WOO HOO! Now a 12 year survivor of Stage 4 BC!!

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Denny123
Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
edited December 2014 in Just Diagnosed With a Recurrence or Metastasis


Original liver mets, remission for 6 years. 2 1/2 years ago I had recurrence to nodes behind my sternum, but Gemzar is doing a good job on those.


Yay me.

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  • wyo
    wyo Member Posts: 541
    edited December 2013


    absolutely yeah you!! hearing this is a great dose of positivity. I hope you have a fantastic holiday season

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  • 3boysmom39
    3boysmom39 Member Posts: 54
    edited December 2013

    Awesome! What a wonderful blessing!

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  • Jelson
    Jelson Member Posts: 1,535
    edited December 2013

    thank you for sharing. Happy Holidays!

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  • KiwiCatMom
    KiwiCatMom Member Posts: 2,553
    edited December 2013

    Fantastic and WOO HOO indeed!  Thanks for posting this - great positive boost for us all!

    Wishing you happy holidays and a wonderful 2014!

    Terre

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  • TarheelMichelle
    TarheelMichelle Member Posts: 871
    edited December 2013

    👏👏👏yay!!!! Here's to many more healthy years! 😃

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  • DivineMrsM
    DivineMrsM Member Posts: 9,620
    edited December 2013

    Amazing and inspirational, Denny.  So happy for you.

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  • Mausie
    Mausie Member Posts: 49
    edited January 2014

    Congratulations Denny!

    Please tell us your secret; have you done anything special, exercise 10 hours a day, eat a 1000 calorie diet?  What?  I want to know your secret!

    Thanks,

    Mausie

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  • Scandophile
    Scandophile Member Posts: 71
    edited January 2014

    Keep Going Girl!!! Awesome!!!

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  • Nel138281
    Nel138281 Member Posts: 2,124
    edited January 2014

    Wonderful, awesome, fantastic and all those other great words.  

    Continue on, you give us strength

    Nel

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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited January 2014

    Mausie,

    I have always exercised, although limited.  Treadmill, free weights, yoga, pilates.  No low-calorie diet.

    Watch my fats and sugar-eat reasonably. 

    What is working right now is Gemzar-chemo.  What kept me in remission was Herceptin.

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  • pearlady
    pearlady Member Posts: 882
    edited January 2014

    Denny Congtratulation!  I always love to hear women who are also long term survivors of Stage 1V.  How is the Gemzar?  I haven't had that yet, so I'm also glad to know I have options left. I have been Stage 1V since September 2001, got my Stage 1V news one day after 9/11.  Herceptin and Femara kept me in remission for a very long time, but I am on Abraxane and Herceptin now and my markers have come way down.  Also take Metformin which my onc believes helps keep the cancer in check.  Like you, I try to watch my fats and eat reasonably.  Prayers for many more years for all of us Stage 1V.

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  • Woodylb
    Woodylb Member Posts: 1,454
    edited January 2014

    Denny 123,

    I am so happy for you , you are a breath of fresh air. Just before xmas i was dx'd with distant mets to the liver. Already started carboplatin + gemzar , i am HER2 - 😞 but ER+ . I am still asymptomatic. Your post gave me hope and if my oncos succeed in controlling it. Go go go girl and may enjoy every single day for the rest of your life. fantastic...keep the positive thoughts coming...enjoy life. Xxxx

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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited January 2014

    Thanks woody!

    Pearlady-Gemzar is very easy for me.  I only have thinning hair, but not wig time.  When I had Gemzar 11 years ago, I had slight nausea.

    But now I get a Decadron pre-med and there is no nausea.

    Good luck ladies!

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  • AymzTX
    AymzTX Member Posts: 6
    edited January 2014

    congrats! Glad to hear you are doing well.  Always inspiring to those of us newly diagnosed with mets!

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  • ahdjdbcjdjdbkf
    ahdjdbcjdjdbkf Member Posts: 645
    edited January 2014

    The news is so good I wondered if it was real and a drug company wasn't posting this as a fake. Hoping you are real. There are some false videos on youtube where it turned out the person wasn't real.

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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited February 2014

    Oh gosh!  I promise that I am real!  With over 2,000 posts, going back to when my liver mets were first dx'd, you can probably see all of my posts.

    Going through reconstruction and the whole journey!

    There's no way to make this stuff up.  Hey-I had a lat flap too, but on the left side after I lost the saline implant to a staph infection.

    We have the same history, but I had Taxotere, and then the liver mets, of course.

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  • rebecca63
    rebecca63 Member Posts: 1
    edited February 2014

    This is good to read. I was diagnosed today, Stage IV, grade 3. 

    My doctor stated I had a 40 % survival rate. I was so down, reading

    the posts helped. 

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  • mom2Bnegativex3
    mom2Bnegativex3 Member Posts: 221
    edited February 2014

    CONGRATS TO YOU!!!!

