A place to greet and meet newbies to stage III
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Hi, bride, I think Teavana's tea is OK, but overpriced. I tried them once. The teas are good, but no better than the other places I mentioned and more expensive.
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Thank you! My mom as Alzheimers and has Stage IIIa lobular with 8 lymph nodes involved. she had a partial mysectomy and after getting the pathology and reading, I wish she had gotten a full.
The onc today recommended chemo for 4-6 mos, followed by radiation, and the pill. He was clear to indicate that there is a HIGH probability it will recur. Does this mean in the other breast I wonder. I asked and he said he would call me tomm. Outside the presence of the folks, I guess.
I wonder if I should be tested.
Thank you for this site. It is fabulous.
Barbara
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Bamemory, this must be really tough to deal with since your mom has Alzheimers. Did the oncologist do an oncotype test to determine the risk of recurrence. ILC has a higher chance of recurrence in the other breast, which is one reason I opted for a bilateral mastectomy, but the oncotype would determine the particular risk of recurrence for your mom.
If I were you, I'd get tested for the BRCA genes, but that's definitely something to ask the oncologist.
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hello all,
I am new here. I am 37 with a 6 year old son. My husband found a lump in October and I was diagnosed with IDC on October 6. I had double mastectomy on 11/11 with tissue expanders, ancillary node dissection and Mediport placement. I am negative for BRCA gene and have no family history.
My pathology came back and I am stage 3. Tumor was grade 8. 3 out of 18 nodes were positive. It's HER2 + 3. It was 2.5cm.
Doesn't grade 8 sound very high?
So now that they took it out, am I still a stage 3?
I start chemo in a few weeks, once I'm healed from the mastectomies. I will be receiving ACTH for 20 weeks. I guess the first four rounds are the AC and are the most difficult.
I apologize if I already posted this, I'm trying to make my way around the site. I also don't understand all of the acronyms yet so please bear with me! I still have to figure out how to put all the stats on my siggy too.
Thanks everyone for being there. It's good to have a place to come to where we can relate and support one another.
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Hi Nursie,
Welcome to our board. I am sorry yoru joining us , but it's an awesome site to get good information, resources and comfort.
Some info might help:
The Stage III dx doesn't change after surgery or tx. Please rememeber it's only an assignation in oder for you to receive t aggressive treatment, which I see you're going to receivewhich is ( good to kick Cancers Butt)
Also there is no grade 8.The grading runs 1, 2, and 3. and signifies how fast the cells replicate. The HER+ 3 means that you are positive for the HER mutation an amplification of X3.
Some people don't have a hard time with AC. Make sure you drink lots and ltos of water the day before,the day of and the day after your infusions.
You didn't say if your er/ pr negative or positive... If your er/pr positive your doc will also recommend an estrogen block.
Come here often. we've all been ther and will walk you through it. You wil be ok
For me; I had 12 nodes pos. , her2 + too and actually had the exact same treatment your docs are recomending.
Anyway, I just wanted to wish you well. I am coming up on 10 years out of a Stage IIIC dx and perfectly well. There are many of us out there!
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thank you Ikc
- Something I have is a grade 8 out of 9? I will have to ask again. I'm neg for the hormones. Positive for Her2. Thanks for the support and advice
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Hi Nursie,
I just wanted to respond to your question. A score of 8 out of 9 means your cancer is grade 3.
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Thats the bloom/Richardson scale. it is a measurement of three separate things, to find out what grade you are. I am 9/9. Sounds like you are 8/9. but I think that means that yours is a grade 3 too, like mine, which means chemo willl be very effective, and so will tamoxifen or aromatase inhibitors. It means the cells arent acting like good ol breast cells very much!
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oh I found it. It's a grade 3 tumor with a score of 8. I will ask what that means.
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ahh cross post. Thank you ladies!
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Thanks, young turk! I had read her question, and then walked away before responding, so I didn't see you until I posted my answer! also wanted to tell nursie, welcome, sorry you have to join us but we are the most helpful group of wimmen you will find. Hope it goes easy for you..
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Hi Nursie, sorry u have to join us, but welcome. These boards have been so helpful to me as they will be for you. I have 2 young ones as well. That stresses me out on top of everything else. But ur not alone.
