has anyone had reoccurance after attacking a stage 1

Did you see this post and the recent news article?

http://community.breastcancer.org/topic/73/conversation/703932

Not sure if this will be useful, but...

I had a recurrence in the skin of my reconstructed breast after being only stage 1 grade 1!  Because my cancer is low grade, chemo isn't an effective treatment - so I had to have the reconstruction removed, rads, tamoxifen and live with an extremely high risk of mets.  I would have felt safer if my cancer had been a higher grade and I had had chemo.

p.s.  Another fact is that often in recurrences the cancer often changes character and can become higher grade or hormone neg. etc...  It's a bitch alright!

flyrzfan

my initial dx was .2cm er+/pr+/her2+++, stage 1, grade 3 IDC

Because of the .2cm (they were amazed the tech even found something that small) - protocol was no chemo or rads but I was put on Tamoxifen - pre-meno, age 43 at the time.

13 months after rb mast/recon, I found a recurrence in my recon near the scar area............. 3.5cm er-/pr-/her2+++.  Have done adriamycin/cytoxan, taxol/herceptin and will continue w/herceptin till August unless the PET/CT I had this morning gives me bad news on Thursday since my tumor markers are up.

I know we shouldn't second guess but I have to wonder sometimes if my tx had been more aggressive the first time if there would have been a recurrence so soon if ever.........................

Good luck!  The women on this board are very supportive and have TONS of info to share.

Dawn

My sister was diagnosed Stage one initially. She had radiation treatments and chemotherapy was a recommendation but she did not choose the chemotherapy. She did take Tamoxifen. 2 years 7 months later she had a recurrence with a tumor on the spine and considered stage 4. At that time she had radiation for the tumor on the spine and chemotherapy.  Almost 3 years later, she is stable. She is receiving treatments of  Herceptin and Zometa. 

My mother was initially Stage 1, Grade 1 (yes it was grade 1, it was triple checked) DCIS with .5mm of IDC in the mix.  Node Negative, Her2 +++, she had a left breast mastectomy Nov 04.  Because of her being Her2, they put her on 4 rounds of A/C.  Herceptin was not available for early stagers in 2004, so she never got it.  Plus, they said with her "small" cancer she would not even need it.

Fast Forward to Sept 07, random PET/CT imaging done to look at the botched TRAM Flap that was done, and to our horror widespread and extensive mets to the liver and bones.  There has to be people in the 2% right, well mom was it.  She is still Her2+++, grade 1 but of course Stage IV now.  They said there must have been some vascular invasion that they did not see on the pathology, the only way it could have got out, as her nodes were negative for cancer.

So, I guess it really doesn't matter what the stage, cancer is cancer.  It is just your body and how it responds and whether or not it decides to come back or not.  Something you can never really tell or predict, I don't care how many numbers they throw out there.

Mom is doing very well by the way, on weekly chemo and herceptin now, zometa to strenghten bones, however she doesn't and never has had any symptoms or pain from the mets, nor and SE's from the chemo she is on.  She is her usual self, minus her hair.

I wish you all good luck, and my prayers go out to you.

Hugs,

Michelle

I wanted to point out to the Newbies.

That Mimi1030s post above from 1 year ago ...Her Moms DX ended up being incorrect.   She did not go from Stage 1, grade 1 to Stage IV.

her Moms Drs did not do a Liver Biopsy ( I think that is what Happened)  And eventually they determined she did not have Mets.

If you search her user ID- You can read about it.

Pam

Pam

Actually I copied and pasted Mimi's most recent post about her mom and thankfully she is doing well considering all this poor woman has been through due to being misdiagnosed.

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Below starts Mimi's most recent post:

Posted in: Connecting With Others Who Have a Similar Diagnosis + Stage IV Breast Cancer, Created: May 1, 2009 08:01 pm

Dropped in to say Hello

Hi Ladies,

I haven't posted here in a very long time and was thinking about you all and wanted to let you know that.  I come by once in a while to read up on you all, but feel it is not my place anymore to offer any advice. But, I hope you are all well.  My mom is well, she has been off all treatment for 8 months now, after the earth moving news that she had been misdiagnosed and treated for a year for mets to liver and bones, the oncologist removed her from everything, the PET scan and CT Scan that diagnosed her were found to not match, and believe that the PET images were not her's and were read incorrectly and that the radiologist had been allowing students to read these images and was not checking their work, just signing off on what they found, and the fact that a biopsy was not done to confirm anything has lead to this point today, everything has been a whirlwind since.  Lawyers are getting ready to take pursue her case but that does not give back to her the damages caused to her body by the toxic drugs, and not to mention the anguish after being told she had 3-6 months to live.  It has been almost 2 years since that awful day.  She continues to have scans, just because being told you had Stage IV Cancer to liver and bones and that it was massive she just feels better having them, but there is nothing there, not anywhere.  My mom's hair seems to refuse to want to grow back and she has a lot of issues with her immune system, she cannot fight the common cold anymore even though she has been off all drugs for 8 months now.  Overall, she healthy considering and looking to get rid of some of the weight the chemo piled on her.  She is back to her running schedule although the workout on her heart after all that herceptin, slows her down a lot. 

I came by to let you all know that I do come here to see what is going on with each of you, I never forgot.  Just my mom's casework has taken up so much time that I have not had chance to sit and write about anything.  I pray you are all doing well, and keep you as always in thought and prayer.  Keep up the good fight ladies, and I will hopefully talk to you again soon.

Hugs Michelle