Answer? The cancer tumor on my right breast.
My tumor was considered to be large at 9.6 centimeters. The doctor explained that I had ductal and lobular carcinoma. This means the cancer is both in the milk ducts and the milk producing lobules. They suspect that the tumor had been growing for longer than I thought as it was very large in presentation.
My cancer was considered aggressive and invasive and had spread to the lymph nodes of my right arm. My doctors were able to actually feel the swollen lymph nodes in my right arm pit which were sensitive to the touch.
Hearing the words, “you have breast cancer,” is something I never thought I would hear, especially in my 30’s. Looking back on it, I think my brain shut down. I felt numb. I didn’t cry or get upset, almost like my brain went into the flight or fight mode. From that day forward my life was forever changed.
What is Ductal Carcinoma?
Ductal carcinoma is the most common type of breast cancer and forms in the lining of the milk ducts of the breast. Lobular carcinoma is when the cancer cells have affected the lobules of the breast where milk is produced. Lobular carcinoma tumors grow flat like sheets and can be more challenging to identify without imagining, while ductal tumors are more likely to form a mass.
One thing I learned from the breast mammograms was I had very dense breasts, which makes feeling for tumors or abnormalities very tricky. Dense breasts are defined as having a greater amount of glandular tissue and fibrous connective tissue, with lower amounts of fatty breast tissue. Having dense breasts is very common. Studies show that nearly half of women over 40 who get mammograms have dense breasts. Dense breasts are only determined by a radiologist when they review a mammogram. Here is a link to read more about dense breasts from the National Cancer Institute.
What is Triple Positive Breast Cancer?
The type of breast cancer I have is known as Triple Positive, which means the tumor is positive for HER2+, progesterone, and estrogen (HER2+, PR+, & ER+).
HER2-positive is when the tumor is positive for a protein “human epidermal growth factor receptor” which is called HER2+. You can learn more about HER2+ beast cancer from the Mayo Clinic.
The HER2 protein promotes the growth of cancer cells. All normal breast cells contain estrogen and HER2 receptors. Since I am Triple Positive, there is an increase in the number of these receptors.
Estrogen is a hormone found in all women. The cells of my tumor have receptors that allow them to use estrogen to grow. Progesterone is another type of hormone typically found in women. It is produced after ovulation during the second half of the menstrual cycle in women. Similar to the receptors for estrogen, the tumor also has cells with receptors that allow them to use progesterone to grow.
Knowing the type of breast cancer helps the team figure out what method and type of chemotherapy and treatment best fights and destroys the cancer cells.
Here is a link to learn more about Triple Positive Breast Cancer from the Mayo Clinic,
"Staging" Breast Cancer
Breast Cancer is often described by it’s stage. Staging is a way of describing how extensive the breast cancer is. It includes the size of the tumor, whether it has spread to the lymph nodes, whether it has spread to other areas of the body, and what the biomarkers are.
Staging breast cancer is a bit more complicated and something my team often doesn’t like to emphasize as it becomes the focus for many patients. For me the staging was done after surgery.
Staging done before surgery is called “clinical staging” and staging after surgery is called “pathologic staging.” For me staging came after my bilateral mastectomy, where I was told I was stage 3A. Here is a link to learn more about the staging of Breast Cancer from the Susan G. Komen website,
As my blog articles are published, I’ll share more details about the various types of breast cancer and will continue to continue to provide my personal perspective throughout this journey.
