Stage 2-recurrance percentage % risk?

Congrats, Fe Princess!!!!

Great news!

Hi Everyone,

Hey j have to agree Ruthbru, I was already set up to start chemo in my first consult. I just asked questions like what is the oconotyping for and so many other questions. Was booked for my heart scan to see if I could tolerate the chemo. And Mo said yes why don't we send a sample off and wait to get the results in the mean time I was to have the heart scan but my results came back the day before and she said that I didn't need chemo after all. I was a shocked when you are trying to emotionally prepare for everything that's happening so fast, that's for sure. But she said after they do that analysis it changes the numbers and the chemo would not be a benefit so it would not add any reassurance for me. I was still uneasy about not doing the chemo but she explained it till I understood that having lupron injections and letrozole would be very effective treatment as well as the radiation. I'm premenopausal and couldn't take tomoxafin due to previous problem with blood clots. But unlike Italychick find I'm so fatigued that walking has become a Chore

Dear pprice,

Welcome to our community. We are sorry to hear about the scar tissue but glad that you reached out. Here is a link to information on our site about the Effects of Surgery. There is information within this link about managing scar tissues. You also may want to browse through the forum on Surgery Before, During and After. You may want to start a new topic there with your question. It might yield more timely responses. Keep posting and stay connected.

The Mods

Hi ThinkingPositive, my Oncotype came back at 32, so off to the chemo chair I went, completed 5 months of it last month, starting radiation next Monday. I agree with Fe Princess, you should tell your doctor that you want to know if you really do, it shouldn't be up to them to decide for you.

Fe Princess, congratulations on your run, it's great to get back to the things that we enjoyed doing before our diagnosis. I was so excited to do step and not fall over my numb feet last week! Congratulations on your move as well and good luck, that is so exciting!

Nice to see you, Fe Princess. I hope you're healing well and happily settling into your new life in Switzerland.

my story is almost identical to yours .... Only difference is high ki-67 for me and Meg node... How do you get past the misdiagnosis? It makes me angry that's had cancer just sitting there.

Hi, Fe Princess - nice to see you again. Good luck with your upcoming recon.

My MO first told me that chemo would give me a 10-12% benefit. But I asked for the Oncotype (came back 15) and got a second opinion. Then both oncologists said I would get a 5% benefit from chemo not taking oncotype into account. With oncotype score, I would not benefit from chemo and my recurrence % is 10%. I think the MO the first time was trying to "scare" me into chemo and to get me to seriously consider it. By the second appointment, she agreed with my reasoning when I chose to skip chemo.

I'm very thankful for oncotype because I think the old staging methods are not catch-alls. Someone who is stage 1 with no nodes might have skipped chemo when they actually needed it. It's a valuable tool and I think when the Rxponder trial comes out more oncologists will agree that a positive node doesn't mean automatic chemo.

Thinkingpostive (and everyone else too), once you have made your choices, do NOT second guess them. We each made the best choice that we possibly could with the information and recommendations that were available (which are going to change as time goes on and new research comes in......my treatment options would have been at least somewhat different if I had been diagnosed today instead of nine years ago). Go forward from where you are now.......look ahead, not back!

Oh yeah, those appointments bring everything back . Hang in there, your feeling are normal. It will get better the farther out you get (although you never entirely get over the creeped out feeling checkups bring).

My stomach is always full of butterflies when I am going in and I still cry when I get out of there alive and well.

I've only been through one mammogram since dx but get the shakes just thinking about the next one, coming up soon. It wouldn't be so bad just going for the normal, routine mammogram but my breast center has a special area for those coming in for dx mammograms, us, etc., and that includes high risk patients. Sitting in that lounge waiting to know whether everything's clear or not, seeing unsuspecting women taken in hand by the nurse navigators and some women leaving in tears is pretty darn traumatic.

Due to insurance limitations, I don't have a choice as to where I go. If I did, I would never set foot in that spot again.

http://www.sonocine.com/

This additional scan(s) seem to be dependent upon your MO and/or surgeon. Mine have always flat out refused me stating it is not the standard of care and will only order a yearly mammogram. This is a hot button for me. I strongly feel if some 'medical professional' had ordered an additional scan like an US back when I had moderately dense breasts - they would have caught my BC earlier.

I heard about Sonocine which is not covered by insurance. It is out of pocked $300- $400. They do not have to deal with insurance. It does require a script from your doctor so they can forward the results but no more fighting to get this scan done. MY GP is a wonderful doctor and he always gives me the script. I'd rather have a false positive result than a false negative IMO.

(Sorry my post was a bit of a vent for me. My situation certainly would not apply to everyone.)