Living with breast cancer - year three
For those new to my blog, I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Grade 3 Invasive Pleomorphic Lobular Carcinoma of the Breast that is HER2- and hormone receptor-positive in August 2019. Different types of breast cancer Stage 2 means the tumour is larger than 20 mm and has not spread to the axillary lymph nodes. Grade 3 means faster-growing cancer that is more likely to spread. Invasive applies to cancer that has spread from where it began in the breast to surrounding normal tissue. Pleomorphic refers to how the cells appear under the microscope - multiple shapes and sizes. The cells display abnormal cores and irregular cellular division. The term lobular speaks about where the tumour originated - in the breast's milk-producing glands or lobules. HER2 is the acronym for the protein called human epidermal growth factor receptor 2. The HER2 receptor has a vital role in normal cell growth and division. In HER2-positive cancers, the cells have extra copies of the gene that makes the HER2 protein