Stage 2B with positive nodes
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Hi Colt, I was diagnosed in July 2011 stage 2B. 1/20 nodes, 2cm tumor, er and pr+, had 6 rounds of TAC and 33xradiation. I had just turned 40 and literally couldn't speak for 2 weeks. My kids were then 6 and 4. My oncologist is so positive, told me I was cancer free after surgery and the chemo, radiation and Tamoxifen is an insurance policy. The first thing the surgeon said to me was "Of course breast cancer can be fatal, but the vast majority of women live long and healthy lives after diagnosis". And he's right! Today I feel great, pretty much back to normal.
Things will get better!!0 -
Colt45
Stage 2B here too....I had a large tumor and had chemo first..so I had to wait quite a while before I could be staged.......... When I first saw the surgeon after my biopsy, he was quite positive about my prognosis, he gave me a kind of battle scenario, said being Er+, there were a lot of weapons in the arsenal they could use. I was still in my shocked and dazed state at being told I had bc, but he managed to help me feel better and more positive about what was ahead for me. The initial plan was to have the surgery first and plans were made and I was on the schedule for a mx.
Went to the oncologist...she sent me for a breast MRI....at our appt to discuss the results, she told me that the tumor was very close to invading the chest wall, and she told me about my Her2 status which in my case was positive. The surgeon had not told me about that. I knew that I was facing 5 months of chemo, but when she told me that I would also have to have herceptin for a whole year....that was so daunting to me at the time. She also said that it would be best for me to have the chemo first in order to shrink the tumor before surgery. Everything I thought was going to happen was all being changed so quickly, it was overwhelming. By the next Tues. I was having a port put in and the day after that I was in the chemo lounge. Hardly time to catch my breath, but I can say that once treatment was finally started, I felt better knowing that we were finally going after the cancer.
I did not know about these boards during my active treatment. I wish I would have found BC.org then. I didn't go googling around too much...according to a lot of ladies on here, that was probably a good thing. Didn't need to be any more scared than I already was!
My attitudes and coping strategies: honestly, I have been all over the map. At first I would often just go into my bedroom and lay there and think the worst of thoughts. That was not very helpful...and when I realized that. I moved on from there. On these boards, I see and admire a lot of the women here who seem to have a natural strength and fighting spirit about them....perhaps because I can be the opposite of that....I have always been a quiet and shy person....often a bit too timid for my own good. My husband has said many times to me "You are too nice".....he doesn't mean that as a compliment. I had to get to the place where I made up my mind that I wasn't going to give in to bc and all the fears that it brings with it. For me, prayer helped and to anyone who asked if they could put me on a prayer list...I said, yes, please do!!! But along with that, I did have to reach down, and find that I had some hidden reserves of 'fight' in myself that I didn't even know I had....some days were easier than others, but I just kept pressing on. Sometimes real life just kept me going....had some time off during the worst of the chemos, but I was eventually able to get back to work.....my dd was still in high school and I had to be there for her. You do what you have to do.....often with great fatigue, but now I look back and that time seemed to have passed so quickly. You get through the treatments and one day you finally start to notice that your energy is coming back, ( along with your hair!) and you feel the old life returning. There may always be an edge now, but you try and not take things for granted as it could be so easy to do before bc.
In some of my darkest days, I put away things I loved, couldn't listen to music I liked, didn't want to do any of my hobbies, etc. Those days didn't last, thank goodness. I found that old adage to be true...'.This too shall pass'.
Everyone experiences it differently...but its always better not to go through it alone. I join with the others in commending you on your quest to find out whatever information will help your wife, and will be praying for her and you both.
jaytee
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@Monica1971: We have kids, ages 4 & 8. When the BS was reviewing pathology with us my wife was like "I'm going to throw up"... I appreciate your story of how low you were and how it's gotten better. I need to believe that we can get there.
@Jaytee: Thank you for your prayers and story. There's plenty of dark moments for me, particularly when I'm away from my family. I immediately feel better when I'm home with them.
