Went into Surgery Stage 2, Came Out 3A

Hi there - sorry you have found yourself here, but you couldn't be amongst a friendlier crowd!!

My kids were little too when I was Dx, 2 and 4. I had a bit of a nightmare of misdiagnosis, so by the time I got my pathology I was frankly quite happy to be "only" Stage IIIa! It is a lot to get your head around at first, but remember, your cancer doesn't know what stage it is. It just is what it is. And if you check out the Stage 3 five years thread, you will see there are so many women with worse pathology than you, who are doing amazingly well years and years and years later.No reason why the same won't be true for you too!

One good thing about being Stage 3 is you really have an appreciation of how serious it all is. So you will do everything you can to hit it hard. Ask your Onc about Zometa, also about any trials you may be eligible for (Metformin is one that springs to mind) 

It is no picnic going through chemo with little ones, but in a way they made me "keep up appearances" if you know what I mean. I wanted their life to be as undisturbed as possible, so was up and dressed every day, I kept up our normal routines, I tried to pick them up from school myself all the way through.  And I think that helped me too. Three years later it hasn't affected them one bit, they are happy and thriving and don't remember me being in treatment at all.

Anyhow, just wanted to welcome you! Hang in there, you'll get through this.

teeballmom: I think a lot of have the same situation. I also went in thinking I was a stage II and came out of surgery a stage III. I had the same feelings as you (my kids were 7 & 8 at diagnosis)...devastated at higher staging. But it really is just a numbers game. You will get the same treatment you would have gotten at stage II. It sounds like your onc is really working hard to find the most effective treatment.



I cling very much to the words from my RO when she looked at my stats (which are similar to yours). She said "I think you will do well." You have herceptin, tamoxifen, & other hormone therapies in your favor.



It sounds like you have a great support network. Hold on to them, and they will help you through this. I spent 2011 in treatments, and I can hardly believe now how far away it seems. And remember, we are here for you too!

Hi Teeballmum

I too went into surgery thinking my staging would be mimimal as it was found on my annual mammagram and nothing had shown up on my previous one only 8 months earlier.  I had gone for minimal surgery lumpectomy and SNB.

Came out of theatre to find I had had a full auxillary clearance and when my path results came in I didn't have clear margins even though my surgeon had taken extra at the time of surgery and I had 29+ nodes making me a stage 3C.

Had to go back for a full Mastectomy followed by chemo and rads.

In saying this you will be happy to know that I am now 6 years out from that and doing well.

All the best 

Raine

teeballmom, keep us posted, good luck today!

teeballmom:  It felt almost like I was reading about myself with your post.  From the ultrasound they told me they caught it early, then the mri showed a little more than what they thought so he wouldn't be doing a lumpectomy. 

They also saw some questionable places in my left breast that they took biopsies of and said they were ok.  From the exam he didn't think the lymph nodes were an issue. (All this started because they showed up on a stress test but he and the heart specialist said 100's of things could cause that.)

When I came out of surgery the sentinel node was positive and I later learned that 9/9 nodes were positive.  The pet scan after was clean and my margins were clear also.

You were fortunate to have a double masectomy.  I pleaded for one and my surgeon kept telling me that if anything comes up we will catch it early.  Now,  I was suppose to go back for my 6 month appointment with my BS in Aug but that just got moved up because my gyn felt something that concerned him in my other breast.

Other than that I feel like I have done very well and all this while homeschooling twins......their senior year of all things...which being seniors helped but it was already going to be a chaotic year for us without the cancer.  To top it all off my husband has been out of the country for all of this except for a few weeks during my 5 months of chemo. 

I just had a hysterectomy/ooph as a preventative and I'm on the generic for Aromasin.  I will be very glad to get this new area of interest dealt with.  Waiting is the worse part but I think I'm improving there.  You can only do what you can do and ultimately it is in God's hands and for His purpose. 

By the way, I was the same age as you too.  I wish you the best with your treatment.  If you would ever like, feel free to send me a private message any time. 

What pupfoster said also is so true.  Being this stage had the benefit of the doctors being hypervigilant and as my nurse practioner told me there's no way to predict who will have a recurrence.  She said some people that they thought wouldn't make it through chemo are still around 20 years later and some that were stage 1 have faced recurrence. 

Just to echo what everyone here has said.  MRI & PETs done pre-surgery showed no pos nodes.  Also showed just two 1 & 2 cm tumors.  HELLOOOO??? After BMX had 4  pos nodes, and 6+ tumor.  Good thing for us both was clear margins.  Just still cannot get why the tests they have are so useless.  I didn't feel any "symptoms" either, actually was healthy, ate right, played tennis. I also say family history stats should be higher percentage -- at least more than 10%.  Have 2 aunts, and one aunt had two daughers with BC.  Also reading everybody here, it seems all cancer survival stats need to be "updated" as they are many years "outdated".