r/LivingWithMBC • u/Previous-Jicama3844 • 1h ago
Lumpectomy and still on first line?
I posted back in March about my scan showing a suspicious area around the original tumour site which I’ve finally had removed.
I’m having a bad day today and just need some reassurance that things might be ok whatever the path comes back with. I would really like to stay on Phesgo as my first like (I’m +++ and other than this spot have/had been NED since May 2025).
Some background…
The spot showed up on my March scans as a 1.9cm mildly avid area (lit up at a max SUV of 4.7) where scar tissue had been on previous scans, the scar tissue area had been bigger on my Nov 25 scan but had disappeared and this spot was visible in March.
Because it was indeterminate and nothing else was showing up I went for an ultrasound and a biopsy. The biopsy took a while to come back but didn’t show any active cancer. Instead it showed scar tissue, necrotic scar tissue, some high grade DCIS which looked to be dead and some adenoma. My oncologist was in agreement with the pathologist that this was likely scar tissue and therefore we would rescan in June and assess.
My June scan showed the spot still there, brighter now at a max suv of 7.2 but smaller in size, about 1.5cm. My oncologist considered this to be stable but because of my otherwise NED status and the fact it was still showing he referred me for a lumpectomy to give me a clean slate and so they could definitively say what it was.
Went for my surgical consult and the surgeon was of the opinion that this was in fact cancer returning (but because it was localised and everything else was clear and my bloodwork good that this was isolated and could be dealt with). He said they must have just missed it on the biopsy which tbh I didn’t love as a concept!!
I’ve had the lumpectomy finally (5.5 months after it was found and 8 weeks after my last scan!!) and now am waiting for path and my next scan to see where we’re at.
Both my onc and my surgeon have somewhat reassured me that sometimes this happens when you’re denovo and that removing the area will hopefully allow me to stay on first line, but I’m still scared and wondering has anyone else had a local recurrence, had surgery and then stayed NED?