I received the pathology results from my surgery a couple of hours ago. I didn’t expect them so soon, but I’m always glad to have more information about my cancer.
Firstly, and possibly most important in the moment, all the tumor margins appear clear of any cancer cells. So, that is great news! That should mean they got all the cancer associated with the tumor and won’t have to go back in to remove more tissue. My still fresh incisions appreciate that!
The sentinel lymph node also came back clear of cancer, which makes it likely we caught the cancer before it spread. I am so deeply grateful about that. 🙌
All the diagnostic stuff is as expected and is now pathologically confirmed except my HER2 NEU status. While it was initially rated as negative during the biopsy pathology, the surgical pathology rated it as equivocal. The report seems to say they are doing a further test to determine my HER2 status. I think it would make sense for it to be positive, since my cancer is so aggressive, but we shall see.
The other thing is, I know my surgeon planned to run a test called the Oncotype test on my tumor and that would take two weeks for results, but I just read that the test can only be run on HER2-Negative tumors, so I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Cancer Case Summary
from the pathology report
PROCEDURE: Lumpectomy
LYMPH NODE SAMPLING: Sentinel lymph node
SPECIMEN LATERALITY: Right
TUMOR SITE: 9:00
TUMOR SIZE: 1.1 cm
HISTOLOGIC TYPE: Invasive ductal carcinoma
HISTOLOGIC GRADE (Nottingham histologic score): GRADE 3
(TUBULES 3, NUCLEI 3, MITOSES 3)
TUMOR FOCALITY: Unifocal
ER (clone SP1): POSITIVE (90%, Strong Present, intact)
PR (clone 1E2): POSITIVE (75%, Strong Present, intact)
HER2 (clone 4B5): EQUIVOCAL
HER2 FISH ordered: YES and will be reported in a separate report <—- This is the additional test for my HER2 status.
In addition to my tumor, they found atypical ductal hyperplasia, which is a growth of atypical cells within the breast ducts that have a higher-than-normal chance of becoming cancerous. So, that’s not ideal. It makes me think they’ll be more likely to recommend chemotherapy, but we won’t know about that for sure until (hopefully!) my initial oncology appointment on October 29.
Unrelated to pathology, since removing my bandages, I’ve discovered my upper arm (near my armpit) is numb. Apparently that’s a common experience when nerves are involved in the surgery and it can take days, weeks or months to return to normal — or it may become permanent. It all just kind of depends and we’ll have to — you guessed it! — wait and see. There’s so much “wait and see” in cancer treatment.
Thanks for reading, friends! ❤️