Anyone similar? 29 yrs, 8cm ER+, 12 nodes

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Bridanomor
Bridanomor Member Posts: 11
edited June 2014 in Stage III Breast Cancer

I'm a nervous wreck. I'm 29 years old, Lobular ER+ 8cm tumor. I had 4 AC treatments last summer,then 12 weeks of Taxol until November. I had minimal results from the chemotherapy and had a left side modified radical mastectomy on December 20th. I came here in hopes of finding others with situations similar to mine that could tell me that they're doing ok.

 All I keep hearing is how aggressive cancers can be in people my age, and that Im high risk due to the tumor size and lymph nodes. Hope to hear from you :)

 Also, has anyone had children after 5 yrs of Tamoxifen & Lupron?

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  • YATCOMW
    YATCOMW Member Posts: 664
    edited January 2011

    Bridanomor

    I wasnt as young as you.....I was 46 but....I too had an 8cm tumor...with at least 17 nodes positive......

    This year I will hit 7 years....

    It is truly daunting I know....scary to say the least....but you can beat this.  You can be successful with the treatment that you had.  Believe it....have hope....there are others just like us doing well.  You will too.

    When I was diagnosed I printed every good story and put it on a board and put it by my mirror so that every morning I could read success stories....I needed to know others were thriving so I could believe I could too.  There are plenty of stories here....

    If I can be of any help please just PM me.  God bless.

    Jacqueline

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  • elmcity69
    elmcity69 Member Posts: 998
    edited January 2011

    B,

    I was diagnosed a week before my 40th bday. Lobular, 2cm, 15 nodes (oh, those darn nodes).

    I did the dose dense AC too, then Taxol. Herceptin as well.

    You can do it. Ignore the negative internet stats/stories etc. People love to pull the "funeral face" when they hear stage III, but let's face it, most folks' knowledge of cancer comes from Oprah show and US magazine.

    focus on living each day - it is hard, and there are moments of fear, despair, and sometimes, rage, but you are SURVIVING. you are here on this gorgeous planet.

    we're here to listen and support. you are in my thoughts and prayers.

    hugs

    janyce

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  • lkc
    lkc Member Posts: 1,203
    edited January 2011

    I had 12 positive nodes and a super aggressive tumor ( unusual for my age 49) and in turn had super aggresive tx. I am almost 6 years out and have no evidence of BC

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  • Pure
    Pure Member Posts: 1,796
    edited January 2011

    My friend is 29 years out-had 12 nodes and a tumour in the skin. She is now 3 years out and doing great! 

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  • Bridanomor
    Bridanomor Member Posts: 11
    edited January 2011

    Thank you so much for your replies. It's so nice to have people to relate to! :)

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  • faithfulheart
    faithfulheart Member Posts: 544
    edited January 2011

    You have come to the right place these woman are amazing!  I only had 10 nodes I was 41 when dx,  but I was so scared. You will find so much support here, and also read the 5 year survival thread, there are so  many inspiring stories. You are very young,  but that also means you are very strong!  You are being treated very aggresive, and thats why you will survive and thrive!

    You are in my prayers!

    Come here for support, it has helped me so much!

    Lots of blessings,

    Faithfulheart

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  • Mom3
    Mom3 Member Posts: 170
    edited January 2011

    Hi! I was diagnosed in 12/07. Lobular, 11cm (yikes!!), 15 lymph nodes involved, left side radical mastectomy, triple positive, chemo, herceptin, radiation, oopherectomy, currently on aredia and arimidex, you name it I've had it done!! And guess what? I"M DOING FANTASTIC!!!!! Just celebrated my 3 year out and I'm doing amazingly well. I'm even running my 2nd half marathon in a few months. Oh yeah, cancer changes your life but it doesn't mean it changes it for the worse. I kick butt and so can you!!!! I also have 2 little ones. My son was 1 and my daughter was 3 when I was diagnosed. My son is now in preschool and my daughter is in the 1st grade. WOW!!!

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  • allalone
    allalone Member Posts: 448
    edited January 2011

    Bridanomor wrote: "has anyone had children after 5 yrs of Tamoxifen & Lupron?"

    So sorry to hear of your diagnosis. You'll receive great support from Stage IIIers but concerning your fertility questions you might like to post in:

    Forum: Young Women with Breast Cancer (keep on drilling down the forum index until you find it)

    and connect with Hadley who has similar issues re fertility, and NannyBaby, Age 28 who has started a thread  → Topic: Calling all ladies in their 20's

    All the best.

