anyone have a re-occurance with bilat masectomy?

I had a re-occurrence over my R. mastectomy incision on to a right node and skin spread, plus hard lumps and all within only a month after the surgery and then it spread into a node in my left breast. This will know doubt have to be removed but I am in treatment with Chemo and just to begin radiation. My cancer is ILC HER-2-NEU-2 (8/10 nodes+)

I had a bilateral in dec. 2001/ triple neg. grade 3 one node. It came back in a lymph node under my arm in June of 2004. Went back on chemo and had radition and so far NED.

Hi.

I had bi-lateral mast. on May 2nd, node negative... I'm getting chemo, 4 tx of Taxotere and Cytoxan.  I have just had tx #3.  Will have #4 on Oct 9th and reconstruction on Nov 7th...

I like to hear encouragement from others.

I sure don't want to go thru this again!

Good Luck!

Harley

Are you on a hormonal?

I had a grade 3 cancer...no node involvement. I had a prophylactic mastectomy 6 months after my first mastectomy...no chemo no rads. My breast surgeon thought I was high risk to get bc in remaining breast...which is why I decided on the 2nd mastectomy.That was 15 and a half years ago...no recurrence.

jezza

Rose I have not been on line in a few days .No my oncologist said I did not need any since I had to have a complete hysterectomy. I was on femara for 8 months but developed a tumor (thank God it was   b-9) But it was 10 cm. and very painful . I had lost my right ovary the month before because a report had said it was on the right side.

So was told next am oh so sorry but now we will have to take out the left ovary as soon as you recover from this . It grew from 4 to 10 cm. in 6 weeks. Anyway now I have very little confidence in some of the doc's I am seeing .Should I just get over it and go on .It is hard since I was made fun of for being scared when I found my lump. The surgeon had me wait for a month for mammo because he said it was nothing . Then found out is was not cyst and after removal turned out to be I.D.C. and the margins were not clear so I freaked out and went to another breast surgeon(who I love )and had double mastectomy. I had abnormal cells in both breast and lost all nodes and some muscle. Nodes were clear but I hear so much about re-occurrence that was really just a miss the first time.Thanks for letting me vent this a.m. and I covet any remarks.Love Elaine

Cewoliver,



I saw your post above. How awful that the doctor humiliated you for being scared of a breast lump, which then turned out to be breast cancer! Shameful!



I understand you took Femera for 6 months, which suggests your breast cancer was estrogen sensitive. Rose asked if you were on a hormone, and you answered no, that because of your hysterectomy and ovaries having been taken out, your doctor advised it was not necessary.



It's never to late to start a hormone drug, Cewoliver. Many of us use a hormone as a "safety net" to double reinforce the treatment we received (your surgery).



Perhaps you might want to talk with your oncologist, or if you do not have one, ask your primary doctor to refer you to an oncologist to discuss whether a hormone might be helpful.



It may give you more peace of mind, which is definitely worth a lot.



Keep posting, perhaps with the details of your original tumor findings, like size, and the pathology report, and talk about any lymph nodes, and estrogen or progesterone (receptor) positive or negative. Perhaps we can help too.



All the best,

Tender

I think anything under 32 is "normal". Mine was 19 when diagnosed then 20 after mastectomy, down to 14 and lately constant at 17.....I freaked out when it went to 20 but my onc says it could fluctuate by the minute....so no worries he says....

God Bless

Hi Colleen, I had bilateral mast. in 2000. I had chemo radiation and herceptin for 1 yr, also took tamox for almost 5 yrs when i had my recur . The recur of mets was to the lungs (Many spots in both lungs no large tumors). that was in 2005, I have been getting chemo and hercetpin for almost 2 yrs. this time and today just found out I no longer will be getting chemo, only the hercetpin because I am in remission. It took a long time to get rid of the spots but hopefully  I will stay clear for a long time. Take Care KLynn

Yes  Kmb,  I was part of the original herceptin trial then, some women were put on 6months of herc. while others got the year plan. I was hoping at the time to get the 6 months because after chemo and rads I had just about had it. Of course my luck i was given the yr plan lol,( luck of the draw). I was able to quit at any time because of the trial, and i though I would , but when push comes to shove you do what you have to and iIstayed  the course of 1 yr. which I am very grateful for. I was stage 2 something --- I had 6 of 17 positive nodes.I have a great doc and followed his advice. My initials are KLB funny huh???? Take care KLynn

Hi there...I am finally done with all my excisional biopsies..(there were 3) all cancerous..in my reconstructed mastectomy breast...(I have bi-lateral mastectomies with silicone implants)...got my blood work results back...and PET scan results back and NO METS..thank GOODNESS...I had DCIS, STAGE 0 2 yrs ago, bi-lateral mastectomies..and now exactly 2 yrs later...3 new invasive cancers...one of which may even be a new primary.

So now I start Chemo, Andriamycin and Cytoxan on Thursday!   Then surgery to get the margins clean under my arm from one of the tumors, then 8 weeks of Radiation!   And they told me how lucky I was to have the "good" cancer....Since they can't take any more lymph nodes, ( I had 3 removed before)...they are treating me as if I was a stage 2b or 3....can you believe this?  Less than 1% chance of recurrence...and lucky me!

Krisseykatz,

I hope things go well for you. I logged on tonight (to obsess a little) because I go in tomorrow to get a pea-sized lump on my reconstructed breast looked at....I had DCIS, grade 3, ER negative, in multiple spots, and had bilat. masts about a year and a half ago. Your story is certainly not the one I wanted to find....nor the one I am sure you want to be going through. Hang in there. I'll be thinking of you. 

Oh yes...and the NODE question...I spoke with both my Oncologist and Surgeon on this one, because I had so many previous Breast Surgeries, Biopsies and Axillary Disection..the pathways are all messed up..so to speak....so it would be difficult to go back in and search around.....