This is to everyone.....in terms of treatment, I find everybody that is stage 2 and up gets 4AC and 12 taxols in general. Is there something more aggressive than that
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dancing diva - I had a BMX at Stage zero 2 years before recurrence to Stage III. I got 6 tx of Taxotere/Carboplatin/Herceptin & Perjeta every 3 weeks. Then ALND surgery. Then i got 4 tx of Adriamycin/Cytoxan every 3 weeks. Then rads. Then Herceptin for the rest of a year. In addition to your stage & grade, it depends the size of the tumor(s), if you're hormone + or -, if you had a double mastectomy or lumpectomy, & on your HER2 status. And probably a bunch of other stuff I haven't taken into account.
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I was diagnosed as ILC Stage 3a, grade 2 ER+, PR+, HER2- on 9/22/14. Bilateral Mastectomy 10/24/14 with sentinel nodes and axillary nodes removed. I had 3 of 15 lymph nodes test positive with one of them having the walls breached.
I had my port placement surgery today.
I start chemo December 1st. AC - 1 treatment every other week for 4 treatments then Taxol at 1 a week for 12 weeks after that radiation. I'll also be taking Tamoxifen for 10 years according to the MO.
I was told I have a 50% chance some cancer cells could be floating around in my body so that's why the need for chemo, etc. and there's always the 50% chance of recurrence.
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Welcome Nursie & Laura.....Chemo is a nightmare for some, not that bad for others. I thought A/C ( the red devil ) was legal torture. Taxol was easy for me.
I have been on these boards for one year now. I found BCO when I was on my 7 th tx, out of 8. My Taxol was dose dense, like A/C, so every 2 weeks.
Everyone has different reactions. Be kind to yourself. Being stage 3, having aggressive tx, it is a 8-9 month process. Well more if you are Her+.
Laura, I was told that our reoccurrence rate is 65% cured, 35% chance of mets. Scary no matter what the #s are. Time does help, I was strong during chemo, and hit the emotional, anxiety part during radiation.
I hated comments from others about " just stay positive". I wanted to whack them upside the head. Of course , they meant well. I have a good friend who would literally sob every time I saw her. Annoying.
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Hello, fellow future survivors. I am 38, have a 10 and 8 year old, and I will start chemo in 2 days. A/C for 4 2 week cycles, then 12 weeks of Taxol. I have stage 3 ILC, 10 positive nodes out of 31, with at least two node walls breached. Thank you to everyone who has posted their experiences,
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Welcome ladies! Sorry to see you join this board but you will find a lot of support and info.
I found radiation to be tiring for the fact that you have to be at the hospital everyday.
I had FEC-D chemo treatment 6 rounds every 3 weeks and I thought the D part (Taxorete) was hard but doable.
I find that it is hard emotionally once all the treatments are completed as you have to find a new normal.
Wow Laura and Holeinone those are some scary %, my breast surgeon gave me 25% of recurrence if all treatments are completed (surgery, chemo, radiation and hormone therapy in ER/PR+) and my MO (medical oncologist) hasn't given me any % of recurrence or mets.
Let's hope that chemo does its job and kills any dormant cells there's left.
Good luck with your treatments and don't feel shy to post whenever you need to!!!
Hugs!!
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Lolis, I like your breast surgeon.....lol....my oncologist just danced around the bottom line. After all the active treatments were over, I saw a nurse practitioner who counseled the bc "patient". She went over everything that I did, possible long term side effects, getting back to normal. She was the one that told me to concentrate on the 65%, not the 35%.... It was a fantastic, one time session. She was very open, honest & was not in any hurry.
Charlotte. Welcome also....you & Lolis are too young to have to deal with this crap....., not fair, so sorry, I was 58 at dx.
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Welcome, Nursie, Laura, and Lolis. I'm sorry you have to be here with us, but glad you found us. I hope we can provide some comfort and support. So ask questions, vent, rant, whatever helps. We'll listen.
Holeinone, I agree with you on the "just stay positive" comments. That crap starts to become magical thinking where those with a positive attitude survive and those with a negative attitude don't. It's blaming the patient. My MO said the survival rate was around 70%. He also said that I should "consider myself cured" when I was finished with active treatments. I think that would somewhat be like ignoring reality especially since I've had ovarian cancer and also have a form of non-Hodgkins lymphoma. I think it's more realistic to consider myself as having a decent chance at being cured. I'm not sure the statistics on survival mean much since they seem to vary so much.
Lolis, I had the same experience as you when treatment was done. That's when the emotional birds came home to roost. That nurse practitioner Holeinone saw sounds awesome. I think I'd have handled the transition back to "normal" better if I'd had someone like that to talk to. I almost felt abandoned when my active treatment was over since they don't do much in the way of follow up.
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Thanks ladies, but what you gonna do....sh*t happens lol!!
