A place to greet and meet newbies to stage III
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I've heard of Stage III and/or node positive people skipping chemo and going straight to hormonal treatment, but that tends to be cases of ILC (tends to be slower growing and responds better to hormonals than chemo) or Grade I. If you have Grade III, Stage III, IDC, you really need to consider chemo. Chemo works best on rapidly dividing cells, so you'd probably get a sizable benefit from it.
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My MO impressed upon me that chemo was very important for HER2+ folks, since that's such a dangerous & sneaky thing. That concerned me more than the staging.
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gaia, glad to hear you had a successful and relatively easy surgery. I also feel that my healthy lifestyle failed me. Or maybe I'd be dead by now if I hadn't lived that way. I can't offer any insight on doing "hormonal onky" treatment since I got the whole smorgasbord - BMX, chemo, rads, Good luck with whatever you choose.
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Yup - I forgot to mention before my first diagnosis that I was the most healthy I'd ever been. Walking 5 miles six days a week. Working out for an additional hour 5 days a week. Adding in Water Aerobics in the summer. Eating everything right. Somehow it helps me to read reports that let us know it's not something we've personally done to call the furies down on us. We are not at fault for getting BC, since no one really know the cause.
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MinusTwo, I figured bc was my punishment for not having kids. Except, a lot, probably most, women who get it do have kids. I agree. We aren't to blame.
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BC was my punishment for attempting to treat menopause-related insomnia with hormone replacement therapy. I would endure night after night of 2-3 hours of sleep. The magic sticky discs delivered estrogen and progesterone through the skin of my abdomen for 18 months, and I could sleep again. Until, that is, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Sleep became a thing of the past.
I know it's irrational, but there it is. Danged hormones.
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Elizabeth, you shouldn't blame yourself. I have never taken any hormones, have two children whom I breast fed, am normal weight, have no family history, have always been active and I am in the same boat. My 91 year old mother-in-law was diagnosed a few months ago at stage IV and is dying from mets to bones and lungs. She never took any hormones either.
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Thanks, muska. I know it's irrational, but you know how our brains work! My sister was diagnosed 9 months after me, and she never touched a hormone in her life.
I'm sorry your mom-in-law is struggling with this wretched disease in her last years!
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hope we can all remember - IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!!! Hang in there.
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i think it's natural to blame ourselves. I too dredge up thoughts it was my fault because I had a big glass of wine every night and started hormone replacement in March. Was diagnosed in November. But doc said I probably had cancer for 8 years or more. They just could never see it on mamo or ultra sound and told me it was just cysts. So I don't trust tests anymore . now I wonder if I should drink wine at all because they say it causes DNA damage.
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livedeliciously - but... one glass of wine a day has now been shown to aid heart health in women, prevent strokes, and possibly to counteract Altzheimers. Well, I'm going to have a glass a day. I've already had BC twice, resulting in both lymphadema and neuropathy - neither of which can be reversed. So I'm going to go for the gusto.
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My MO recommended to drink a glass of red wine at dinner. I follow her advice.
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sbelizabeth, I took estrogen for 10 years after my hysterectomy for ovarian cancer. I didn't have a lot of choice. Without it, I was pretty much non-functional due to awful mood swings. I'd have either committed suicide or homicide, and I'm not exaggerating. If bc was the price, so be it. I refuse to dwell on it. Since I've had 2 other cancers, I tend to think my body just likes making cancer cells.
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thanks ladies. I love wine......
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live, I love wine too. Not giving it up.
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I'm just about to have a glass (or two!)
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- thanks everyone. Wish I could send you all a bottle.
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I don't know if BC was a sign not to have any kids as I was dx-ed 4 months after my first miscarriage (pregnancy) but I don't want to give up vino!! If I can't be pregnant, I am having vino!!!
I don't know why I got BC but I am sort of blaming it on the ability of not letting go and on the vino. But now I don't care. I'd like enjoy some vino no matter what!!!
