Worried about CT results - 'provisional' grade 3

Hello. Do you have a treatment plan? Are you confusing grade and stage as I wasnt aware that grade goes up to 4 but stage does. Anyone correct me re grading if that's wrong. Grading is how quick your cancer is growing but everyone is different. E.g. my tumour was 6cm but I'm grade 2. You staging depends on size of tumour lymph node involvement etc. I've never been told about my staging and would prefer not to know. Keep is posted as to your next step xx

Hello,

I have been given a list of appointments and advice which sounds like a plan.

Unfortunately, I think I do have stage 3 cancer.

It could be that it is also grade 3 then?

Because in my case, it has definitely spread to the lymph nodes (and possibly further) and it is also large in size.

I will update about the diagnosis when I have been given one. xx

Hi, that all sounds really scary and the waiting for the CT scan results was by far the worst time for me.

I think you may mean stage rather than grade. Grading is how aggressive the cancer is and there is only 1 to 3, with 3 being the most aggressive. They measure this by seeing how many cancer cells there are compared to normal cells. They would have been able to tell this from your biopsy.

I was actually never told my staging, though mine was smaller than yours at around 4cm. I think stage 3 is over 5cm.

I know it is really hard, but try not to get ahead of yourself. You don't know everything yet and there is no point in trying to second guess your results.

For what it's worth, I don't think doctors try and sugar coat things. In my experience, they were always honest about what they thought and found and what they were trying to determine next.

When I had a CT scan ahead of chemo they said it was 'to check it hadn't spread', which sounds very frightening and waiting for that result really is the worst.

No one can make this time go any better for you, but we have all been in the position of waiting for those results.

When do you get your results? 

As Forrest1865 says, there's a difference between stage and grade and if your cancer is a grade 3, then I don't think it can go up from that.

Have a look at stage and grade here:

https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/breast-cancer/staging-and-grading-of-breast-cancer

If you are in any doubt at all, do give your breast care nurse a ring, or phone Macmillan and ask them to explain it.

On the size, as I understand it the size they give you is the longest measurement across the carcinoma tissue, but that doesn't mean it's round in shape. So it could be 7cm long but only 1 millimetre wide, like a string.

Again, if in any doubt talk to your nurses and don't stop asking until you know.

Hi,

The formal diagnosis says "provisional grade 3". I know it's really bad news.

I was told in a discussion that it was "very aggressive".

How hard to believe. I am not an aggressive person in myself at all. 

I think the CT results might take a week or even two?

In my case, this scan also to check/confirm whether the cancer has spread.

I kept my eyes closed when I was in the machine: I needed to.