I can't say it enough: I can't wait until the old survival data gets replaced to reflect the hope we've been given.0 -
I am new here and so glad to find people with 2B BC, too. I have a unique case and am also facing a big decision Wednesday. I had breast augmentation nov 2011, my PS discovered the lump when I was doing my 6 month follow up for my implants. Turned out to be a 2.5x7cm tumor. My dr did chemo on the front side in hopes to shrink it first. After TWO attempts to get in the margins thru lumpectomy and finding micro cancer in my SN. I'm left with what to do next??? I got a second opinion. One dr gave me 6 options...least to most. i can do radiation now and keep what I got, get out the axillary nodes and rad, try lump again along with node removal, or just a lump and keep the nodes, or mx one or both. I'm 45 and have a 7 yr old I want to see have grand kids!!! I would like to find someone that chose the lessor of my options. I'm not ready for a MX and i want to keep my nodes. I am terrified of recurrence!!! I feel amazing and cant believe something so terrible is in my body! i have completely changed my diet and am hoping that will help with defeating the cancer. You all are amazing and I am so glad I found this site!
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Bumping in case someone can help Sharlene3767.
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Hi there - I was diagnosed Stage IIB at the age of 42...three kids who were 12, 10, and 8 at the time. That was 18 months ago. Although I do think about it everyday, because I am a research freak and feel the need to keep myself informed (thus, my daily visit to BCO), I have not shed a tear in months and months over my diagnosis. I had neoadjuvant chemotherapy TC x 6 because I had multi-focal disease with smallish-sized breasts with hopes I could have lumpectomy. In the end, that wasn't possible and I had a BMX. Going into surgery, the doctors felt that I had no lymph node involvement because all my scans were indicating nothing obvious. Well, lo and behold, during my SNB, two sentinels had cancer in them so I had to undergo an ALND. I am doing just fine, exactly one year later, both physically and emotionally. Like Special-K, I didn't freak out, nor did my husband. Did I have moments of going to that deep dark place....absolutely. But, I had three children that I needed to be a mom to. I never wanted to be an emotional wreck in front of them. I guess my attitude has always been that there are no guarantees in life. I have seen family and friends lose children in tragic accidents. I have two close friends who were diagnosed at Stage IV.....I actually felt fortunate to be diagnosed at stage II! My faith is what saw me through the hard times!
Charlene - If you have any more questions about a BMX, please let me know. I have zero regrets regarding my BMX. I realize everyone is different, but I wouldn't change a thing!
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@wildrumara:
Your diagnosis is similar to my wife's. She was diagnosed at 41 and also had a BMX because she had a multifocal situation.
You're about 1 year ahead of us. I am now a big fan of your's.
If I might ask: Did you do rads?
Thanks and bless you.0 -
Ahhhh....the ever so difficult rads question! I have posted many times regarding my situation and rads. I think I am going to try to copy and paste a private message to send to you that I've sent to other gals because I have been asked this question many times and have responded many times. The answer is no, I did NOT have radiation, despite being in that dreaded "gray" area. I basically had three opinions too. Two positive nodes has only recently been categorized as being in a gray area....like in the last 3 years! That was probably the toughest decision I had to make throughout this entire journey!! I will get back to you as soon as possible via private message.
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@wildrumara:
I wanted to thank you publicly for the response delivered to me privately---and with such expediency!
You are another example of the character and kindness that the best of this site's members has to offer.
Bless you.
Anyone else out there that can share... Please DO. I want to hear from you. You will be helping me and I'm certain many others out a great deal!0 -
Hi Colt,
I am off to work but wanted to quickly post here...I am a stage IIb gal, grade 3, 4 cm tumour, er+, pr+ with 3 positive lymph nodes. I was given an excellent prognosis by my oncologist. I am living life and healthy 7.5 years beyond bc!
Hang in there, the emotional stuff does get easier over time....
Michele
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Curlylocks, that is great and very encouraging! I love when people like you pop in.
I read an interesting article yesterday that the Oncotype test has been shown to be a strong predictor of locoregional recurrence in node positive, er+ women. They suggested that this might be used in order to decide those of us who would benefit from radiation therapy. I'm not sure what the status of these findings are, if it will be applied in practice right away, but thought you guys would be interested!
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@Curlylocks:
Thanks for the emotional shot in the arm. Bless you and wishes for continued good health.0 -
Colt45,
Best wishes to you and your beautiful wife! I was also 41 at diagnosis....
Michele
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Colt/All,
Great thread. I will post more tomorrow (tired), but I am stage IIB, one positive lymph node, 44 years old. I'm triple negative, so my prognosis is lower than that of many 2Bs, but I am doing the most aggressive local treatment (bilateral mastectomy plus radiation) and did "big guns" chemo. I had a partial response to chemo. Onc puts my survival odds at 85 percent. Triple negative is unusual in that nearly all recurrences, whether local or metastatic, occur within five years. No tamoxifen, herceptin, femara, etc. since hormone negative.
