Stage III Cancer Survivors ...Five + Years and Out.
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ann273 that is exactly what I needed to hear today! I was diagnosed just over 2 years ago and although it has gotten easier, my 13 positive node status drew gasps again this morning from a nurse who came to check on my diep reconstruction dressings. Seriously people! Some consideration please! Having said that, it is 2 years on, and I am living life to the fullest!
Thanks Ann for the post
all the best......D
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Thank you so much Ann for sharing your story. DeeMay, your right some people just don't think. Don't worry about lymph node involvement. I have a very good friend who had 23 nodes positive with 3 tumours in the breast at diagnosis and HER+ and she's going on 7 years and doing fine. She says her life is so hectic she doesn't even think about it anymore. She helped me through some very hard days.
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Aw Tania, cheers for that! It is so uplifting to hear stories like your friend's. I never tire of them!
Continued good health to both of you! YaY!!🎉
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Wonderful Maryannecb! Thanks to the others who shared survival stories:)
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Love this thread, gives us so much hope
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Hey Maryanne, Yes, I knew you would be here. Congrats on not only the 9 years, but also how wonderful for you to have raised such great kids. It's all so wonderful.
After 9 years we are so blessed to be planing retirement.
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Hi Ladies!
I was a stage 3C and I am now 12 years out! You will stop thinking about it eventually....
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Norita19, thank you for sharing...congratulations!
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Norita19, thanks for your post! I need to hear from other stage 3 survivors...many hugs to you.
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Thank you for coming back and giving us the gift of hope norita!
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Hi Girls,just found this thread. Like others I search the site constantly for girls with a similar dx who are doing well, to give me some hope that I too can enjoy a future with my husband. Just wondering if any of you know of someone with a similar dx to me who is doing well 5 or 10 years out. Desperate for some reassuring news.
Also found lump in remaining breast which ultrasounded normal, but still scared!! About to finish taxol in 5 weeks so told I can have a scan then. I want an MRI as mammo did not pick up tumour in R breast. Unfortunately we do not tend to do neoadjuvant therapy here so never got this opportunity.
Keen to hear from some survivors.
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Gretta....Glad you found us, but wish you didn't need to....I'm 8+ years since Dx. Bilat, TAC chemo, rads, ooph and 3 1/2 years of AI's. I was turning 50 at time of Dx. Let me know how I can help you. Karen
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Thanks Karen,I'm ER+/Pr+ her2 + It was multifocal had R mastectomy with anterior margin of just 0.4mm so am terrified . I wanted L proph mast but surgeon said there was no tumour on MRI so wasn't gonna take a healthy breast, so now that has me worried too. Also grade 3 aahh!! Just can't get my head around this & it's been 6 months.
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When I was first diagnosed I roamed around this site just wanting to know that there were ladies who are five years plus who had stage 3....and still are NED. I wanted hope from anyone or any source.
I promised myself that if I was fortunate enough to live 5 years I would share my blessing. So here I am, 5 years later...actually almost 6 to my Dx. If I was snoopy.. I would be doing the happy dance for you!
The whole experience makes me very thankful for my life....yet looking back it seems to be just part of the road that I have travelled. I actually have days that I don't think of Breast Cancer. I have had a pain that I didn't immediately think of the worst, and thats just amazing. :-)) Cause most of the time I still crosses my mind.
My hair is pretty and long again, my kids are getting older. (senior and sophmore) Breast cancer is still too prevalent though. My daughters boyfriend's mom is also a survivor. he is proudly wearing his arm pink band this month.
Please have hope, and worry less, if thats possible. Enjoy your moment in time, and know that today, this second, you are still on this earth, and can make someone smile. My dear friend, who was one of the most worried about my diagnosis, died of a heart attack 2 years after my dx. Its funny and cruel how "healthy" doesn't always get the farthest along the road. So enjoy today. Tomorrow's sunrise is a gift to anyone..not just a warrior in pink.
I want this to be a celebration post though, just a small lesson in the text above.
Thank you to all my doctors, nurses, Xray techs, and family members/friends that made my journey both possible and full of kindness and love!
I hope you all repost after your 5 years....it brings hope to us when we most need it.
Robin
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Robin, that was beautiful....thank you and congratulations!
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riritchey....thank you for giving us all such a warm and loving hug!! I am so grateful you came back to share your 5 year celebration with us and I promise that if the Lord gives me 5 years NED I'll do the same!! It's sisters like you that can only give this gift of encouragement....but you've walked where we are....thank you again!!
