SURPRISE!

 

I had the biopsy done today on the “new” mass on my right side. They did an ultrasound first to make sure they could see it, and they could. They also went ahead and got another ultrasound of my lymph nodes on that side. I had been told otherwise but… apparently they *did* have one lymph node “of concern” that lit up on the MRI. They were also able to see that on the ultrasound, so I got the joy of a second SURPRISE(!) biopsy today on the lymph node.

The “new” right side mass, after additional viewing by the doctor, has been upgraded (downgraded?) to BI-RADS 4c “grade”. This jumps me from “low to moderate suspicion for malignancy” to “high level of suspicion for malignancy” at a 50-95% likelihood that it is cancer. This is not very encouraging for a number of reasons, one being that we may no longer be able to stick to the original care plan of lumpectomy and radiation. Possible lymph node involvement changes things even more, and puts basically my whole body at greater risk.

I think the left side mass is still considered “low to moderate”, but I don’t know what they think about the lymph node’s “score”.

The breast mass core biopsy was done like the first, with a suction type machine and catheter (as seen in the images). It was considerably more painful than before- I assume because of the tissue damage caused by the first biopsy. The lymph node was done via needle biopsy. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. 

They said the results from these two biopsies should be back by the end of the week. The MRI guided biopsy isn’t until next Wednesday, so it’s going to be at least another 1 1/2 -2 weeks before I know the full extent of what I’m really dealing with.