I had a consultation on Friday, July 13, 2012 with breast surgeon Dr. Regina Rosenthal, a specialist who only works with breast issues. We consulted regarding the A-typical cells discovered in my right breast during the sterotactic biopsy last month, after a routine mammogram showed changes in calcifications.
Dr Rosenthal questioned me about exposure to radiation when I was pre pubescent. She said that studies have found that young girls who had high doses of radiation have a higher risk of breast cancer. I had papalomas xrayed off as a child with no protection, other than around the papalomas. My mother had cancer that eventually metastasized into breast cancer in her right breast. I am fairly high risk.Click here. Read what Johns Hopkins says about Atypical Ductal Hyerplasia (ADH) and click here to find out more about the pathology.
I will undergo further out patient surgery, this time with a general anaesthetic. Tissue about the size of a quarter will be removed and further analyzed. By choosing this surgery at this time, it can be determined if the
cells are benign, if there is cancer insitu (contained in the duct), and if there is cancer, if it has broken outside the duct. Like the two melanomas I have had, this has been discovered very stage and the chances are very good that there is no cancer. By removing the area, risk of future cancer will be lessened.
There is no way to determine the
presence of ADH by reviewing a mammogram or other breast imaging study. It also
cannot be felt on a clinical breast exam. Approximately 25 percent of the time when ADH cells are found,
the cancer is determined to be early stage.
I have insisted on a team made up of Dr. Rosenthal and Dr. Kendall, who did the biopsy, to do the next surgery. The issue is coordinating Dr. Rosenthal's Tuesday surgery time at LDS
hospital, just up the hill from where we live, with Dr. Kendall's schedule. I have every confidence
in Dr. Rosenthal's staff to make this
happen, and in Dr. Rothenthal and Dr. Kendall. No rotating doctors for me.
No comments:
Post a Comment