I read that Olivia Newton-John was triple negative, as was Robin Roberts.0 -
@Curlylocks: Thank you. You are a source of inspiration.
@placid44: Thanks for contributing. Please do come back and share more. I have always wondered what Olivia Newton John's diagnosis was. It has also been said on here that she was Stage 3----but I've never been able to confirm that.0 -
The women with 1-3 positive nodes who have mastectomies are considered in the gray zone. There is evidence that it boosts survival in the long-term, especially after 10 years. However, the benefit does not outweigh the side effects for some women. For example, my friend who is BRCA+ decided not to do it because her risk of skin cancer would increase by 10% because of her gene. Knowing how high your locoregional recurrence risk was could help you make the decision of whether it was worth it to you or not.
These new findings may have clinical implications in node-positive patients treated with adjuvant chemo-endocrine therapy as they consider post-mastectomy chest wall or regional nodal radiotherapy, and post-lumpectomy regional nodal radiotherapy.
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RC1,
Makes sense. My decision was based on my individual risk, largely being triple negative. My breast surgeon said my risk of local recurrence was 2-4 percent with mastectomy and 8-12 percent with lumpectomy...and on the higher end of those ranges since I am triple negative. They recur more often.
I chose to have the non-affected breast removed as well, in part because for triple negatives under age 50 (only), it improves survival, according to the below.
Anecdotally, other triple negative women recommended that I do bilateral mastectomy because they had met other triple negatives who Did not have bilateral, they recurred in the opposite breast and it went metastatic. My medical oncologist also recommended bilateral because it's "the only way I have to reduce your risk." (No targeted follow up treatment since TNBC.)
I should be clear that plenty of oncologists and breast surgeons recommend lumpectomies to their patients. This issue came up on another thread. They are individual situations. So I am not suggesting that lumpectomy is inferior treatment. In fact, I've read recently that lumpectomy PLUS radiation has better survival than mastectomy alone. I'm doing mastectomy plus radiation.
Like many women, my biggest fear through this whole experience is going metastatic. I keep reading on these boards of Stage 1 women who develop metastatic disease and it really scares me. I also don't understand it.
On a far less important note, my hair is coming in gray and thin. I had thick brown hair before. My "triple positive" friend got different chemo from me and her hair came in brown and thicker/normally. I'm afraid the adriamyacin killed mine permanently. A celebrity triple negative from Fox News came in gray and stayed gray. I'd be curious what the rest of you have seen/heard.
"Only limited data are available on the survival impact of mastectomy contralateral to a unilateral breast cancer. Analysis of women included in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database treated with mastectomy for a unilateral breast cancer during 1998-2002 showed that contralateral mastectomy performed at the time of treatment of a unilateral cancer was associated with a reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality only in the population of young women (18-49 years of age) with stage I/II, ER-negative breast cancer (hazard ratio 0.64; 95% CI, 0.44-0.94; P = .025)." Source: National Comprehensive Cancer Network, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines), Breast Cancer, Version 2.2012, NCCN.org, page MS-12.0 -
placid44, I had dose dense AC x 4 and weekly taxol x 12. I'm sure this is probably what you had. Before chemo, I had a few strands of gray hair which I plucked out. I have never coloured my hair! Now, I have strands all over. My hair is about three inches now - I finished chemo August 31. I still wear my wig as I just don't like having short hair. I will be getting it cut and styled for the first time tomorrow!
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Hi placid44,
I have almost the exact same profile as you, and I did the same treatment - BMX, chemo, rads...the triple negative diagnosis was so scary, and I just wanted to do everything I could. This way, at least if the worst happens, I won't have to look back and feel like I could have done something to prevent it from coming back. I really struggled with the radiation question, but between the 1 micromet in my sentinel node, and the lymphvascular invasion, and the multi-focal tumor, and being diagnosed at 31...I was/am just too terrified. I'm so frightened of metastasis, and sometimes the news on triple negative is so scary that I feel like there's no hope. I finished my last rads on New Year's Eve, but I find myself feeling sadder and more alone than ever. Sorry for such a blue post!
Colt45, your wife is very lucky to have you - it sounds like you are really supporting her and approaching her treatment as a team, which I'm sure is making a world of difference to her.
