Big picture overview: Becca was diagnosed with stage 2 triple-negative invasive ductal carcinoma in both breasts in March 2015. She had four months of chemotherapy and is scheduled to have surgery 9/3.
Signing up to help out: See the link at the left here under "Helpful Information".
Navigating this site:
- We're trying to keep updated medical information here. So see below for a one stop update on the medical facts.
- Feel free to share this blog with anyone you think might benefit from reading it.
- "Posts" is a good place to send us general messages of support, but we might see it sooner if you comment on a specific journal entry.
- To send Becca or Don a private message: You have to be registered/logged in. In the purple menu bar at the very top, click on "Messages"; then in the window that pops up, click "New Conversation"; then in the "To" type Becca and select Becca Krantz (or you can send a message to Don or any other person who is following this blog). Then you can type in a message, and click send.
-----------------------------------------
THE MEDICAL DETAILS
Our journey began on Monday Feb 23rd, when Becca found a lump in her right breast.
The next day, we saw a family practice doctor in Becca's care group at Group Health Cooperative, who said that she thought it likely that the lump wasn't something to worry about, but that Becca should have it tested with a mammogram and ultrasound. So we made an appointment for Thursday, March 5th at GHC's Hatchery Hill Clinic, where Dr. Propeck (the radiologist) told us that she was worried about the lump and would be very surprised if it wasn't cancer. The ultrasound and radiology found two additional suspect areas on the left breast, one that she was quite concerned about, the other less so. The ultrasound of the lymph nodes looked fine.
The next day (Friday, March 6th), the doctors at UW Health's Breast Center at 1 S Park did biopsies of the three areas of concern. And Tuesday March 10th we received the results of the pathology report - invasive ductal carcinoma in both breasts (the area of less concern on the left breast was not cancer).
Dr. Lee Wilke will be our breast surgeon. We spoke to her on the phone Wednesday, after we received the pathology results. At her recommendation, Becca had an MRI of her breasts on Friday 3/13; we met with a genetic counselor and had blood drawn for genetic testing on Monday 3/16. The genetic test for the BRCA mutation, which is more common among Ashkenazi Jews than in the general population, eventually came back negative.
On Tuesday 3/17, we met with Dr. Wilke and on 3/19 with our medical oncologist, Dr. O'Regan. Becca began chemotherapy on 3/24, and did 4 rounds biweekly of Adriamycin and Cytoxin.
Imaging after this initial chemo treatment showed the main tumor had shrunk considerably (the other tumor is only detectable because of calcifications, which don't necessarily go away). We knew there would be more chemo and Dr. O'Regan recommended the more aggressive course despite the tumor shrinkage, because "there is still some cancer there, and sometimes some of the cancer cells are resistant to some of the drugs."
So, Becca on 5/19 Becca had a port placed and began the first of 12 weekly treatments, where weeks 1, 4, 7, and 10 will include Carboplatin and Taxol, and the intervening weeks will be Taxol only.
After a lot of emotional processing and reading, Becca has chosen to have a double mastectomy without reconstruction. Surgery is scheduled for September 3rd.