Tell-All Diagnosis

The first document that goes into your notebook is a
copy of your mammogram report. What does it show?
How has it changed from your previous one(s)? Ask
questions of nurses, doctors, or the radiologist who
wrote the report. Keep asking until you understand
everything there.
The next document is your diagnosis. Exactly what does the doctor say you have?
What kind of cancer? Where is it located? What does the pathologist’s report say? Get
a copy of it; you’re entitled to it. Keep asking questions until you understand exactly
what it means. Here are some general terms for starters:
➤ Ductal carcinoma in situ, lobular cancer in situ, or noninvasive carcinoma.
If your report lists these terms, you have what some medical folks today call
a pre-cancerous condition. The most important detail is the “in situ” or
“noninvasive” part. That means the condition is confined to the milk ducts
(ductal) or the milk lobules (lobular); it hasn’t spread anywhere. Of all the bad
news you can get, this is best.
➤ Invasive or infiltrating. These words will be connected with either “ductal” or
“lobular” and mean that your condition is no longer in situ, but has spread be-
yond the walls of the ducts or lobules.
Most other terms that may appear in your report are labels that tell how an invasive
ductal carcinoma looks: tubular (looks like little tubes), medullary (has the color of
the medulla, or brain tissue), mucinous (has mucus around it), papillary (has little fin-
gers, or papules, that stick out). Other terms, however, may label a rare kind of malig-
nancy, such as inflammatory breast cancer or Paget’s disease.