Survivors who have used only alternative treatments

From Luan's Link....

"Metastasis, or metastatic disease (sometimes abbreviated mets), is the spread of a disease from one organ or part to another non-adjacent organ or part."

Two tumors in one breast is not considered metastatic, even if it is in the lymph nodes.  

Luan, Sorry I opened this can of worms. Here is something elseI found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metastatic_breast_cancer

It would be so nice to get over it and just move on.  It is that sneaky beast that won't allow it.   

1Athena1, Love the quote. It gave me quite a smile.

In all honesty I'm much like pip57 the sneaky beast won't allow it. Such as why are my CEA levels rising. Is it trying to go somewhere else? How can I move on having the tests run every 3 months.

Kira, thank you, it says:

Metastatic breast cancer is a complex multi-step process involving the expansion of cancerous cells from the breast to other areas of the body. It is a serious complication of breast cancer, as metastatic disease in breast cancer is often fatal, with treatments mainly limited to palliation.

Breast cancer primarily metastasizes to the bone, lungs, regional lymph nodes, liver and to the brain, with the most common site being the bone.

SO PEOPLE, IF YOU DON'T MIND CHANGING THE SUBJECT, I HATE BEING THE CENTER OF ATTENTION.  THANK YOU !!!

So many terms for this thing called cancer.  Here's something from advancedbc.org:

Sometimes you will see the term “distant metastases” used, which refers to cancer that has spread beyond the breast and surrounding tissue.  The term “local recurrence,” refers to cancer coming back in the initial surgical area where a lumpectomy has been done.  The term “regional metastases” refers to the spread of disease to the chest wall and surrounding tissue, the skin around the scar, and to the lymph nodes under the arm, in the center of the chest and up around the collar bone.  Regional metastases often carry a more favorable prognosis than distant metastasis, and may be treated differently.  

On this board, generally, we've mostly seen MBC used to describe disease with distant mets.  

Edited to add information.

Luan, yes, but to further explain  grade 1, stage 1 dcis trumps dcis grade 3, but it does not trump stage 1 grade 3. High grade 3 invasive cancer is much more aggressive than grade 1 invasive cancers. All cancer is worrisome, but invasive cancers are all dangerous.

My third dx was a grade 1, stage 1. However, I was more concerned about the dcis grade 3 cancers...(I was dx a few years earlier). The grade 1 cancer moves more like a slug eating away at our body where the grade 3 spreads like a wildfire.

Patzee, I agree, none of us needs to obsess over cancer to the point it consumes us. BUT...BCO is a support group for those who are working through their dx, treatment, and emotionally coming to terms with cancer. Everyone here wants to fight it one way or another. I admire those who are disciplined enough to go to greath lengths to stay healthy and cancer prevention. If someone here is just beginning the cancer journey then they will naturally be consumed by it. Those who are in the middle of the bc journey need support, and those at the end, definately need all the arms they can get. I don't share with my friends about cancer outside the websites. The only reason to come now is because I made a few connections to people that I have come to care about...and because I'll forever be doing what I can to avoid another recurrence.

Patzee, be gentle with your words. Humans are all fragile.

patzee .....so you are the board police now?

What gives you the right to be so arrogant?

What are you doing on this site if you are so 'over it'?

My diagnosis on my medical chart reads:

Cancer of the female breast, infiltrating ductal; Cancer metastatic to lymph nodes.

So I can see how someone would easily get confused. However, when the metastasis is only to regional lymph nodes common practice in not to call that metastatic disease. Especially when the assumption is that surgery has removed both the cancer in the breast and in the lymph nodes.

Technically Luan is right, but being technically right does not mean you shouldn't conform to common practice of the group you are participating in. That only causes communication problems.  

Mets refers to distant metastasis.  Technically those of us with positive nodes had "metastatic" bc to the nodes, but that really isn't mets.  A second tumor within the breast is a second primary and not mets at all.  Luann, the fabulous news is that you don't have mets.  The women on thse boards with mets have cancer in other parts of their bodies and put it in their tag lines so they can seek support from each other.  You, fortunately, do not belong in that group.

It is my understanding that it is used in pathology in place of the word "spread."  So in that sense, yes Luan is correct.

However, that is not the way the word is used here or in the staging process.

The problem (and I could be wrong) is that it "appears" Luan is making fast and loose with the standard accepted definition (once she was made aware she didn't change her tag) and it is offensive to women who really have mets. 

It smacks of drama, and I dunno, good old fashioned dishonesty. 

Luan,

I'm sorry.  I'm not trying to be cruel.

I do think it's important for you to understand how it looks....especially since that obviously isn't your intent.

I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. 

They can compare notes.

That was a trial run Athena.  It's due to rerun on October 21, 2011.

Given that I am a woman who is nearly 59 and I hope, mature in my thoughts and actions most of the time (except when I listen to heavy metal and have a few wines), I find it hard to understand the rantings of a woman who is supposedly older than me.