You ladies amaze me!

AzKim ~  I'm not sure I understand what you mean by scared.  Are you scared to ask because your doctors are condescending, or you think your questions are silly -- or scared because you don't want to know something like your chances of a recurrence?   One thing you need to keep in mind is that treatment, especially chemo, has changed a lot in recent years, and the statistics don't yet reflect those improvements.  Hopefully, we are all on the cutting edge of a group of women getting more targeted, aggressive tx, so will have better stats than previous studies.   

I agree with hlya -- knowledge is power, and there's no such thing as a dumb question.  Have you been asking for copies of your pathologies for each test or surgery, etc.?  Most of us remember very little of what we're told, but a lot of us keep a file of all those reports, so that we can go back to them and figure out how things relate to our situation when we hear something new. 

Feel free to PM me if I can help you with questions you may be afraid to ask ~   Deanna

(((Kim)))  Sorry you're having a rough day.  And, yes, reading and researching can absolutely make it worse!

Stats and recurrence rates are things my docs probably gave me a general idea about when they told me why I needed chemo and rads -- that they would bring down my chances of reoccurence by so many percentage points.  There's also a website called Adjuvant Online, where your doctor (or you, if you sign on as a medical professional) can put in your stats and come up with recurrence rates.  However, as I said above, I think a lot of that is based on old science because a woman with your stats 10 or even 5 years ago probably would not have had the same aggressive tx you probably got in 2008.  

BRCA is a gene mutation.  Normally, and especially if there is anyone else in your family who has had bc, a counselor who specializes in that will look at your case and decide if you need to be tested for a gene mutation.  If no one ever mentioned it to you, it's perfectly okay to ask if it's something that was or should be considered about your bc.      Deanna

Kim, I learned everything I know about bc through a combination of reading the discussion boards at sites like this one, and then googling terms I got from either my path report or my doctors.

My late Stage IV mom was diagnosed in 2002, so I was well read on her type of bc (IDC HER2+) before my diagnosis. When I was diagnosed with ILC in 2007, I knew nothing about it, so started googling like crazy. I like to be well informed about what's going on b/c I feel that it makes it easier for me to ask productive questions at dr appointments. I've also learned over the years that the docs only tell you a fraction of what you need to know, and sometimes they even tell you things that are flat out wrong. 

I love to research in general, and I'm an info junkie about everything in my life, so that's just how I handle my disease. That approach may not work for everyone--you have to proceed in a manner that's comfortable for you.