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Robin, thank you for such a beautiful post. So nice to hear such inspirational words, I look forward to sharing my own in 2019 and would like to hear your 10 year words of inspiration at that time.
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Robin, thank you so much for your encouraging and inspirational post. It's wonderful when ladies like yourself come back and let us know how you're going. It gives us hope that there really is a rainbow at the end of the storm.
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I would LOVE to hear updates from Stage 3 ILC survivors beyond five years!!! I'm battling right now, and the highs are really high and the lows are really, really low. If you have followed integrative or alternative methods, I would be grateful to hear from you. And if you had tissue expanders from HELL, but had great relief when you finally had your reconstruction, I would love to hear from you about that too!
My thanks, and my heartfelt wishes for good health for you all.
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beyond 5 years here .... multifocal stage 3a ILC
been a busy week as we've been visiting the central california coast ... still have moments of feeling the bubble could break especially as onc is going to take me off of arimidex soon as he says 10 years is as far as he wants to take it .... i was 98% ER+ so i do worry about that but i know he'll watch things closely ...
i never got recon so can't help there but did want to wave at you from this side of 10 years - best to you
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This is a wonderful way to lay my head down to sleep! Thank you, Jenni, for reaching out to me. Did you have your ovaries taken out??? I was 99% ER+, so my oncologist has told me that I need to have mine out and then I'll start on Arimidex. And any alternative or integrative methods that you've followed?
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Hi
I am a fifteen year survivor and still going strong!! Sixteen years next April!!
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My thanks to you, Sarah, for reaching out to me! So glad that you are approaching sixteen years!!! Wonderful!
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warrior - no ooph as i was already postmeno - dx'd when i was 53 ... was in tx for a year, then worked for a year and retired from the corporate world at 55 then dh and i did some consulting for a few more years ... now fully retired ...
after tx dh and i made the decision to up our activity level ... so walk at least 10 miles a week, garden, project around the house, travel, etc i never smoked but i still like my wine so not a poster child for the ideal life style but we do eat lots of veggies from our own large garden - no pesticides or herbacides - and since we live in socal it grows most of the year plus we freeze a lot so rarely have to buy store bought veggies .... lots of fish and chicken rarely beef ...
glad you found bc.org it was so important to me during tx and the year or so after ... i'm sure some of the other oldtimers will see this thread and post ... many of us just drop in now and then ...
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Hi, Jenni! Thank you for the additional information. Every survival story lifts me up and helps my mind focus on the positive. Please keep in touch. Best, Warrior
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SIX YEARS OUT.
Just had my annual check-up with my ONC (so glad to say it's come to that!) Six years, and everything still looks good. Slight lymphadema in my arm and under my armpit, tolerating the anastrazole reasonably well, and just happy to be feeling the natural effects of growing older. Only we know the joy of hearing, "Just a little arthritis there."
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Oh, wonderful, Nancy!!! Congratulations!! Six years!!! Woohoo, sister! I am thrilled for you and your family, and am buoyed up by this positive news! I am curious...did you alter anything substantially after your diagnosis and treatment? By way of nutrition/diet, exercise, stress reduction, etc.?
Please keep in touch. Best, Warrior
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No, not really, warrior 2014. I've only been a little more conscious about things and that might have stopped me from being a real pig, lol. But I always had a fairly balanced diet (like my veggies as much as meat). Never smoked, but I do drink. But like I said, being more aware now might keep me from over indulging, but it certainly hasn't stopped me.
As for exercise, I had spent the year previous to diagnosis training for and completing a half marathon. Treatment kind of put a damper on maintaining that level. Injuries and growing older have also put me off regular exercise these days. But since it didn't keep it at bay seven years ago, I kind of don't see the point of doing it now, especially since it would be more painful. Knee joints and hips have developed arthritis that gets worse with certain activity like bending or long walks.
Stress has been virtually eliminated since I was laid off and decided to make it semi-retirement two years ago. Liked my job but hated my commute. Now I take on freelance work at home. So that's the only "positive" change and it wasn't of my own doing.
I'm definitely not your model survivor
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Congratulations, Nancy! (BTW, I LOVE your tagline!)
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Thank you again, Nancy for being so forthcoming with your story! It's quite an undertaking to decide what to do and how to do it....wish our country's focus was more on women never having to contemplate recurrence...as in them never getting it in the first place. Again, my best to you, Nancy!
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