3.5cm tumour, 14 out of 24 nodes infected - is survival poss?

Lemongrove,  Of course you can survive cancer.  People do it all the time!  I had a tumor bigger than yours and am 2 years from dx and 1 year this week out of total tx.   I have now gone totally holistic and encourage you to take your time.... do lots of research and believe in your heart that healing is body, mind and spirit!  You can do it!  Find whatever it takes to bring your mind to peace.  Whatever speaks to your heart.  For everyone, that is different and that is ok!

Visit the complimentary/ alternative threads as well, so you have some information on what you might possibly do to enhance traditional therapy while negating the s/e's

Mammogram missed mine 2 years in a row!  I had so many cysts that they masked the actual tumor!  Can't beat yourself up over that.  Be aware that in some aspects it is good, as it indicates the bc was slow growing enough not to be worse than it is.

Hugs and prayers sent your way.

Lemongrass, don't beat yourself up about not feeling your tumor.  I had a 6.5 cm tumor when diagnosed and I only felt it by accident one night while I was lying in bed on my side. And I had my ob/gyn check my breasts 8 months earlier and he felt nothing.  Like others have said here, we have to look forward.  Not backwards.  So far I'm 21 months ned. There are alot of women here who have survived with stage IIIA.

Sorry you had to join this club, but we're here for you.

deb

Dear Lemongrove,

I might as well add my story to all the others here just to emphasize again that YES it is definitely survivable and so many of us are proof of that!

Do NOT blame yourself for not finding your tumor.  I had my first BC in 2000 and was being followed up every 3-6 months for the next 5 years by both my surgeon, oncologist and mammograms and they STILL did not find my new 5+ CM Stage IIIC Invasive Lobular Cancer until 2005. I had 23 out of 23 nodes positive including ruptured nodes.  I did the surgery, chemo, rads,  thing all over again in 2005-2006 and am now more than 4 years out still NED!......and NOT Stage IV!

None of us can predict the future and I fully understand how you are feeling right after getting your path report, but know that you have every reason to hope for a successful treatment and many more years to enjoy life!

You will find tons of support here and good information to help you in the coming months.  Hang in there!  You can do it!

hope you are reassured by now.

Yes, you will be fine.  treatment is doable.   surviving the news, and waiting--those are hard.  make the actual treating the cancer almost a piece of cake.  (bad news and waiting for news or action, Ithink is the worst). 

 wow, I am going to have 50 candles on my next birthday cake, and at 44 I was desparate to get someone to name my lump, and when it was recognized months later, I thought my life was over..   (it was a big $%$^^@^^&^, but it's gone now).

 you can do this.  we can help. 

take care,

--Hattie 

Also, my tumor grew and grew but got knocked out thru chemo.  my docs said that it was there years and years before i noticed it.  cancer is not that fast--you didn't hurt yourself by not getting it sooner.  move forward!  

take care,

--Hattie 

Kerry Mac-

Thank-You for the literature!  I just wanted to let you know that I have been following and reading your posts for quite some time and wanted to THANK YOU for who you are!  You have given alot of women HOPE and ENCOURAGEMENT!  MAY GOD BLESS YOU!!!

Loretta

I saw you post this morning but didn't have time to post back but I knew that all of the other ladies would chime in long before I got back here. I will add mine so you know that their is one more stage 3 lady, still alive and kicking. I had a large tumor 5.7cm, 4 nodes, grade 3 etc, etc. I am 2.3 years out and getting on with my life. Just take it one day at a time and visit here as often as you can. This is the worst part, the beginning, it will get better and you will find the floor again. God Bless.

Lemongrove -

I am so glad you posted this topic.  You need to get those fears out on the table.  Ask the questions.  It's all part of the healing process.  Keep talking!

Isn't wonderful to hear all these positive stories?  I hope it is alleviating your fears because those same fears have been in my head too.  It took a few months for them to quiet down but once I got started on chemo I really felt like I was fighting back.  And that one day I'm going to be one of these women posting about when I was dx'ed 5 years ago.

Hi Lemongrove,

As the other ladies before me said, you can beat this! 

I was d/x last January, 5cm tumor, 14 positive nodes and like you, I thought it was over and I felt so alone.  Coming to this board was the best thing - I found so much support and met so many wonderful ladies who I call my friends. 

