Information on treatment for stage 3 breast cancer

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moine24
moine24 Member Posts: 1
edited January 2016 in Just Diagnosed

One of my favorite people on this planet has just been diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, and I have been googling and finding out what I can, but what I would really love is to speak with sufferers with the same or a similar type of cancer and what alternative methods and therapies they have tried. We are also looking for a clinic for her to go to and she has heard that Mexico is great when it comes to treatment.

A little about my beloved friend. She has been a nurse her entire adult life. Even before she became qualified, she was a nurse in every sense of the word. If you were unwell or injured, she was always the first person to come over and ease any suffering, clean any mess (she's cleaned quite a bit of my own), and is supportive emotionally and physically. She is a strong person, but she has been dealt some harsh blows, cancer not even being one of the worst of them.

Words cant express what an amazing human she is and I cannot lose her. I want so badly to hear from other people dealing with this and perhaps even put her in touch with them, so she wont feel so alone in all this. She has many people who love her but none of us have every faced cancer so I'm afraid we are unhelpful to her.

Any advice from anyone would be so much appreciated!

Thanks

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Comments

  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited January 2016

    Dear moine24, Welcome to the community. We are sorry to hear about your friend. She is lucky to have someone like you who loves her and wants to help her. It would probably be helpful for our members to know a bit more about her cancer. Perhaps you ca persuade her to join the community as well. Our other thoughts are if she is truly interested in alternative approaches to treatment then you would be better to post her story in the Alternative Thread. Those who are interested in alternative approaches are more likely to post there. Good luck to both of you. The Mods

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  • Kicks
    Kicks Member Posts: 4,131
    edited January 2016

    The Stage is only part of the DX (diagnosis) that is used to form the appropriate TX (treatment) plan. The type - DCIS (Ductal Carcinoma In Situ), IDC (Invasive/Infiltrating Ductal Carcinoma), ILC (Invasive/Infiltrating Lobular Carcinoma), IBC (Inflammatory Breast cancer) - is very important to what the TX plan will be as the different types have different TX protocols. Other important factors that enter into TX plan are ER/PR +/ -, HER2 +/-,. Her overall health comes into play as does rather or not she has genetic mutations. Are lymph nodes involved?

    The TX Team -Surgeon, Medical Oncologist ('Chemo Dr) and Radiological Oncologist (Rads Dr) - work together for the complete TX plan. Surgery is not always the first to be done. It would be a lot better/easier for ones of us here, with very diverse DXs, to reply to her concerns if she would come and post for herself.

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  • LM070917
    LM070917 Member Posts: 323
    edited January 2016

    I'm stage 3, had surgery to remove tumour with clear margins, chemo to ensure any rogue cells hadn't spread as I had 2 positive nodes and will be undergoingradiotherapy on my chest wall and upper arm (to get upper nodes) as a precaution. I will also have hormone therapy for potentially 10 yrs as I am ER positive. At stage 3, I'd have thought surgery, chemo and rads are all pretty standard treatment, as this stage involves the lymph nodes

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  • NoWhyToIt
    NoWhyToIt Member Posts: 87
    edited January 2016

    The most important thing is to tell your friend that there are those of us Stage 3's who have been through treatment and are doing fine!! I would suggest supporting her by doing research on best doctors, help her when she is in the midst of chemo with help at home and making sure she gets out to get some air and exercise as tolerated. Also you can send bottled water, cranberry juice (no sugar), low microbial food like jarred applesauce and organic skincare products. Also try REIKI, it honestly made such a huge difference for me.

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