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Ah! The first visit post-chemo to the hair salon! Absolute BLISS. Enjoy!
I coloured my hair red for years (I'm a natural blond), so I had absolutely no idea how gray I'd become over the years. I had DD AC+T x 4 and, when my hair came in, it was light blond with silvery-grey. I, now, touch it up with platinum-blond streaks to even it out.
Prior to chemotherapy, my hair was baby-fine and wavy; now it's thick and crazy-curly. I've been keeping it short like my avatar picture 'cause I just don't know how to handle it. The top layers have grown out a bit and I've been flat-ironing the snot out of them so they lie a bit more flat.
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Colt45, I'm another who was IIb with one positive node. I had a mastectomy because I had multifocal tumors. Did chemo, and because I also had significant lymphovascular invasion, I also had radiation. The RO said that I was in the grey area, but it was pretty dark grey.
I have since had a prophylactic mastectomy on the other side, and the radiate side does feel tighter, but it's not uncomfortable. My MO gave me a 90% chance of remaining NED. I don't know if that qualifies as an excellent prognosis or not (personally, I'd prefer 100%), but I'll take it. 0 -
RC1 - Enjoy your haircut! That's great.
Fhny - Thanks for posting. It is good to hear from someone with similar pathology and treatment. Congrats on finishing rads. We've done all we can. I hope you start to feel better soon! I'm finding all of this very hard also, but looking forward to little things: spring, exercise, and farmer's markets. I think eating well and getting a lot of sleep are helping. I haven't exercised since August, but have doctor's ok to run or do other strenuous exercise in two weeks.0 -
@Hildy910: Great to hear from you. We were multifocal, too... and that's what steered us to MX as well. One pathologist said 'LVI not present' another said 'few foci suspicious' for LVI. We're some shade of grey, too. Chemo was an easy decision for us. The rads decision is still undetermined.
You know, 90% chance of remaining NED sounds pretty good. We all want 100%, but nobody is 100%. Ever. Not even the ladies who never get it.
It's not that I don't think my wife will be OK. I DO. It's just the fact that something is threatening her. I hate that. It makes no logical sense to think the 10% is going to be the outcome that happens. None.
And we all understand that these probabilities are just numbers and not necessarily US----and that there's no guarantees.... BUT a very qualified professional is telling you in no uncertain terms that your odds are overwhelmingly good that you'll remain NED.
Bless you.
I'm glad to see the Stage 2B, node positive ladies coming out in force. Such a warm, kind and intelligent group as well.
Let's support each other.
Bless you all.0 -
Hi
Just wanted to say ' hello'. I'm 5 years out from dx and was grade 3 with 3 out of 24 nodes affected.
Just also want to say that I'm doing great, enjoying life.
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@maltomlin:
Great to hear and great to have you here. You're an inspiration.0 -
Yay Maltomlin! Fantastic to hear.
The first post chemo haircut was divine. It's amazing how much you appreciate all these little things when you don't get to do them for a while.
Now I'll be able to go hang out at the spa for hours on end.Also, just a little celebration that this is my LAST week of active treatment!!! Goodness, it's been a year and two months since my diagnosis. I'll be Toronto celebrating up a storm starting Friday. I'll be sure to toast to all of you!
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Hi, there!!! I had bi-lateral Stage 2b with one positive node. My right breast was actually Stage 1, but my onc said we will treat it very aggressively because my left breast had the bigger tumor and positive node. I had 4 treatments of Adrimicin, Cytoxin and then 4 more treatments of taxotere. I then had a bi'-lateral mastectomy, followed by 37 radiation treatments. I also had a complete hysterectomy to futher get rid of the estrogen. I am currently on aromasin. I have been on it for almost 7 years with 3 more years to go. I am 8 years out. You are a wonderful husband and you and your lovely wife will get through this together. You are both going to be survivors of this insidious disease. God bless you!!!!
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@kindergarten: Thanks for your kindness and positivity towards my wife. Bless you. I hope to be here 8 years out, giving others hope as you have... and that you are cruising past your 16th year at that time and still visiting here as an inspiration.
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Dear Colt45!!! Thank you for your kind post!! We will all be here 16 years out, I just know it. One more positive note, your wife's grade is good!!!! I was a Grade 3 and still going strong. Your wife will be too. Hugs and Blessings, Kathy
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