Stage III Cancer Survivors ...Five + Years and Out.
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So sorry Dee, this has to be very stressful! Did you have a PET Scan done also? You said the lump was in your arm? Was it one of you lymph nodes that was under your armpit or somewhere else? I had a lump down near my elbow but my ONC was not worried about it because I had all my lymph nodes removed in my right axilla as far as recurrence. I was stage 3 from the start but received a CPR from the chemo so when they removed all my lymph nodes they were considered dead - treatment affected.
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Hi Dee,
I had a recurrence as well. 10/14 nodes. Also told no staging for recurrence, just from what I've found I would be 3c as well.... whelp, aggressive chemo, surgery, rads this time plus switching from Tamoxifen (FLOP!) to Arimidex. Hope it does the trick as there are many many like us who come and go from these boards because they are moving on with their lives. Also the stage 4 club have women going at this for years that are NED or stable. Changing jobs, moving, raising kids. I hope we see the cure or are onto part of it with our current therapy. I hope you find some peace of mind and can take time to do some projects or travel...it really helps!
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Hi,
I just saw this thread. I post for my sister who is phobic about medical procedures and is afraid to read here herself because of the rough medical things people are sometimes going through. So she has me read her the helpful tips and comments and screen out the scary stuff.
My sister was diagnosed back in spring 2008 with Stage IIIC (5m tumour, 16 out of 23 lymph nodes, Grade III) and is still going strong. More than 9 years! Today she started on chemo after yesterday's scan results showed liver mets but the last 4 years she has been mostly on aromatase inhibitors (also palbociclib) so it's been a long time since the rough days of mastectomy, chemo and radiation.
This time the chemo is Taxol alone and the doctor said "Don't worry. It'll be a walk in the park" to which my sister responded "A walk in the park? Maybe a walk in a dark park, full of muggers…" :-) Her sense of humour has helped everything. Over the last 9 years, one thing my sister regrets is how much time she wasted worrying those first few years. It wasn't until the cancer recurred, 5 years in, that she stopped waiting for the other shoe to drop, put everything in God's hands and started really enjoying her life. It's been so great.
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So, I just snuck past the 5 year line on Thursday last and for the past couple of days have been wondering whether or not to post here. You see, someone who was diagnosed at the very same time as me had a recurrence in March of this year. This lady and I have kids in the same grade and went through chemo and radiation at the same time, so we've both been anxiously awaiting this major milestone. Now, she is quite ill and although I am obviously grateful for my own situation being NED, I am tip toeing around the celebratory aspect of things. However, I decided to go ahead with the post, because this thread is one of hope and I am very fortunate to be healthy and strong and living a full life with my 2 secret weapons, (my now teenage daughters) and my poor husband lol.... I am so thankful that a place like this forum exists and over the last 5 years, unbeknownst to them, the women here have been and continue to be a huge source of support to women like me.....so thank you! Continued good health to all..
Hugs,
Deirdre
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Congrats Deemay...thanks for sharing
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Six years for me in June! I don't come here often anymore but this thread was a lifeline for me when I was going through treatment and for the first few years afterward. Stay strong girls
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I have so far lived 6 years since my diagnosis - lobular 3B. I was supposed to get staging scans last summer, year 5, to make sure the beast wasn't back. However, I never got around to it. So, theoretically, I may not be NED as I post this, but I feel well and lead a full life. I plan to get the scanning done over the summer, and hopefully it won't reveal anything nasty.
My odds were not good. Even with all the treatment etc, 5-yr survival was somewhere between 50 and 80%, depending on which stats you consulted. My doctors were noticeably twitchy, especially the first 2-3 years post-DX.
I take no miraculous supplements. I try to eat my veggies, exercise and I keep my weight low. I also try to avoid things that make me unhappy and I seek out things that make me content.
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Congrats Deemay..understand your being gracious about 5 years..but here you can loudly celebrate with us!! Momine congrats on 6 years and I am sure your scans will show NED!! Cheering you both on for many more years of NED!!!
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Thank you DeeMay, oaktownmom and Momine. Congratulations . You give us hope.God bless you all.
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thank you ladies for coming back and posting. It is so important to all of us to know there is hope. Wishing you all continued health
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I check in about once a year on breastcancer.org forum in order to share my progress. I was diagnosed in November 2010, had chemo and radiation, and completed herceptin in the spring of 2012. I think my stats will show below as being stage 3A with many lymph nodes involved. My most recent mammogram was clear and I am feeling good. I am still exercising at least every other day at the gym with a girlfriend, and I'm physically active in the garden as well. I try to eat well, I drink sencha green tea several times a day. I never dreamed I would still be here (age 71), and so I am writing this in order to share and inspire hope in those who are in treatment right now.
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Evergreen9, you're doing more than me (I'm such a sloth)! Congratulations and I hope we see each other here every year for a long time.
