Will 30% of Early Stage (1-IIIA) go on to metastasize??

Just chiming in on statistics,

I had bc 24 years ago, was given tamoxifen and rads (tamoxifen was a clinical trial for me at the time). Now dx 12/15 in other breast extremely aggressive TN, IBC, kitchen sink thrown in for treatment. I'm on #16/33 rads. Being TN I'm envious of those that have hormonals in their arsenal. For those of us that are TN's once treatment is done, there is nothing until we progress. Oh for 24 years I kept my weight down, excersised, ate very carefully and here I am again.

What I want to say about stats, is if it's you then it's 100%. I get so tired of how rare IBC is, well wasn't for me. Or that I have a higher chance of recurrence due to node involvement and stage. I lost my aunt in 2013. She was a stage 1a in 2009, triple positive and it came back with a vengeance in 2012. She had all the hormonals, and all the recommended treatments. Even then "statistics" said she would do well as a stage IV, not so. So there are always variables in the statistics because we are individual and BC is a beast.

24 years is a long time, I don't think you could have changed anything. Sounds like you did everything right.

Good luck to you.

I go between looking at stats and then seeing so many defy it one way or the other. It truly is a crapshoot. Sure some have high chances than others but then you see those who did everything down to personal life style right progress. I see on these boards the word cured used so much. It worries me that if these people think cured that they won't be vigilant. Every time I see someone post they are cured I feel like going in there and saying there is no cure and be vigilant. It's amazing how many people think this way and it doesn't help when you have providers saying you are cured either. If you remain vigilant then should it be happening again, you have a fighting chance. Think you're cured then it'll be too late by the time you really start feeling problems.

Yep, Momine, I second that.

Thanks Momine.In two years of posting here I've come across just two men, and one of those was last week. In any case I tend not to worry about gender as much as the topic being discussed. Outside of BCO, however, I'm very connected to the MaleBC scene through several websites and on Twitter.

Great points, all and as I face my tests this week, I am again so comforted to be among you. I can't believe what a huge role this board has played in my life.

Musing on statistics, I remember the important fact that they drive advocacy and research. Yes, it's a crap shoot, yes, it's 100% if you get it. It's all about us when you live in the cancer body, but really we are part of a global health crisis all of us.

I didn't fit any of the molds in this game, diagnosed at 39 with no apparent risk factors other than dense breasts. I am grateful for the more recent statistical analysis on young women, even if it is to acknowledge there is a huge hole in that area.

Through research and statistics, we have boards like these! I consider this board part of my treatment. I can debate, learn, and advocate. In fact, I got my oncologist to agree to an annual MRI thanks to conversations here. Now, MRI is considered a standard for dense breasted women at a certain risk level. Also more glorious statistics.

Hugs to all on this complicated journey.

Like LtotheK says, this board part of my treatment too. Crowdsourcing answers to questions is important, as is trying to help others, but better still is the fellowship and camaraderie, along with the good cheer and positive humanity found here by the bucket load.

I'm getting a second bone scan this year. I've also had 2 CT scans. At this point it's necessary find any distant mets due to symptoms.

Early stage I believe is stage 1 - stage 3A

One adjustment to Traveltext's post.

Those who have spread to the lymph nodes (either under the arm or near the breastbone) are still early stage. This includes Stages IB, IIA, IIB and IIIA. (And of course, Stage IA, invasive cancer with no nodal involvement, is also early stage.)

My understanding is that the reason Stages IIIB and IIIC are considered to be 'advanced' diagnoses is because of the presence of breast cancer cells either in the lymph nodes above or below the collarbone (i.e. somewhat more distant lymph nodes) or in the chest wall and/or the skin.

Just from people's responses on this site, recurrence doesn't seem to be as a big a factor.

I think if I knew how potential cancer cells were responding to treatment I would feel a bit more secure.

Those who have chemotherapy before surgery (neo-adjuvant treatment) do find out if the chemo worked on their tumors and/or nodes from the post surgery biopsy. No remaining disease is called "pathologic complete response". But true, when we reach the state vaguely called NED (aka remission), there is no way of knowing if hormone blockers, etc are working until a recurrence happens. And there is no way to tell on a day to day basis to know whether there are tumor cells circulating in your body, or if they will jump your immune system and form into a palpable mass that is detected by you, or if they will even show up as a spot on a scan. I was told by my BS that all stages draw pretty level in the survival stakes after five years NED.

Well odds and percentages matter to me... Honestly weighing those odds on chemo, tamox vx. ooph and ai, all the little percentage points. Would I rather have Luminal A than Luminal B? Hell yes... because percentages matter.

The “wicket" style walk-through metal detectors, unlike the X-ray belts and rotary scanners, don't emit radiation--they are weakly electromagnetic and sense metals in our bodies or in or on our clothing.

Actually, it is theoretically possible for an early-stage bc patient to be “cured." Unfortunately, those lucky individuals will never be able to confirm that--only their survivors and pathologists will, after death from another cause, via an autopsy that shows no cancer anywhere in the (dead) body.

As far as I am concerned, the word "cured" should not ever be used in connection with BC. There is no cure. There is no treatment that will reliably make the cancer go away and stay away forever. Even if you die of something else, all you had was a nice long remission, in my opinion, that made it possible for you to go out for non-BC reasons. As I always tell my stage 4 auntie, if you die of something else, you won.

What we have are really good treatments that allow long remissions, even in many stage 4 patients (like my auntie, who is 4 years NED after her stage 4 DX), and in this we are lucky compared to many other cancer patients.

As for treatment efficacy, I had neo-adjuvant chemo and had the quite amazing experience of being able to feel my tumor halve after each infusion.