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  • kar123
    kar123 Member Posts: 273
    edited January 2011

    Ditto to FaithfulHeart's advise of reading the 5 year+ thread in this forum.  I am 7 months into diagnosis and go there often when the dark thoughts come in and it keeps me going. I had neoadj chemo 4 Adriamycin/Cytoxan and 4 Taxol Bilateral Mx and starting radiation next week. I'm a 40yr old mom of 2, ILC  7cm er+/her-/2 nodes/grade2/stage III. This forum and the ILC forum have been so, so helpful and reassuring. 

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  • AgentMo
    AgentMo Member Posts: 72
    edited January 2011

    Hi, I am also a member of the breast cancer for the very young group. I am 33 years old and like you I freak out due to the significantly worse prognosis we ER+/below 35 guys have. I have finished Chemo last October and I don't know how well it worked because it was adjuvant. I have finished radition in December and now I am on Tamoxifen and Zoladex. My husband and I had just decided to start a familiy before my cancer diagnosis came in, so like you I also want to become pregnant after the forced five years of abstinence. Unfortunately, according to my knowledge, the pregnancy success stories after treatment are usualy from people not having hormone receptors. So while it is quite possible to become pregant after treatment, we hormone receptor positive people run a real risk of igniting our cancer cells once again. I suppose that's why pregnancies in our group after treatment are rare.

    I really hope that everything works out o.k for you. And yes, look at the success stories on this board and also browse in other threads. You will see a lot of people having a good life years after diagnosis even though they usually are somewhat older than we are. But it is nevertheless reassuring.

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  • Bridanomor
    Bridanomor Member Posts: 11
    edited January 2011

    Thank you so much for your responses. Isn't it crazy how common breast cancer is??? I'm wondering if it's in my water.

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  • Tundra
    Tundra Member Posts: 136
    edited February 2011

    Hi there,

     Well, I just turned 35. I think I'm about 4cm... but it's hard to tell due to a pre-existing mass. I just found out today that I'm stage IIIb because it presented as inflammatory. And yes, ER+. I am curently in neoadjuvant treatment... Taxol.. then AC, all told it will be 6months of chemo, then surgery.

    My Dr. seems to talk about ER+ as being a good thing. As much as I'm not excited about the prospect of scaring myself... where did you read about a worse prognosis for under 35s who are ER+?

     Best of luck with your journey.

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  • Bridanomor
    Bridanomor Member Posts: 11
    edited February 2011

    Tundra,

    Thank you for your response. I didn't read that ER+ were worse, just read that typically cancers in people under 35 are more aggressive on youngsurvivors.org I believe. My doctoer also told me that they tend to be more aggressive in younger women. I did the AC treatments first, then 12 weeks of consecutive taxol, then surgery. What do you mean 'presented as inflammatory'?

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  • AgentMo
    AgentMo Member Posts: 72
    edited February 2011

    Hi Tundra,

    I guess you refer to my post. Well, it just happens to be the case that the survival odds for younger and older women are generally the same once the molecular subtype and lymph nodes etc. are counted in, but this is not the case for ER+ cancer. Here, younger women have worse survival. You can check in a lot of scientific publications or you can also go to adjuvant online, which lowers the survival odds for people with ER+ cancer under the age of 35. However, you should still be thankful that you have ER+ cancer because even with these worse statistics the anti hormonal treatment is still an advantage for us. Just not as much as it is for older women. 

    My hope is always that adjuvant online does not count in ovarian suppression that is now routinely used for younger women. And while the general consensus seems to be that Tamoxifen + ovarian suppression is no better than Tamoxifen alone, this does not seem to hold for women under 35. Here ovarian suppression in addition to Tamoxifen seems to make a difference, so maybe we are catching up on the survival statistics with the older women. I certainly hope so. 

    I wish you the best of luck. 

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  • negirly
    negirly Member Posts: 318
    edited February 2011

    I was 38 at dx. Large Idc/Ilc mixed tumor over 10cm. Was there for years (says my onc). Two years since dx and things are good. Just take it one day at a time.



    Karyn

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  • NannaBaby
    NannaBaby Member Posts: 510
    edited February 2011

    I'm 29 stage 3a diagnosed May 2010.  You are welcome to join "calling all ladies in their 20's" thread in the Young Women forum :)

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