Topic: From Stage 1 to stage III a

Hi Bibbie,

I didn't have prior lumpectomies like you did, but I did have a mastectomy with expander, followed by chemo and rads.  I was expanded to the size we wanted me to be prior to radiation.  I finished radiation in June, 2007 and had the exchange done in October.  I researched this quite a bit, and found that many patients seemed to do well going this route, although there is a higher rate of complications.  There's a large study out of Georgetown that you can google on it.

I had a prophylactic mastectomy on the  other side also in October, and so far, so good.  I look fine in clothes, and the radiated side is doing okay.

Hope this helps.

Bobbie

I delayed recon for 2 years. That put me all through treatments and back at work.

I had a Lat dorsi flap as was concerned about high failure rates(of implants) with irradiated tissue. My flap looks good but is not as big as my other breast. It is about a cup size smaller. If I want I can add an implant which as now I have healthy tissue (my flap) to place it under will very likely NOT fail.

Believe it or not my 2 years with one breast were Not that bad. The prosthesis was excellent...I think it made me value my less than perfect recon too.

I hope you reach a happy place with your decisions and your treatments work like a charm. Many people survive this, why not you?

Hi Bibbie,

I had initally a lumpectomy biospy( no clear margins ), then lumpectetomy & axilliary dissection ( no clear margin and 10 pos nodes, then a mastectomy,

I had 4 A/C , then 4 Taxotere W herceptin ( I am her pos) then 35 rads. I continued on with Herceptin.

Anyway, I had implants before prior  to all of this all  and my breast surgeon advised me to leave them in. 6 mos after completing my rads, I had a propylactive left mastectomy, removal of old implants, with new saline implant reconstruction.  I am fine and you will be too, There are never any guarantees with radiated skin, but since my skin was expanded abit, it worked for me.

Good luck!

Bibbie,

 I was dx with DCIS in November 2006. In Jan07 (after a breast MRI and 3 more biopsies) I had a lumpectomy. The path report from that said I had 2 TINY points of invasion and the DCIS was more widespread than my BS originally thought, so I had left mastectomy in Feb 07. They discovered 7 big fat lymphnodes full of cancer. I ended up being a stage IIIa.

 Trust me, I know how it feels to think you're a Stage 0 and ending up a Stage IIIa! What a mind blower!

Sorry I can't help with any recon advice. I have not had any at all. At this point, I'm trying to decide about the right breast and implants. It can be very difficult to know what to do!

Best wishes and a big hug from Virginia for your suckie news! Good luck during chemo. You may want to get with a group of ladies getting chemo here on the chemo thread. That was a real lifesaver for me!

Miss S

OMG, I pretty much had the same thing happen as MissShapen.  In January 2008 I had a biopsy procedure and my gyno calls me at work to tell me I have DCIS.  I know he said that because he told me to write it down.  He said that I would have surgery, and "since we overtreat everything in our society now", radiation and be on tamoxofin (sp?) for about five years.  He was really casual about it.  He even said three women in has office have had it.

When I go to the surgeon they say to me "I do not know why your doctor told you that you have DCIS" it states right in the pathology report that it is invasive. 

Well based upon my age and talking to others I decide to have a bi-lateral mastectomy and move on with my life.  Well it turns out I had two tiny (each less than 2 cem), but very aggressive tumors, along with 10 out of 21 positive lymph nodes.  I also find out I am "triple negative".   

I am still in shock and disbelief that I have gone from what they call Stage 0 to Stage III.  It seems every time I go to the surgeon my situation gets a little bit worse.  I am at one of the best hospitals in the country, so I guess I have that going for me. 

I have had doctors now tell me that having the bilateral mastectomy was the best thing I could have done based upon my diagnosis.  I have had one chemo treatment so far and will be doing radiation after that.  I have the expanders in for reconstruction, but truthfully, reconstruction is such a low priority now.  

Thanks for letting me vent.

Lisa

OMG bibbie,

I cannot believe what that hospital put you through!!!!!

I hope that you have since changed doctors. What you had to go through is bad enough without being mismanaged from the outset.

I'm not sure where you live, but there are plenty of great plastic surgeons out there who will be able to help you once your major battle has been won. Need any names in NYC?

My prayers are with you.

LA

reported sophia

Bibbie, I had 6 rounds of chemo, also. I, also, could not do tissue transfer. But I didn't have radiation, so our cases aren't exactly the same. I was able to do the expansion and implants. However, there are others who have had the implants after radiation, so it is possible. I'm glad I had the reconstruction, but probably would have been just as happy without.

Bobbie, Lisa, MissShapen (love the name), my staging went from probably stage 1 based on core to Stage 2b/3a based on MRI and post mastectomy pathology, not sure because of neo adj chemo. Seemed like over the first year each time I talked to someone my prognosis dropped and the staging was worse.

I started out as stage 2a also. Now I am stage 3c/d....I don't even know. My initial tumor was 2 cms through u/s guided biopsy. Then they felt a node and my stage went higher. I had another biopsy where they removed a 7.5 cms tumor and I still had tumors left in me. I then had a MRI which bunch of nodes matted together. So I don't even know what my stage is anymore. I will never know for sure as I am having neo-adj chemo and hopefully most of the tumor will be gone when they do the mast. Every doctor visit and report has made things worse. Yesterday I had a followup MRI which was the first positive report since the whole thing started. It actually showed improvement in the tumor because of chemo.