Open the Curtains Please – Will the Cancer Please Come Out on Stage

I have a stage! I called and left a message today hoping that they had the results from my surgery. The phone call was good news!

My official breast cancer stage: Stage iiB (2B) with the details of T2 N1A M0

  • T2 = tumor was 2 centimeters
  • N1a = 1 lymph node with cancer, the tumor being larger than 2 mm in the lymph node (this part was updated, I found what N1A means here).
  • M0 = No metastasis, no other tumors showing in my body

The official word is that the infiltrating ductal carcinoma tumor was a full 2 centimeters as expected, but the odd news was that they really didn’t have a measurement on the high grade in si tu – essentially they said it was everywhere in the left breast (which would have required a mastectomy even if I hadn’t opted for it in the first place). The only lymph node that came up positive was the one they had biopsied (it had a reasonable size tumor, but it has been removed)! The other 5 came up clean (even the “iffy” one). They showed “clear margins” from the surgery – which means they essentially show they got all of the breast cancer cells.

This means that they got the lymph node and all of the cancer out of my breast – so technically at this moment they pretty much have removed all of the cancer (no that does not get me out of chemo or radiation).

The right breast came up clean, but considering the extensiveness of the cancer cells that don’t show up on an ultrasound or MRI I don’t regret taking it out..

Author: Mandi

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