scared about increasing stage

My advice sounds almost callous in its simplicity, but I hope you take it in the deepest sense: Don't worry about anything before its time. You or I could end up dead of a heart attack tomorrow. You have to erect an artificial "no worry" barrier somewhere. Your med onc is doing what many are these days. Metastatic BC is incurable anyway; early detection doesn't change that.

I agree--it can be scary worrying about the "what if" scenarios. Have you talked to your docs?  I talked to my BS after my surgery (as we reviewed the final path report) and she said with a small and grade 1 (slow growing) tumor and 0 nodes, it's very unlikely that it spread. The pathologist studied my nodes under a microscope (yours probably did too) and there aren't even any micro-mets. My BS said there are no guarantees but this particular prognosis is as close to a guarantee as we get.  Don't forget, there are trade-offs doing all those tests; the false-positive, as someone mentioned, plus a full-body PET scan exposes you to extra radiation. My sense is that it's not worth-it unless they think they may find something. My understanding is that triple negative is much more aggressive and there are fewer "tools" to help.  I'm glad you're talking to a counselor. I think your concerns and fears are  real and...realistically, your Dx is still so recent and you're still going through treatment. It's scary. So I think it's good to acknowledge your feelings but it might be helpful at some point to get a realistic assessment from your doc--from what I see, your prognosis looks very favorable.

I completely understand your worries.  I too had a very small invasion and no node involvement.  I worry about everything from small headaches, itchy feet, random cough, pain in my hand.  It seems that no sooner does one area of concern get resolved, another one pops up.  It is crazy.  I almost feel like my senses are too in tune with every feeling in my body.  I don't remember what "normal" felt like.  Maybe I always felt like this and just never realized?  I do also know that with everyday that passes, I try to worry less and less.  I do some times tell my self t hat no of us knows how much time we have here and even though I HAD breast cancer, I could still die tomorrow in a random accident.  Treatment is hard to go through and there are a lot of emotions that come with it.  Hang in there,  Know that things are in your favor statistically, and even though you do see some people progress, alot of times you do not see most of the people who are fine and living their lives.  We should start a pact that every year on your diagnosis date you pop in to tell everyone you are still here.  I wonder how many people 15, 20, 25, 30 years out would show up!  I bet a ton, and treatments years ago weren't nearly as good as they are now.  Try to relax...focus on getting through your treatment knowing you are doing everything you can do to fight it!  I definitely know easier said then done, but try not to waste a single minute worrying.  Enjoy every second!

Hi bcisnofun, I'm 5 years clean. Our cancer seems to be similar. I still worry but try not to let it control me, I am also in therapy and it has helped me alot. I know one survivor who has been cancer free 40 years and many 20 plus years survivors.

Emmy