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At one appt with my MO early in this journey we were discussing my diet. One of the question she asked was, "How much alcohol I consumed in a week?". I told her I gave up wine all together along with other things. She asked why. My reply, I thought I was to give up wine, sugar, coffee, etc. . Her response wine is fine -- just in moderation. She still inquires about my diet, exercise and general mental health and teases me if I have had a good bottle of chardonnay or cabernet sauvignon. I let her know early on that my favorite quick get away is an outing to the Napa wineries of Kendall-Jackson or V Sattui. Love my MO she always stresses enjoy life to it's fullest.
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Hi Everyone,
I've been lurking here a while, never posting, but the discussion about blaming ourselves touched a nerve. I'm very guilty of that too, but a recent news story has made me rethink all the self flagellation. Have any of you seen the reports about mothers exposed to DDT in the 1960s giving birth to daughters with increased breast cancer risk? It really makes me wonder. My younger sister is dealing with stage IV BC and here I am at III, yet I'm BRCA negative(she wasn't tested). Who knows how many environmental contaminants we could have been exposed to in utero. It really boggles the mind that not only are we talking about our own lifestyle, but that of our mothers too
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/18/us-cance...
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thanks for sharing that article. I found it interesting they cited high estrogen level tumors associated with the DDT exposure when that is the majority of breast cancers anyway no matter what your age. The other thing was what does house dust have to do with levels of carcinogen exposure? It was noted at end of article to keep house dust levels down. Maybe this is my excuse to get out of housework!
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Haha. Now I can beat myself up for not vacuuming enough! I'm not sure about the dust connection. My guess is that everything in your home that's breaking down ends up as dust. Plus all the unknown stuff you bring into the house from the worldon your shoes.
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we were having discussion on the radiation forum about reoccurrence rates and what percentage risks our drs have given us. Mine gave me 20% and others with similar diagnosis have been told 10%. Was wondering if you had heard the same thing or different?
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Re:Recurrance stats from a prior post,I just had this conversation with MO yesterday as I have had some pretty bad side effects fro the AI'S but it sounded very much the same, with my pathology ( being stage 3C) Surgery, chemo, rads and AI is about 10 year stat
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So, I just had my third A/C treatment yesterday. I actually had a pet scan last Thurs that was ordered by my BS. When I was seeing the PA before my treatment he told me my MO rarely orders any kind of scans. They give me a risk of recurrence assessment and then its just a wait and see after all my treatments which include A/C+T then 6 weeks of rads followed by hormones for X amount of years.
I was really surprised by this. After I got my pet scan results, which were neg, I was so relieved. I guess I get why they don't do them. Being a 3c'er I just know that my chances of mets is higher.
My question is, not sure if this is the best place to ask this but, is it better to catch mets early or doesn't it really matter? Will it be treated the same no matter how extensive it is? I find it hard to believe but I am still quite new to the whole BC scene.
Does anybody else share my experience?
Thanks...hope everyone is having a good day.
Julie K
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lulu - I depended on my MO to do everything. He's the one that has done all my follow-up visits and orders all tests & meds & consults for heart & lungs since 2011. Unfortunately he retired in December and he said I might have trouble convincing other docs to order scans.
Seems that I've read several times that the medical profession now says that tests & scans are only necessary when there are symptoms. I had to argue w/my new MO to even get tumor markers ordered (and yes I know they are only an indication & have lots of false numbers). I was told that if you have mets, you have mets, so it doesn't matter if you catch it early or later. That obviously doesn't seem proactive & doesn't make me too happy. Maybe someone else will have better information.
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yeah MinusTwo, that's pretty much what they told me. I was just wondering if that's the normal. Guess it is. Thanks for responding
Julie
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Don't know why my risk or recurrence is so much higher than y'all's. My MO put it at 44%, even after chemo, rads, and AI. So my attitude is, I'm expecting it, and that's how I live. Had a clear PET scan December 30 of last year.0
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My oncology nurse said that they would monitor me by my blood going forward. I didn't ask what test they actually run on my blood so not sure until I go back after rad and I'll find out but has anyone else been told that?
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