Stage 2 Sisters Club

I would get the test. AIs are (in my doctor's words) "serious drugs" with potential consequences of their own. If you find you have a high benefit, then, of course, you should stay on them. If you find they are of a low benefit, at least you will be able make informed decisions (for instance, if the SE got too much, you could maybe go seven years instead of ten, or go off them after 5 years without as much fear). I think it is always better to have all the facts.

Thank you for your positive note! I am 1.5 years out from surgery, was also stage 2a and 34 years old with a one year old daughter.
Like you, I am grateful for every single day. Things do get easier with time!

Glad to hear from you! I am good too. Anxiously waiting for the Covid vaccine to roll out so life can be a little more 'normal' again!

I was taken off Tamoxifen after 13 months because my liver enzymes were elevated. My oncologist didn't put me on another med, stating that the mastectomy was my cure. How are you dear?

Hello I hope you are doing well . I too had elevated liver enzymes when I was taking tamoxifen and my oncologist took me off and didn't prescribe me any other meds as the unilateral mastectomy it was my cure.

Milk thistle in highly concentrated form completely reversed my fatty liver. It is a miracle weed! Look into it, you won't be disappointed. Best wishes to you. You got this!

I am 8 years out. I get to stop Tamoxifen in June on my 9 year anniversary.! Will be doing a happy dance then. I wish everyone luck.

Thank you ruthbru. Nice to see you. Congrats on your anniversary as well.

Good for you ruthbru! I got my two shots! After the second you may want to rest the day ater.

Congratulations on being done with treatment, Emily. Once you get farther out, you will start to relax more. At Stage II, if we do what is medically recommended & make lifestyle adjustments if necessary (get to & maintain an appropriate weight, bump up the exercise etc.); we really, truly can plan on being okay!

Finally getting the courage to get the covid vaccine, are people still getting the J&J? I know its not as effective as the other two but I don't seem to hear about them in the news as much as the other two?

i got moderna. the main side effect was exhaustion

Yes, I got my booster in November. I had Moderna for all three. Just like with the first two, I got REALLY cold in the evening & felt pretty beat up the next day......I was fine by the next day.

My son had J&J the first time around; after he did some research, he opted for the Moderna booster.

Hippmark, welcome to Stage II sisterhood. I wished you were still Stage I and not here.

Scans don't catch small cancer and my scans didn't get 2 nodes positive I had. Only surgery and pathology revealed the positive nodes and lots of LCIS all over both breasts. I am PR- as well which makes cancer more aggressive. I didn't have chemo since I have lobular that doesn't respond well to chemo and for some reason, I was told no radiation. I am on letrozole.

Is your MO recommending removing other nodes? What about radiation? In a way, it is better to hit it hard from the beginning.

HIppmark,

I experienced almost same as you, my biopsy report said 8 mm with grade 1, then it turned out 2.1 cm with grade 2. I did not expect the chemo when I got biopsy report, but my MO wanted to put me into chemo group based on post surgery report, I asked for oncotype, self pay due to insurance. It back with super low score, so I only need radiation. All the whole journey took almost half year, it totally changed my life.

As for the number of node, you can google, I remembered it is due to the structure of individual's body, the node system likes web, surgeon got to pickup all the first level nodes, that is why they are named as sentinel node. I also just got one node, and it is positive, mine is 3mm, under 2mm will be considered negative.

Chemo is not that hard right now, be well prepared for that, while pray a low oncotype score to dodge it!

Study here and post questions, the ladies in this forum is so nice, that you won't meet in other places.

Take care.

Thank you everyone. It is of some comfort to know that others were also blindsided, again. At least I have been expecting the chemo and have been preparing since I got the results of the original biopsy report of a high KI score, PR negative and grade 2. So it won't be a surprise once my Oncotype comes back. I was not prepared for the node involvement. I guess they should have told me to be prepared even though they didn't see anything.

As an update, I did speak with the surgeon yesterday. It is still a little confusing, but I understand more now. Perhaps if anyone would like to comment. I'm not sure I mentioned that when they injected the tumor with dye before surgery, they told me it did not migrate to my nodes. The surgeon said that was ok, he would use a probe instead. On my follow up visit last week, he said that the node he took was soft and "looked good." Yesterday, he said that some/all (?) of the dye did migrate and that he used the probe, which he explains shows radioactivity in the nodes which I guess could indidcate it being cancerous (?). He took the one node that the probe showed radioactivity. He said they tested many other nodes with the probe and that none others showed radioactivity, so he did not take other nodes to spare me the side effects and since the probe did not light up, he saw no reason too. The node was 5mm of positivity.

My MO said he would leave it up to the surgeon to decide if more surgery since he is already planning chemo. I start T/C on Feb. 1.

He said he was also surprised it came back positive, but he feels that it was not in other nodes. He said the course of treatment will now be to do radiation to the lymph nodes which is just as effective as if he removed more nodes to test them all. I guess that made me feel a little better.

Still trying to adjust and several other life challenges in play at the moment make it harder to pick myself off the floor. Like runor said, " This tipped me over the edge of the life raft into the shark filled waters of crazy anxiety and disabling despair and terror."

Thank you all so much for your comments. It makes me feel less alone on this crazy ride I didn't think I was standing in line to get on.