Hi,
Last March it was confirmed I have TNBC. Less than 2 years ago I had DCIS
Zero stage, non invasive in my right breast. I had a lumpectomy and two weeks later had another to get clean margins. About a month later I received 4 weeks of radiation.
I had been following up with mammograms and ultrasounds and in June of 2017
I was told they were watching something in my left breast and to come back in December.
I did and was told they could not see anything and to come back in June of 2018. Well,
I went to see my radiation oncologist in December of 2017 for a followup, she performed a breast exam and looked over my scans. She agreed everything was good and I did not
need to continue to see her. In February of this year I happen to feel a pea size lump
in my left breast and thought, this can't be too bad, I just had tests and a breast exam in December. I went to my oncologist that week for a follow up and discussed what I felt.
I was sent for an ultrasound and then a biopsy. A few days later I got the news, it was cancer, triple negative. I saw my surgeon and he scheduled an MRI to find out what we were dealing with, turns out that pea size lump I felt was the tip of the iceberg. My mass was large, how could this happen from December to February? I don't think the mammogram picked up on it, (my surgeon told me I needed to have MRI's from now on and not mammograms). I started chemo, AC-T. It was a rough summer but I managed. My oncologist stopped my last 2 of 12 Taxol treatments due to my low white count and neuropathy. I was scheduled for a bilateral mastectomy on November 5th but before that my PET scan got approved. I had my scan and my surgeon told me it looked good, he took me off the schedule and sent me for another biopsy. Well, that showed some microscopic cancer so we decided to go forward with the surgery coming on November 30th.
Sorry for the long story, but I was wondering if anyone out there has had DCIS in one breast and was then diagnosed with TNBC in the other? After my surgery I am going to have 5 weeks of radiation, but I am really worried that perhaps the radiation I had less than 2 years ago on my other breast somehow contributed to the TNBC? I look forward to getting rid of the cancer, and I am praying when the surgeon checks my sentinel node, it is clear, but that also raises another question: Did the chemo get rid of any cancer in my lymph nodes? If so, I will never know at this point if there were any cancer cells in them before the chemo. I am trying to stay positive. I am 56 years old and have a lot of living left to do! Thank you.