Chemo is by no means fun - but it is "doable".  Once you have your treatment plan in front of you, you will feel so much better and feel like you are doing something to start fighting this. 

Come back here often for support or even if you need to vent.  We are all here for you to offer advice or words of support.  Now that you found us, you can't get rid of us that easily!!

Lemongrove.....as all the other sweet gals have said....YES!!!!!  I am days away from my 4 years of hearing 'you have BC".....We are all survivors and you will be too!!!  And don't beat yourself up....just put one foot in front of the other....this may be a hard journey, but it is a DOABLE journey. Bilat, chemo, rads, ooph, AI's here s well.  (((((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))))))))

duaba50 I also feel better since the surgery and chemo is over better then before I had the cancer I think it was draining on my body and I am 58 feel good. also had alot of nodes out 5 infected but they took 29 out as I wanted to clean out. I just want to hear too if I can plan on grandbabies some day and see my son graduate from college and I think its all possible but I still worry every time I have to have my blood work checked but then it passes and I get back to me bald still but me after 18 months out of chemo the hair doesnt want to come back but I want my life..Do allot of you ladies feel allot of hope I do and hope that in time they can invent somethng else to give us more hope..

Maura

I am a four year survivor though the first year was rough.  Ok the second year wasnt a picnic either.  But years 3 and 4 are fine.  I have travelled for the first time.  I plan to put together memoires for my family but mainly just to give myself something constructive to do.  I am quilting a 9 square sampler - my first venture into quilting... and it is looking pretty good.  The stitching may not be the smallest or neatest but it is ok.  And I learned something new.  I am hoping to continue to learn new things for many years to come.

Lemongrove...I just want to reiterate what everyone here is saying. I was diagnosed in August 08, at age 38 with Stage III BC also. I'd finished breast feeding just a few months before, so when I started feeling some discomfort at night in my left breast, I figured it was the remnants/repurcussion of a jammed-up milk duct a couple of months prior to that. I kicked myself for a long time for not going to get it checked out sooner and for listening to advice like, "Breast cancer doesn't hurt..." Anyway, you're about to take a really big roller-coaster ride and the thing I wanted to impress upon you is that whatever you're feeling/thinking/being right now is normal - all of it. The amazing thing is that you will look back at this time in particular and it'll be a blip, albeit a BIG blip, on the screen of your life experiences. If someone told me that a year or so ago, I wouldn't have believed it, but it's true. It's all do-able, not a lot of fun, but do-able. Take all the meds they tell you to take, slow down, do what feels right for you and just take it one day and one step at a time...

AZS 

I don't know about you, Lemongrove, but after reading all the posts on this thread *I'M* feeling MUCH better! LOL

I think I needed this thread as much as you did!

Also, what you posted here is one of the hardest things to deal with:

Lemongrove said: I am so angry with myself. If only I had noticed the tumour earlier...How could I not notice a 3.5cm tumour?

Like you, and apparently lots of others, this is something that haunts many of us! HOW?! How could I not have KNOWN? Or FELT it? Or SOMETHING?!

But I can't dare say it outloud, even now, or I can't dare say it to my husband, because I know that even HE is feeling the same way and can't go back and fix that!

Cancer is sneaky and stealth. And it's the very last thing that any of us living a full and busy life have on our minds. Until it takes over our world.

But I have to say, it doesn't do any good to kick yourself in the a** over it. The most important thing now is to pull up our Big Girl Panties and say, "You wanna take me on, Cancer? No effing way! I gotta whole TEAM behind me now!"

And having women who know what I mean when I say something bizarre like that helps a lot too!

Sending you warm cyber hugs, and sending warm hugs to all the women on this board. You are each and every one precious and JUST the right medicine for anyone going through this!

Cyberkisses, too. . . .

Like Lemongrove, also having the "crazies"...thank God for all you women posting here. Facing my follow up to chemo/pre-surgery MRI/mammogram next week and freaking out. Dr. from Sloan says he thinks there's a 50% chance of finding more DCIS, since it's unresponsive to chemo (who knew?). Haven't been able to exercise because the Avastin trial gave me congestive heart failure that has yet to clear up after 12 weeks (as hoped). And I was a five day a week exerciser until that hit. Aaaah! As soon as I put my head down the thinking starts and it's just a downward spiral from there. Thanks so much for posting the study about nodes and survival, it helps. And heartfelt thanks to all of youl for helping those of us with the crazies make it through the night.