How much does Herceptin improve HER2/neu + prognosis?

dja625 Osteopenia is not osteoperosis. I too had osteopenia at my first bone density scan.  My onc recomend I add add itional calcium (already taking additional D3). Next bone denisty test (after chemo, chemopause and 5 months of Anastrozole) I only saw a .1 (1/10 of a decimal point) of bone loss.  Depending on how close your o steopenia is to osteoperosis you may have no need for  major concern.

Sugar in general is not good for you but I have yet to see information from reliable sources that say it can be a cause of breast cancer. Yes if you have a high blood condition suger there may be a link but that doesn't mean that just eating sugar will put you at high risk for breast cancer.

dja625 both my PCP first prescribed the D3 when I was low D. My onc prescribed the Calcium because of my osteopenia (and weight bearing exercise but I was already doing that). I would check with your doctors before you start taking supplements. You want to be sure you are not taking too much. Yes too much D is not good for you. Not sure about the calcium.

Don't drive yourself crazy figuring out why you got breast cancer. They really don't know for sure what causes it. I had risk factors like being white, no kids, dense breast tissue and tall but these aren't things I could have actually changed except may not having kids (before 30).

@Lago:  Did I read that right?  Being tall is considered a risk factor? 

This HER2 thing scares the crap out of me too.  I'm second guessing myself as to whether it was a good idea to wait until after the holidays for surgery.  I feel like the lump has gotten bigger.  

I never knew being tall was a risk factor??

IDC stage 1a, Er- Pr- Her2neu 3+ High Grade

Melly1462 Yes there was a study that found that being tall was a risk factor. I'm still not chopping off my long legs Just do a google search using the terms "tall, breast cancer risk"

I too was worried about how fast my tumor was growing. I was told it started 4 years prior. My tumor including the non invasive part was 6.5cm! My mammo was 6.11.10. My surgery wasn't till 8.31.2010! I was so scared it was going to get into my nodes or grow/attached to the chest wall. Ended up it didn't change. Yes they are fast growers but not that fast. You BS wouldn't have you wait if there was a problem. If you had IBC believe me they wouldn't let you wait. That spreads really fast.

Lago Tall as a risk factor? Well, I'm not surprised-they are really grasping at straws trying to figure this thing out. I was watching a webinar not long ago with Dr. Susan Love and she was explaining that although we have gained tremendous knowledge about breast microbiology, we still don't fully understand the anatomy of the breast ductal system-wow! So close and yet so far...

Melly1462 Take a deep breath-try not to freak yourself out (easier said than done). As others have said, even aggressive BC takes a long time to develop. My BS said that it had been growing for at least a few years to get to a size where it could be seen on a mammogram (my Her2+ tumor was 1.2 cm).  I know you will feel better once you've had surgery and started treatment, but a few weeks won't change things.

Rosemary-b I like your way of thinking:) I'm doing the same thing. I was always active before BC and was already eating healthy (my big risk factor was not having children if they are right about that). 'I've always been thin, never smoked and was not drinking at all because it provoked migraines for me. Since the onset of chemopause and the crazy change in hormones, my migraines have miraculously gone away. So, I'm not becoming an alcoholic either but I'm making up for some lost time since I believe this is a crap shoot too! I am thoroughly enjoying a glass of wine when I want it, eating dessert when I feel like it and not feeling guilty if I don't exercise enough. I feel like I was doing all the right things and got BC anyway so I'm just going to move forward doing things in moderation and hope for the best. I'd hate to spend my time and energy being stressed about doing all the right things, have a recurrence years from now and wish I had eaten more cake and had more wine:) Cheers!

Dragonfly do a google search on tall, breast cancer, risk and several articles will pop up. I don't make this stuff up.

Lago I know you would never make something up- My point is that the researchers still have no idea what the cause is so they are associating BC with every trait they can think of...

On a totally different subject, I was so sad to read the headline that the former Miss Venezuela, Eva Ekvall, died yesterday at age 28 from BC:( I'm not sure which subtype she had. I know she had been very vocal about her treatment journey and had written a book and published pictures of herself going through chemo, etc. BC really sucks!

Oh no....being a girl....5'9....im doomed. I hate to think of my daughter who is 5'11, 23, no kids, and says she is not having them. Going to adopt. Maybe I will tell her that her risk is reduced if she has kids and then I will have some hope of grandkids. Neither of my children is in a particular hurry.

I do think that stress may somehow kick off a chain reaction of other pre-existing factors-whatever they may be. I had just had one of the most stressful years of my life leading up to my diagnosis.

My most stressful year was in 2006. IF it takes a few years to show up, that would be it. I left the job that I liked a lot, but was just too many hours, high stress, and had gone through some management changes. As a member of senior management, it had quit being fun. Now, as Indianapolis gets ready to host the Super Bowl, I think of what my life would be right now and am so glad I left. I would be working around the clock, totally stressed, with no concept of a home life.

Lago....I agree that it takes all kinds of factors. I was just kidding on the part about my daughter. I spent my mid 20's to early 30's working in community affairs for a bank. Our boss smoked a pipe, and the guy next to me chain smoked. Even though I had my own office, the whole area was enclosed and usually had a haze to it. I think of that often and wonder if that even could have a long lasting effect. And then I think that here I am, fairly healthy with the exception of BC, and my SIL's husband chain smokes, eats sausage sandwiches, has a terrible diet, and just goes merrily on his way. You just never know.

Stress is just one trigger. I believe you need several triggers for the cancer bell to go off.