2nd opinion clinic..Columbus, Ohio

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

Wow, what a day I had yesterday. A posted a few times ithe past few weeks...

had breast reduction with a pathology report that came back with LCIS left

breast/ mod ductal hyperplasia/ lobular atypia rt breast. Good thing found, but

problem was from what part of breast?? Random tissue taken from reduction.

Seriously considering bilateral mastectomy , to " nip " it before it became

invasive and would have much more to go through as I have been reading that so

many of you have. 90% chance of nipping it with that the Drs said...or take

Tamoxifen and carefully watch... which was a problem as one Dr told me b/c of

the reduction there would be no mammo/ mri that would do me any good

diagnostically for 2 years.My family was really pushing me to just have the

mastectomies. Finally saw a Dr in CInci Mon that was wonderful and said lets do

a mammo and mri and see what we can see... if there is anything I can biopsy to

give you an idea which way to go, Had made an appt at this 2nd

opinion clinic at Riverside Hospital ( associated with Osu)..and went just to

hear what they had to say. Like the last post about 2nd opinion clinic, met with

a surgeon/ plastic surgeon/ oncologist/ radioloigist and most importantly

pathologist. First one I met with was plastic surgeon.. he was wonderful... told

me he just had a pt that had the exact same scenerio as I ...and opted from

bilateral mast with reconstruction. Did great.. showed me the tissue expanders/

talked about surg/ etc. Offered to ask the lady that just went thruogh it if

she could call and talk to me since situation was just alike, Really liked him

... asked him if I was his wife what would you advise. He said bilateral

mastectomy. He left and I felt more comfortable about making that decision than

I had before. The surgeon came in next... was more pro trying Tamoxifen/careful

watch..was good/ but not really clear on what kind of watching we can do right

after reduction. Broke for lunch they provided

and came back and met with all the other Drs who... they had all reviewed my

case. Surgeon walks in and says " we have something to share with you that will

change your outlook " Long story short/ PATHOLOGIST starts talking and says he

has reviewed the slides/tissues from the surg and he DID NOT AGREE WITH THE

DIAGNOSIS OF LCIS!!!!! My friend and I could not believe our ears! They said he

is one of the top 7 pathologists in the nation for breast cancer and he did not

think it is LCIS...said a fine line, but to him was atypical

hyperplasia!!!!!!!WOW...felt like the weight of the world was taken off. No more

having to think about mastectomies. Oncologist then talked to me about

Tamoxifen... although I don;t knwo if I heard anything after the pathologist

said that. ANYWAY... cautiously optimistic. Going to ask Dr in CInci to have

another Dr at University of Cinci to review slides and see what he calls it

before I go totally happy. But what a shock.. never thougth the path

report might not be right... and we all know to get second opinions... but do

we really get 2nd pathology opinions?? Am stillhaving mammo/ mris next week...

and if path report from UC agrees with this Dr from OSU.. then hello Tamoxifen!

Anyway.... get second Dr opinions.. but make sure the Dr gets a second

pathologists opinion! NEver would have thought about that before yesterday :>)

Ellen wrote:

My heart goes out to you. Big decisions to make. I understand what

you mean when you say it's all so overwhelming - we've all been

there and it's an awful place to be. The only advice I can offer is

to try and step back a bit and take each step individually. Looking

at the big picture is daunting. Funny, I'm offering the exact same

advice that I " try " to do every day in my life.

Glad that you've gotten a second opinion. Good luck in making your

treatment decisions. Keep in touch and I look forward to hearing

from you again.

Ellen

>

> I have just fininshed my 5th of 6 chemos and trying to figure out

> what surgery I want (need)...

>

> I went to a 2nd opinion clinic at the hospital yesterday that was

> great. Over 5 hours I met with a medical oncologist, a

radiologist

> and a surgeon. I got a huge amount of info but not what I really

> wanted to hear. The truth was hard. I had heard it all before

but

> not all together.

>

> I was trying to avoid radiation but that is not going to happen

and I

> need a mastectomy since the chance of getting it all in a

lumpectomy

> is very small.

>

> My tumor was 5cm and very aggressive with satellites around the

> main. I didn't realize what that meant for the future but when

> discussing the likely reoccurance risk with or without radiation

the

> doctor said " 10% with radiation and 20 to 25% without " ...1 in 4?

1

> in 10?

>

> I have really been focused on getting this done and putting it up

a a

> blip and getting on with my life. I guess that was the first time

I

> realized this is a life long deal.

>

> The thought of having to do all this again in my life is

overwhelming.

>

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