worried about my mother

anastdimi

Hello everyone! My mother had a radical mastectomy in 2002, followed by chemotherapy for breast cancer stage I-II. Nine years later, she felt a pain around the chest area. The CT, bone scan and finally biopsy, revealed a recurrence in the chest wall. She had chemo (Taxotere, Avastin, Zometa) for 6 weeks and, since there was a good response, she kept having Avastin and Zometa as a maintainance therapy. But the PET scan she was scheduled to have three months after the end of chemo (it was her first PET scan), showed that the chest wall recurrence was still there, a little larger than it was initially, with some regional nodes affected too. Thankfully, there was no other sign of metastases. Now, she's going to have radiotherapy (first time), and she' ll be taking Xeloda. Does anyone have a similar story to share? Should we still be optimistic that the recurrence might go away for good? Thank you very much for reading and hopefully responding

sincitydealer

Hi anastdimi,

I don't think being optimistic that the recurrence might go away for good is a question anybody here can answer.  Once you have BC there's always a chance that it will never leave, and it can most certainly come back.  If there is one little cell left behind the possibility is always there.

Peggy

thefuzzylemon

Of course you can be optimistic!!! And, I hope you are!!!

We go through treatment to kill cancer cells and remove what feeds it...etc so we can know we did what we Could with the best medical miracles we have available.

BC or no BC...don't let any thing or any one take away hope, life, love.

hugs to you and mama!

sincitydealer

anastdimi, I hope you find your post.  It was moved off the stage lV forum.  That's where I responded.  The people there have already had the BC come back, so that's why you probably received no responses.  Hopefully you will get some responses here.  You should have hope.  I never meant that you shouldn't, and I hope it never comes back on your Mother.  It's entirely possible that it might not.

Peggy

anastdimi

Thank you for replying to my post and for the words of hope! I don't understand, though, why my post has been moved off the stage IV forum. The chest wall recurrence is considered to be stage IV BC, isn't it?

sincitydealer

I'm not sure if a chest wall recurrence is considered stage lV or not if it's only in that location, but if it is then your Mom will always be stage lV.  There is no cure because the cells are spread throughout the body.  While there is no cure for stage lV, your Mom could certainly have a long run with NED or regression, but the cancer will always be there.

You've got to be kind of careful how you post on the stage lV board.  Questions about specific treatments, side effects, etc. will almost always be answered.  Most of the women there will be more than happy to help you.  There are some there that do not want to answer if it just looks like you're looking for sympathy or consolation.  It can be kind of a sticky situation on that forum.

I wouldn't hesitate to post there to look for answers for treatment and such if your Mom is stage lV.  Many of the people have experienced just about every question you might have.  Most of them are very kind and caring.

Peggy

CoolBreeze

Chest wall recurrence is usually considered stage IIIc.

Here is a resource for you:

http://www.breastcancer.org/symptoms/diagnosis/staging.jsp

Stage IIIC describes invasive breast cancer in which:

there may be no sign of cancer in the breast or, if there is a tumor, it may be any size and may have spread to the chest wall and/or the skin of the breast AND
the cancer has spread to lymph nodes above or below the collarbone AND
the cancer may have spread to axillary lymph nodes or to lymph nodes near the breastbone

Your mother has what is called a regional recurrence.  The ladies on the Stage IV board have distanct recurrences, to liver, bone, brain and lung.

As for your question about whether you should be optimistic - well, of course you should be optimistic.  I have liver mets and I'm optimistic.  I'm not sure what kind of response you wanted from us - all of us are hopeful we will be the one in a million who gets years.

As for Xyloda treatment, there is a 20 page thread about Xyloda and side effects and a search will bring up dozens of conversations about that medication.  You can read that for information, there is no reason to ask us for it.  Once you read it and if you have a specific question not addressed there, then it is time to ask: on any forum, it is considered bad form to ask without searching first.

As for the Stage IV section - we usually don't like people to ask us to share "similar stories" as they are in our profiles.  Most of us have mets to major organs and since your mother doesn't, there may not be a similar story.  Many women with Stage IV consider that asking too much of us and think it's a rude question and that may be why nobody responded.  Not everybody wants to talk about what they are going to die from to try and make somebody else feel better.

All of the women on the Stage IV board are facing our own certain deaths and continuing decline with as much grace as we can muster, and we are there to support each other through it. Just check out this thread if you want to see grace:

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/8/topic/783229?page=3#idx_80

The only people who understand what we are going through are each other.  The only people who understand what you are going through, with the fear of maybe losing your mother, are others in your position, other caregivers.  So, it's appropriate that you ask questions about how to stay optimistic here in the caregiver section.  It is appropriate that you research your mother's treatment before asking questions, and then in the appropriate section.

My best wishes to your mother and for her health to improve and treatment to be easy on her.  Good luck to you and your mother. I wish her the best.  You are a good daughter for trying support her. 

anastdimi

I'm terribly sorry if I made anyone feel akward by asking for a "similar story" to share in the "stage IV" section. I really didn't mean to make myself feel better by "comparing" my mom's situation with more severe diagnoses.I had first posted my message in the "Just diagnosed with a recurrence or metastasis" forum and perhaps that wasn't the appropriate forum either, since i didn't get a response there too. I'll certainly try to make a research about the treatment options! Thank you for responding to my questions and I wish you all the best!