will be next Wednesday.

Tumor grades

Tumor grading is a system used to classify a malignant breast cancer tumor based upon the severity of the mutation and the likelihood that it will spread. The breast cancer cells are examined under a microscope to determine, among other factors, how closely the breast cancer cells resemble the healthy cells (called the histologic grade) and the shape and size of the tumor cells’ nuclei (called the nuclear grade) as well as how rapidly those cells divide and multiply.

When dealing with breast cancer, tumors are often graded based on a scale of one to three indicating how aggressive the cancerous cells are:

  • Low grade (1) - Well-diffentiated

  • Intermediate grade (2) - Moderately differentiated

  • High grade (3) - Poorly differentiated

Low grade tumors look more like normal tissue under the microscope. High-grade tumors look abnormal and less like normal tissue and tend to be more aggressive.

National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc

http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-tumors

HER

Some breast cancer cells have a higher than normal level (called overexpression) of a protein known as HER2 on their surface, which stimulates them to grow.

Around 15–20% of invasive breast cancers have this and are called HER2 positive. These cancers tend to grow and spread faster than HER2 negative breast cancers.

(but are responsive to Herceptin)

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