Stage IV confirmed yesterday

lkellyr

I was diagnosed with IDC almost a month ago and yesterday had a biopsy that shows a couple of lymph nodes closer to my esophagus are also cancerous, so that combined with a couple nearer my armpit make me stage IV, instead of III. My doctor had previously said they don't do surgery for stage IV and don't 'treat to cure'. I understand I need to discuss that with her, but I don't know what that means, other than they treat to keep from spreading. I had a bone scan and CT that show it has NOT spread to bones or organs.

Has anyone else had this statement said to them? Does it mean they'll downgrade me to III if the tumor shrinks? or am I just basically sitting around waiting for the cancer to kill me?

Yes, I need to get those answers from my doctor, I'm just trying to understand what others have gone through in a similar situation. I appreciate any feedback anyone is willing to share.

ABeautifulSunset

hi.sorry to find you here with us, but the women here are warm and welcoming and a plethora of information.

Once you are staged IV you can’t go back...sorry. But you aren’t waiting to die, you’ll just be on some sort of medication for the rest of your life..so far you are in a great place with only lymph involvement. If they can keep it that way, you’ll live to a nice old age....even if it spreads, the treatments these days are pretty in incredible. I was Stage IV in 2011. Almost 7 years later and I live a pretty normal life. A little different than before...but still ok.

I did have surgery and hard chemo in 2011, but they tend not to be that aggressive anymore. I think they found it doesn’t really stop progression, if progression is gonna happen, and the surgeries themselves are not really good for cancer. Too much trauma.

The oral treatments are really good.

Stefanie

lkellyr

Great, thanks very much for the info. They've already told me I'll be on chemo, and I'm ok with that.

Thanks again, that is very helpful and definitely helps me keep myself out of a tailspin.

DorothyFromKansas

Sorry to hear you have been left in a sort of limbo land. I can relate to the confusion and frustration this diagnosis causes. I share a similar experience. Once you are diagnosed Stage IV, it seems that will remain. Since there is breast cancer found in distant lymph nodes, that means metastasis has occurred and as my MO said, the horse is already out of the barn. Those nasty microbast*rd cancer cells have traveled to who knows where, though they are not currently large enough or active enough for detection.

The downside is, as I understand it, we will always be on treatment as there is no cure. But that doesn't mean we cannot find NED and there is an arsenal of therapies available. The upside I found is detailed in an article from Science News titled something like, 'doing less does more' for patients, research suggests. There are many articles out there outlining the benefits of current treatment protocols over the older standards of treating breast cancer. I can't really talk to the "good" or "bad" of this almost semi-Stage IV protocol, as each person's situation is unique, but that cancer is a crap shoot is for certain. My precarinal lymph nodes weren't even biopsied yet I was given a Stage IV diagnosis with no cancer detected through scans anywhere else. I was diagnosed last July, so I am very new to all this too, but I'm happy to answer/share whatever I can. This sucks, but you are not alone and you don't have to wait around for cancer to kill you--even though it may seem so right now. I hope your MO will give you satisfactory answers.

Jan

lkellyr

Thanks, DorothyFromKansas (sorry, I don't know where I saw 'Jan'). Much appreciated. It feels like it takes them FOREVER to move to the next steps but in other posts on here I've discovered that things are progressing at a normal rate. My 'distant' lymph nodes are only a couple of inches further than the ones nearer to my breast so it feels weird to call them 'distant'. I'm triple negative so that doesn't help matters either. I'm looking forward to getting started on treatment, though. Thanks again!!