I don't know what I don't know.

Generally it is considered favorable to be ER+, because that means that anti-hormonal drugs can help prevent recurrence, to be PR+, because that tends to slow down the progression of ER+ cancer, and to be HER+, because nowadays there are some medications that work very well to treat HER+ cancer. ER+/PR+ also sometimes means avoiding chemotherapy.

On the other hand, even with a triple negative cancer, with such an early stage tumor, prognosis can be excellent.

Radiation can vary, but for many women it is about 20 treatments.

There is so much to know and it will all keep trickling in. I'd say the main thing is that actually, there's a lot of info that won't be known (for certain) until after the lumpectomy/SNB and pathology, and even after that you may be waiting for genomic testing results. It's a long haul and it can be very nerve wracking. But the bottom line is that, like her doc said, the prognosis is excellent. Her life will be turned upside down in the short term, and depending on her treatment plan and her body's response to meds, the short term might start feeling annoyingly long. But she should not be planning on dying from this

Mebechamp--there really isn't good or bad when it comes to these things. The "triple positive", "triple negative" refer to estrogen receptors (ER), progesterone receptors (PR), and HER2 status. Be aware the initial HER2 test is often equivocal, so they may have to re-test and it can take a while longer to get the final determination. For my DCIS, the breast surgeon said it was up to me as to whether or not to look at lymph nodes, but he wasn't expecting to find anything so I said no. My guess is your mother has IDC, caught very early (good!!). I was told that while HER2+ tumors are more aggressive, they also have a better outcome, specifically because of Herceptin. It's also possible that if your mother is ER+/PR+/HER2-, they may do an Oncotype test, which will predict whether or not chemo would be effective. It's increasingly common for women with small Stage 1 tumors *not* to need chemo.

Bottom line is it is very treatable--your mom might have a rough couple of months/year or so, but she'll get out the other side and life can move back toward normal. Also, as has been echoed often on this site, it's this initial time before you have all of the specifics that is in some ways the roughest. Once she has a complete diagnosis and treatment plan in place, she can put her big girl panties on and get on with it. Best to you both.

Actually, contrary to what Ingerp implies above, triple negative is usually a worse prognosis because you don't have receptors to target. As Salamandra points out, being ER+ means you have anti-estrogen therapy options.

The development of Herceptin two decades ago was like the creation of a miracle drug. There was a lottery to determine who would be able to get the med when it was in short supply.

Also keep in mind that no one dies of cancer which remains localized in the breast. It only becomes life threatening when it spreads to organs like lung, brain or liver. Metastatic disease is what kills, not early stage...