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  • Springlakegirl
    Springlakegirl Member Posts: 216
    edited February 2014

    So wonderful!!  And thank you for sharing your good news! I think everyone benefits from that!!  Keep doing whatever you are doing!!!  I hope to be posting the same thing in about 10 years from now!!  :)

    deniseneish.com

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  • Junetom
    Junetom Member Posts: 5
    edited February 2014

    hi just been told today I am now stage 4 mets to my sternum and sacrum node on my lung don't no what that is yet ,so scared  sorry new to this just feel so desperate don't no what to do x

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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited February 2014

    junetom--is the spread to the lymph nodes behind your sternum like mine?

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  • Junetom
    Junetom Member Posts: 5
    edited February 2014

    Hi he just said there was cancer cells were there , thank you for replying  I'm just so scared xx

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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited February 2014

    My onc is not really concerned about the lymph node involvement.  He said much better than a spread to an organ.

    We really expected my liver to get hit again, but not so far.

    Keep the faith!

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  • funthing42
    funthing42 Member Posts: 418
    edited February 2014

    Hi

    I'm sorry to ask but how did you discover nodes behind the sternum?

    My first dx 2009. Second 2013 Dec.

    B/l mx Jan 2014. So starting chemo.

    Anyway I detected my Breast CA x2.

    So I'm so worried without breast I have no Idea how good I will be at finding lumps. 

    Congrats and you have definitely given me a boost.  Sitting here eating a pint of Ben and Jerry's Flavor- Every thing but the.... Lol Ironically this is how I'm thinking of the BC treatment.

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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited February 2014

    My PET/CT scan found the lymph nodes.

    Just had another PET/CT and the Gemzar has quit working.

    So this Friday, I will start on TDM101/Kadcyla.  No more Herceptin for me, since this new tx is a super-Herceptin.

    And will continue to get the Faslodex butt shots...ugh.

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  • funthing42
    funthing42 Member Posts: 418
    edited December 2014

    Hi

    I need hope again. Thank you again It's back.

    No more pacifier like ice cream I'm in the fight for my life. Doctors do not seem so helpful or let's say passionate about there jobs to save lives.

    I have had 2nd opinions . One where they promise I will see my grandchildren and be fine. The other doctor said well we are all going to die. It's only a matter of time before it mets to organs.

    Maybe a 1 yr maybe 5 yr 10 yr before this happens.

    I have had breast Ca 3 x. Stage 1 less than 1 cm both times. Estrogen+ progesterone- her 2-.

    I was told her2 + Estrogen+ but Im currently on herceptin

    Chemotherapy also completed July this year.

    Only 2 mos after its back, Now in the skin where breast once was.

    They suggest more radiation now.




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  • Denny123
    Denny123 Member Posts: 1,886
    edited December 2014

    OMG-what kind of doctor would tell you that we are all going to die! Okay, that is true! But you are Stage 1!!!!

    My friend who is Stage 4 also for 13 years had mets to her skin.....13 years ago. They are gone and she is still here. She had rads and they never came back.

    Mine recurred to lymph nodes, NOT to the organs!!! Herceptin kept me in remission for 6 years...at Stage 4!

    Okay, I am shouting, but very upset. Don't ever ask doctors how long you have-only God knows. The new chemos are amazing and at Stage 4, I plan to be here for many more years.

    Mets in skin at the incision area are very common and rads might be all that you need.

    Please keep calm and have resolve. You will beat this! The new chemos are mostly mono-clonal anti-bodies that attack the protein on the outside of the cancer cells, thus keeping them from growing. And those chemos are true miracles which will extend our lives greatly.

    Prayers for you and please keep in touch.

    Denise

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  • funthing42
    funthing42 Member Posts: 418
    edited December 2014

    Thank you. I'm sorry. I really do not have much support. I will keep in touch.

    I am afraid to get Rads since I had them the first time with my Lumpectomy. I was told a 4% chance that it would come back if I did this. Well you know how this goes.

    I thought maybe more surgery would be better than Rads.

    I had my breast surgeon take the one in the scar tissue and one slightly below. The rest are along my scar tissue like little pink balls.

    Thanks for listening and words cannot describe the way you have given me hope and courage again.

    Thank you for being strong.


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  • Valerie5746
    Valerie5746 Member Posts: 111
    edited December 2014

    Dear funthing,


    Drs are people too and yours sounds like a man dealing with depression. Time for the old switcheroo in my opinion. I want someone who is fighting for my life not talking to me about my death (uninvited). death is a long time condition, lets find a way to enjoy today!

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  • Valerie5746
    Valerie5746 Member Posts: 111
    edited December 2014

    Dear Denny,

    Butt shots are not bad and Faslodex has taken my tumor markers down from 863 to about 120 something in six months. Great stuff. Saving my butt in one way and kicking it in a far less important way :)

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