I Want More than 5 years Is There a Chance?

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Anonymous
Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer

Is this reasonable to try to expect?  I'm still young, I want to live long enough to see my yougest daugher become sucessful in life or married.  I want to be around for my other daughter who has been trying to get pregnant for 2 years,  I want to see my grandaughters 8 & 9 go to college.  Is this too much to ask?  Five years just doesn't seem like such a great thing right now, espeicially coming into the 2nd year post mastectomy.  i want to be like Betty White at 88 Smile I am too young to just hope for 5 years or moreFrown

image

Barb

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  • TammyLou
    TammyLou Member Posts: 740
    edited December 2010

    I'm working on year 6, honey.

    tl

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  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited December 2010

    I don't think about it like that. I think every year we are closer to the cure...I will be here for it.

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  • lwd
    lwd Member Posts: 1,084
    edited December 2010

    I think there's definitely a good chance! 

    Lane

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  • Medigal
    Medigal Member Posts: 1,412
    edited December 2010

    Five years???  Why are you focusing on some crap you might have misunderstood in some magazine or article you read??  If you have a good Onc who knows what he is doing there is no reason, in my opinion, you should not have many more years than that!  Now if you are refusing all the treatments and the Aromisans since you are ER+ PR+ then "you" may be cutting your changes for a longer survival.  Focus on taking whatever you have to take and do to prolong your life and put your mine on living your life with your family.  I don't know where they came up with this 5 years crap but they need to let people know we are in 2011 soon and if they can't do any better for us than 5 years "they" need to find researchers and Oncs who can!  Don't program your mine or spirit on this 5 year stuff.  Program yourself for MANY more years of survival and fight bc with every weapon you have given to you!

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  • Lowrider54
    Lowrider54 Member Posts: 2,721
    edited December 2010

    Barb...I made it 10 1/2 after initial dx and am over a year post mets dx and have no intention of being a 'statistic' in 2 years...YES - there is a VERY GOOD chance!  The 5 year mark is a typical point where if you have not had a recurrence - the odds increase greatly that you may never have one.  Live girl!

    Hugs to you....LowRider

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  • marie5890
    marie5890 Member Posts: 3,594
    edited December 2010

    SherriG--I think you nailed it. BCO is a wonderful place but I think it's just a snap-shot of all BC survivors. I bet many if not most, esp once stablized, "move on" "move forward" so you wont hear about them. 

    Like I said, BCO is a great site, esp for those who have the need. But it's not the big picture of all survivors.

    God Bless 

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  • redsox
    redsox Member Posts: 523
    edited December 2010

    Someone very close to me was Stage III with many more positive nodes than you have.  She had the full boatload of treatments and is alive with no recurrence 14 years out.

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited December 2010

    Also remember that just because the stats say "alive and NED in 5 years" doesn't mean that those people don't go on to live 10+ years. It only means they stopped counting after 5 years not that people stopped living after 5 years.

    When I first came here someone said "cancer does not know what stage it is." Seriously is there really that big a difference between your stage IIIA and my stage IIB?

    Those stats can drive you crazy.

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  • PlantLover
    PlantLover Member Posts: 622
    edited December 2010

    The way it was explained to me by my onc recently, is that the 5 year mark is the one to hopefully get past without a reccurance and then, as lowrider said, the odds greatly increase that you'll never have one.

    We are all too young to just hope for 5 years! 

    I want to see my 14 year old son graduate from high school & find his passion.  I want to see my 19 year old continue to find happiness.  I want to sit on a porch with my husband in the tiny home we hope to have in the mountains some day and play our guitars until our old fingers are too feeble to press down the strings anymore then I want to just sit there and hold his hand. 

    I want ...

    I keep getting more scared that it is not going to happen, so I understand how you are feeling. 

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  • miki
    miki Member Posts: 22
    edited December 2010

    Barb....Hugs to you....

    Try not to put too much focus on the future or number of years...

    Try not to waste your precious moment worrying about what may or may not happen in the future...