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Absolutely delighted to see your post, Evergreen9! Seems there are just a few who are -er -pr Her2+ and stage 3a I'm doing the "health" things you are but will have to add the sencha green tea!!!
So happy you are doing well after 7 years--hope I can follow in your footsteps. Post more often on different sites and lift more of us who are a little behind you--- I'll love seeing it every time.Cyber hugs to you all--
Stephanie
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It's been so long that I forget to post. Sorry. I'm 12 years out, no recurrence. I had scary prognostic signs -- super aggressive path, very little response to neo adjacent chemo, her 2 pos, hormone neg. And yet...here I am! Healthy and getting old!
Sending love and healing to all my sisters.
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Thanks, Annaanne---so happy to see your post. Please come back more often--we all love to see the good news again and again--makes our day!
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I remember clearly when I spent most of my free time on this board for support and information. My favorite threads were the 5 and 10 years out. I would scan each post carefully to see what they had in common with me. Were they Stage III C? Was it really possible to survive with such a dire prognosis?
Here I am 8 years later. I'm not one of those people who totally turned my life around and ate clean and exercised. I did try to stay active, but I also spent too much time at the computer. My hope was I would be alive to see my daughters graduate from high school. My oldest is going to college next month and my younger daughter is a high school junior. There were dark days when this did not seem in the realm of possibility. For years, the thoughts of cancer were overwhelming.
I am here to tell you it does get better. You can bet the odds.
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In a few weeks I'll be having my 7 year cancerversary from diagnosis. In reading some of the comments I feel somewhat ashamed that I haven't done more healthy things for myself. I do eat less red meat now but that's about all I can think of, I still drink, eat things I shouldn't and hope to God I don't regret all this. I take my Arimidex daily, never forget it and am on my 2nd 5 years of it. I'm down to once a year starting this year with my surgeon appointments, now annual mammograms for the first time this year, still see my ONC maybe every 7 months or so, have side effects from all the treatments I've had but I've learned to accept them. They'll either stay the same, get better or worse, nothing I can about that. It's scary to think at the 10 year mark I'll be off Arimidex but that's 4 years away since I started it 6 years ago after surgery and on my year of Herceptin. I'm just trying to enjoy life as I can, hoping someday there will be a "cure" and hoping everyone can just hang in there.
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thank you for your posting.
Mimi
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My sister was dx with Inflammatory Breast Cancer IIIb 9 years ago. She has been NED since!
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beach, MY sister was dx with Inflammatory Breast Cancer IIIb 5 years ago, and she's NED as well. Yay for sisters!
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awesome ladies. Thank you so much for posting. It's so encouraging
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Hi, Just checking in. I am doing well after eight years. SharonMH
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Thank you Sharon and others. A breath of fresh air (well, after gardening tonight until dark). Still, much needed encouragement. Thanks!!!
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Thank you for posting your landmarks ladies. Keep coming back.
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Love this thread so much! Thanks to all who come back to post here!
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Hi Stage 3'ers...I usually hang out on the Triple Positive thread, but I follow this thread too...
I wanted to ask you all a question...once in awhile I come across information regarding stats that I find a bit upsetting (obviously!). It looks as though Stage 3 experiences about 40% recurrence ultimately (40 out of 100 women). And depending on subtype, that would sort of dictate the timeframe recurrence usually happens.
And then, other times, I hear or read where oncologists suggest that recurrence rates for Stage three are more like in the 25-30% realm.
I'm wondering what you've all heard. I realize stats don't mean a thing at the end of the day for me, but it does help a bit with your level of hope when you hear that perhaps stats are improving...
Thanks so much,
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PoseyGirl, aggressive BC, as Stage III mostly is, tends to recur early (within a couple of years) and that's why this five-year + thread is popular for those of us looking for inspiration. My breast surgeon says by year five your odds of recurrance drop back closer to lower stages. The earlier stages, on the other hand, are more likely to recur much later, a la O.N. John.
Anyway, thanks to all the people posting here.
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PoseyGirl and Traveltext: My surgeon believes in the 5 year mark as lessening of the reoccurrence but my ONC doesn't. I'm confused on which one would be right but I go with the surgeon. My ONC is very concerned with the Her2 status and keeps me on the 10 years of Arimidex. So far so good.
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It depends on the type of cancer. I was told that for IDC and stage 3 the risk of recurrence remains very high & IDC er+ is most likely to recur 10 and even 20 years post dx. it was never said to me that I would be dropping back down to those people with lower stages. I think we need to be sure we are talking about the same cancers otherwise it's misleading and confusing. .
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No, if you look at the statistics cancer is not most likely to occur 10-20 years after dx - if you are ER+ it can occur much later, but chances are definitely highest in the first 5-10 years. I am quite sure that almost every study will support this picture.
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