Diagnosed today. I have different Cancers in each breast. Lobular Invasive in left & Papillary in right. My head is swimming.

Hi AngelaMM

Welcome to the forum and so sorry you find yourself here.It’s a big shock to find you have cancer , even more so to have two different types.

Sounds like you were already having a tough time health wise so can understand your concerns. 
I also had two different types of cancer but mine were both in the same breast . One invasive lobular and dcis .I’m sorry I don’t know much about papillary cancer but maybe some of the other ladies on here will be along to share their experience or knowledge regarding this.

Also you do right to avoid doctor google as a lot of the information is outdated . 

sendind hugs

Thank you Missi k, hugs appreciated. I hope you are well

Hi

I was diagnosed with papillary cancer last December. It was a 4cm lump in my right breast. As you say it's a rare cancer and I was told that it's slow growing with a good prognosis.

Lumpectomy seems to be the usual option for small papillary cancers but the medic team thought I'd need a mastectomy due to the size of the lump and its placement. However when the surgeon saw me, she said a therapeutic mammoplasty was an option. Basically removing the lump and rearranging the remaining tissue. I also had a bit of a breast lift and I'm really pleased with the result. 

As she wanted to be sure there was no spread  I had 4 sentinel nodes removed as well.

Four weeks on, scars are healing well. Nothing in the lymph nodes, but as the cancer was really estrogen positive I'm on letrozole. No chemo.

I have an appointment in two weeks to see the oncologist to see if I  need radiotherapy. 

It must be so worrying having two different cancers to deal with. I was gutted when originally diagnosed with just the one.

If you have any questions just let me know xx

Thank you for that information.  I'm glad they managed to find the best way to deal with yours surgically.  They've managed to arrange my CESM Scan & Lymph node biopsies for Monday, so things moving along quickly,  Also decided that I am ok to not start the hormones until Saturday,  I've got 4 hospital appointments for different scans and procedures this week, including one which is a round trip of 5hrs by car. I was worried about side effects of the hormones, like hot flushes hitting while I'm being scanned or having echocardiograms.  

I think as they managed to organise the CESM scan so quickly things will move along faster,  Do you have any side effects from the Letrozole?

The other issue they raised was when doing surgery, dealing with cancer on each breast, that if it is lumpectomies they will try to go for symmetry with the size of the breasts.  I am large so I could end up being very lopsided depending on how things go.  I do feel that I will end up having a double mastectomy.  There is lymph node involvement.  I'm not too worried about being flat. If that's what I need to do to survive then that's ok.   

I don't yet know which type of Papillary, but I'm hoping it's the slow growing or enclosed one, but that is the side I have lymph node involvement :(  

Thanks for you help and words of encouragement.  xx

Hi

I had an awful menopause,  so was really worried about taking letrozole. I've been taking it for going on two weeks and apart from a couple of mild flushes and feeling tired, I have no other symptoms. I know its early days but  I believe side effects start appearing early on. So I'm pretty hopeful that it won't be nearly as bad as my menopause symptoms.

I'm a 38 d and was told that my breast post surgery could be 1 or 2 cup sizes smaller. I was ok to go with this risk so went ahead.

I was already a bit uneven and it was my slightly smaller breast which had the cancer.

To be honest the difference is roughly just under a  cup size. My nipple is probably an inch higher than it was due to the breast lift. If I have radiotherapy it might shrink things a bit more but I'm ok with this too.

The main thing is to do what you are comfortable with.

I found at one point I was being swept along with various options and losing the plot but I was lucky to have a very patient and knowledgeable bcn who was always happy to answer my questions. Plus I had lots of support from this forum.

Look after yourself, that's really important xx

Thank you.  It's encouraging that the effects of the hormones haven't been too extreme for you.  I had my womb lining removed in 2008, no periods after and I couldn't tell you when my menopause was.  I don't think I even had so much as a hot flush.  They are hopeful that because I didn't have menopause symptoms, that I may not get side effects from the drugs. It's all complicated by existing health issues,, but it has be done.  I'll start them next week and hope things go ok.  

I think my BCN is going to be helpful, and even my questions today did throw her.

I will do my best to look after myself.  Thank you xx