    I know it's easier said than done but...

    What would put smile on your face today?Smile  Talking to your daughters? Lunching with friends? Movies?  Shopping? 

    ENJOY YOUR DAY!!!! Yes it is "one day at a time"...

    Thinking of you.

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  • lago
    lago Member Posts: 17,186
    edited December 2010

    Personally I feel 10 years is bullsh*t too. At 49 yo 10 years is nothing. I'm going for 2-3x that amount.

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  • Maureen813
    Maureen813 Member Posts: 2,893
    edited December 2010

    They are making progress every day!!  I plan on living until I die fighting all the way.  Today is a lousy chemo day and I'm really feeling shitty,,,,know what, I'm going to shop online and plan for xmas and the future.  Who knows?  We could get hit by a bus tomorrow so I'm living in the moment. 

    Love,

    Maureen

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2010

    Thank You all,  that's why I come here.  It's like therapy...  Sherri, sounds like you did awesome raising your kids. Bless you!  I think right now I'm going to get busy making Christmas Cookies today Smile

    image

    Barb

    2 Cats Watch Cookies Bake (1 card/1 envelope) - Christmas Card - FRONT: No Text  INSIDE: It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas! Happy Holidays 

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  • Celtic_Spirit
    Celtic_Spirit Member Posts: 748
    edited December 2010

    My boyfriend's aunt Evelyn was diagnosed in the late 1960s with Stage III bc. She was in her mid- 40s at the time. She had a mastectomy; no chemo, radiation, or tamoxifen/AIs. She's in her mid-eighties now and is still doing fine.

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  • BonnieK
    BonnieK Member Posts: 655
    edited December 2010

    It's more than reasonable to expect to live much longer than 5 years.  It's also very difficult at times because BC is such a sneaky disease, but try to focus on the positive, live in the here and now and enjoy your life.  I'm 63 and was dx'd with stage 3A just over 2 years ago and am hoping for another 20 years! 

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  • jenn3
    jenn3 Member Posts: 3,316
    edited December 2010

    Barb - just seeing your post.

    You must have been having a bad day.......you know that we'll all be here years and years from now looking back on this time and thinking "wow, look how far we've come".

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  • diana50
    diana50 Member Posts: 2,134
    edited December 2010

    9 years in feb here...my friend is working on 11 years....stage 3c.

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  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited December 2010

    We all have those days-when it hits us and we get sooo scared---- Such a blessing we can come here and express our fears and have all these amazing women lift us up so we can go on!

    With that said of course you can live more then 5 years. Rigt now your NO stage-you have NO cancer-and your free to live your life... Find a way to just live and be happy with the here and now. Noone knows what is going to happen in 5 years left alone 5 weeks. At some point you have to let go and move forward. Let go and live:)

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  • Lindaip
    Lindaip Member Posts: 39
    edited December 2010

    I guess I'm one of the women that you want to hear from. I was Stage IIIB because my tumor was attached to the skin.  I went to a new OB/GYN because we had moved. He did a biopsy which came out negative. 18 months and 3 mammograms later,I had dense breast from HRT, my nipple began to bleed from the biopsy sight. I was diagnosed in February 2002. I had a double mastectomy, 4 A/C and 4 Taxotere treatments and am still dancing with NED. I was on Arimidex for 5 years and am now 3 years into a clinical trial where I might be getting Femara or I might be getting a placebo. So it has actually been 10 1/2  years since I went to the doctor with a newly retracted nipple. It's great to be here!

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  • karen1956
    karen1956 Member Posts: 6,503
    edited December 2010

    Barb..not sure what you mean by 5 years!!!  I was never told an expectancy.....I am coming up on 5 years from Dx in feb 2011...I want to live old as long as I have a good QOL....bc or not bc...QOL is the key thing....and I don't have plans on dying anytime soon.....