I found my dx twin in another forum, it was kind of spooky. Even what happened before a diagnosis was known was the same.
I am trying to find a focus now that the treatments are completed as I can't pick up where I left off and I need to put those thoughts away. I guess I am still mad that due to this dx I can't have babies and having a baby is all I want. We have 6 embryos frozen ready to be implanted and sis will be the surrogate mother but that doesn't seem to help. I have decided to wait until my recon is completed to start the process.
Hope you are having a great weekend!
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Welcome Nursie, charolettsmommy and Lolis...sorry if I missed anyone else that is new! Two of you are in your 30's with young ones...I know that will be an extra challenge to get through the holidays while in treatment! There will be good days in with the tough days of treatment...plan something to look forward to on those good days. Drink lots of water and exercise as often as you can...walking is what worked best for me. Any questions just ask us as most of us have gone through chemo and may have some tips that might help you!
Lolis..I am so sorry for the sorrow of not being able to have a child at this time. Sounds like you have the wonderful support of your sis. Realize your probably at the age that whenever you turn around someone else is announcing their pregnant...that is hard when you want to be also. My heart hurts for all the young with BC. I grieve for those that had hoped to be living out their young lives pursuing careers, motherhood or whatever only to be in treatment fighting BC. Hopefully you each will find after treatment a new norm, renewed dreams and hopes and the sweetness of life again. It took me awhile to find my way again but, for the most part I have now and you will too.0 -
Hopefor, what a beautiful and heartfelt response. You said those things so eloquently, with genuine concern, and yes your name really speaks well for you ...hope for...
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I agree with Hopefour's advice on walking and staying hydrated. Also, get as much rest as you can. Let other people help you. It does suck that several of you got this blasted disease at a young age. It's sucks at any age, but at least some of the rest of us had a few more healthy years before getting it.
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Hello, here I am in the stage III group, newbie though I am already healing from my mastectomy on Dec. 1. When some one refers to grade, what do they mean? I have a low mitotic score, but a 2 in the Nottingham scale b/c my tumor had no tubular structure and is pleomorphic. A round of scans to see if the cancer has spread out side the breast area at the end of the month. 2 lymph nodes with micro metastasis. Chemo Dense Dose ACstarts on the 7th of January. I am scared. DD of AC for 8 weeks then 12 wks of T. Ick. I don't want to take the steroid they have prescribed me. Do all of you have to take steroids as part of your treatment? The nurse seemed really alarmed when I said I didn't want to take it???
OK, thanks for any clarification on these matters!
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dstar: Sorry you have to join us but welcome. Yes I took the steroids (decadron) 2 the day before/2 the day of/& 2 the day after. They were given for nausea and really worked for me - no nausea. They kept me going at a fast clip for a couple of days, but I slept well when I came down.
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Grading Link <---hope this helps. I had a 3 in each category for an overall score of 9. I am Grade 3
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Dstar, it might be helpful for you to read back some of the chemo group threads to see how your protocol affected others. I didn't have DD, had TAC all together, but I did take the steroids as directed, and never threw up. I monitor the July chemo thread, and there are others who did your protocol, so you might find things that could ease your fears. Information is key, the more you know, the less there is to fear.
All the best.
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hi dstar,
I took the decadron like Minustwo, and I really didn't feel any negative effects. You'll get through everything. You are stronger than you think you are. (Hugs)
D
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dstar, I also took the steroids for 2 days prior to each chemo. Can I ask why you're concerned about them? In addition to helping prevent nausea, they also help prevent an allergic reaction to the other drugs. I had no ill effects from them. I didn't even get the stimulant effect that some people do. There will also probably be some steroids given IV with your chemo drugs. I didn't have the same protocol as you, but chemo was nowhere near as bad as I pictured. The treatments themselves were a piece of cake. The after effects were unpleasant, but not horrid. I never had any nausea. They have great meds to control that now. Good luck and hang in there! You can get through it. The rest of us are proof of that.
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Thanks for the tips and the info everyone! I am so glad to have found all of you. I am already deescalating from my chemo panic attack. It helps beyond measure to start to understand this process and to know that others have both survived and are thriving. I will read the grading link Robin. And thanks to all for the encouragement and warmth everybody.The info about the steroid eased my mind.
This is really hard for me because my mother died at my age now, 50, after a two-year-long illness caused by pancreatic cancer. I was one of her care takers, along with my father and sister. She suffered greatly but cancer treatment was really still in the dark ages then, I am realizing. What happens when you have to live through your greatest fear? Do you turn into a butterfly?
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