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  • BMac
    BMac Member Posts: 650
    edited December 2010

    I am 7 1/2 years out from stage III ovarian cancer; was told I had a 50% chance of being alive in 3 years.  I have every reason to believe that I will be just as successful with the BC.

    There are many success stories out there.

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  • MelG
    MelG Member Posts: 23
    edited December 2010

    I had a similar diagnosis to you Shanagirl - IDC 7.5cm, 1/11 nodes, ER/PR+, Her2 neg, Grade 1.   I'm in my 8th year post-BC with no further problems.   I was diagnosed on my 41st birthday.   I want to make 90, at least!   At the time of diagnosis, I thought I'd be lucky to make 50, but only one and a half years to go and I'll be half a century old....

    I have read many other *success* stories.   There's no reason to suppose that you won't be one too.

    Mel

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited August 2013

    I think I know why I've had this fear on my mind. Last January I had my first anual mammo after the surgeries and treatments.  I must be very triggered this time of year which brings up a lot for me.  I found my lump in Dec 2008 diagnosed a few weeks later in Jan 2009 followed by unilateral mastectomy on left side and immediate reconstruction with free tram.  The nightmare began at this time of year and now I'm constantly thinking about  the mammo in January.  I hate the thought of having to still go for this, especially knowing the micro calcs are there.  I guess I'm just expecting the other shoe to drop.

    image

    Barb

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  • TammyLou
    TammyLou Member Posts: 740
    edited December 2010

    ^ Yup.

    I think that (worry) will always be with us.

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  • caaclark
    caaclark Member Posts: 936
    edited December 2010

    Barb- I understand your fears coming to the surface this time of year.  Holidays bring a lot of issues up and for you this time of year reminds you of what you were doing the year you were diagnosed.

    I can tell you that on January 22nd it will be 5 years for me and so far so good.  I had 6 pos. nodes, grade 3 and extracapsular extension.  I also felt that anxiety around the January date since my followup tests were all during that month.  I finally decided to change that and made my mammo for December.  This way it's out of the way.  I think the lead up to the checkups take a big toll on many of us.  

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  • 3jaysmom
    3jaysmom Member Posts: 4,266
    edited December 2010
    hey, Shanna.. plan ahead.. for next yr. get your testing done a lit bit earlier, to miss the dreaded anniversarry mark.. or go wild.. if all is well, get them done after  the holidays. i rearranged my testing till my GD was born last yr. Dec. 28th. am changing to 1st of 2o11; to not mess up the holidays. i plan on being here, doing the best i can with QOL..thats' imp to me, but on the MS side.. the BC side is always a little scared, but i know i'll keep fighting, if, and when, if i have to. i have a friend 12 yrs out, with mets just about everywhere... and she has a good QOL. goes to chemo for 6 wks. off 2 mos, then does chemo again, they rotate the drugs on her. she's an inspiration; and she lives a pretty full life. more than i do, with MS. so, don't even Think that way.. we all ahve our scared days, our days wehen we worry, but when we live our lives as fully as we can, thats' the key.. IMHO...      3jays
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  • BaseballFan
    BaseballFan Member Posts: 859
    edited December 2010

    3jayasmom - Tell me more about your friend....I could use some inspiration.

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  • hollyann
    hollyann Member Posts: 2,992
    edited December 2010

    My sister was stage 3 and she is working on her fifth year now......It was 4 years this past August for her and she is doing fabulously!........Remember, we are not statistics!........We are human and not one of us has an expiration date stamped on the bottom of our feet!.........

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  • CherylQ
    CherylQ Member Posts: 117
    edited December 2010

    Don't worry about numbers, and remember these are just basic statistics.  As someone with BC and working in medical research, numbers change.  My sister is 5 year survivor and I have two maternal aunts that are 30 and 35 year BC survivors.  Live each day as full as possible and don't stress the little stuff.  We are all survivors in this war!!

    Cheryl

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  • 3monstmama
    3monstmama Member Posts: 1,447
    edited December 2010

    I agree with everyone else. Don't focus on the numbers. Enjoy your life.

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