Looking for a new Treatment for my Daughter/Dealing with BC

concernedDaD99

I am new to this format and website and like most of you looking for answers and willing to help if I can. My Daughter, (Maria) and myself and family have been attempting to get her well for over 4 years. Just to give you a brief background on Maria's (and our) battle with Breast Cancer. Approximately 4 and 1/2 years ago at age 39+ Maria discovered a lump in her right breast, she went to her family Physician and had him check it out, he told her he felt it was nothing to worry about. So she took the Doctor's word for it and that was it for then. This growth continued to bother her and she went back to the doctor, but this time demanded it be checked out futher as the doctor should have done on the first visit.
It turned out, by that time she had Stage 3 BC.
So a word to the wise, if there is a sign of a problem, have it checked out thoroughly. So anyway she found an onocologist at a Major Cancer
Hospital in the Chicago area and began treatment.
She had surgery to remove the tumors in her breast,then chemotherapy and followed by Radiation. With this treatment they remove 15 Lymp nodes under her right arm. After all this they ran tests(approx 3 mos.) they determined her cancer was in remission and she would be tested on a regular schedule as would be expected. Things seemed to be going along fine, until approx. 2- 1/2 years and these tests showed reoccurrance only this time some lymp nodes under her Breastplate and the other arm were affected. lymp nodes were removed under the left arm now, this time 3 , not the 15 like the original.
She was put on a case study again, this time with pills,(XELODA and CYTOXAN) for 3 week cycles, then in for tests. She was doing fairly good with this treatment, the biggest problem was being tired most of the time, but she was able to keep a regular work schedule, (except her job requiered her to work too many hours) and I believed that contributed heavily to the tiredness. Well, the test from cycle one came back with fair results, some shrinkage of the tumors and no new ones, Cycle two, the results were very encouraging, the tumors under her Breast plate had reduced to about 1/2 of this cycles previous size and we were so pleased and thankful. But there was still questions, because the tumors under her left arm, which you would think would respond to the treatment also, were not. They were just kind of stablized. Then we got to cycle 3, this time there was not a significant reduction, the onocolgist said let's finish the last cycle, hopefully, we'll see significant reduction from that. Cycle 4, last week, the results were, no reduction, some had grown slightly and a new tumor the size of a quarter had appeared under her Breast plate. So this treatment was not the answer for us. Maria is having more scans done currently to see if any other areas are being affected and we'll talk with the onocolgist to determine the best treatment to start now. One of these involves the Chemo treatment AVASTIN, which is supposed to shut off the blood supply to the tumors and stop the growth, possibly cause them to reduce and hopefully cause them to disappear completely, but what we read so far is not as encouraging as all that sounds, so I am looking for someone out there that, may have or is using this treatment and can shed some light on it. I appologize for the length of this , (I said brief). sorry

Throughout this time dealing with Maria's Cancer, we have done our homework, spent lots of time on the Internet, buying and reading books about various treatments and care, and I believe very strongly, that treatment should not stop with Chemo, Radiation, surgery and such, the whole person needs to be treated, attitude, eating the right food, exercise and prayer are all part of this. And I know all treatment centers, and onocogist do not follow these guidelines some only try to treat the Cancer and drop the ball from there. I fully believe we will find the right answer to Maria's problem and she will get her life back, and right now we are looking for that answer, so if you do know anything, have experience with AVASTIN, PLEASE SHARE WHAT YOU KNOW, THANK YOU

24242

Great for your daughter to have people looking out for her best interest since I am sure she doesn't have any extra energy...
At my own diagnosis I was 36 at the time with IDC stage 3 with 11 out of 21 positive nodes. I am now happy to say I am into my 10th year of survival. Your daughter might be happy to know that some of us actually end up doing better than we have in many years. I myself am mudding and taping drywall at 46, in better shape than I have ever been in though an athlete all my life.
I have had double mastectomies to minimize the risks left to me, there are no garauntees in anything we choose for our treatments and I don't see the cure instead feel realistically that my own life has been prolonged and I am grateful for every breath.
All we have are the treatments available and maybe that is God's gift...
I can't believe how similar your daughter's and my story are maybe she too would be interested in reading a speech I gave that can be found on my personal website here with this site.
Having parents that care and do all they can makes all the difference in the world. I come from a mother who has delt with death and dying since being a palliative nurse most of my life. She certainly was there for me when I need her and my father both. I also had a paternal grandmother who was breast and bone in early to late 60's. I was fortunate to know what I was facing.
Say hello to daughter and if she needs someone to talk to who truly understands she can email me at the person web page on this site.
I am sorry for your worry because I know how hard this is on the people we love. It took all I had to tell my father he had to now face breast cancer with his youngest daughter.
Be good to yourselves always,
Tara

LesleyH

What a sad story. Unfortunately, one that happens too frequently. I, too, struggled to get my doctor to take my breast lump seriously. It took 5 visits and 10 months before he would consent for a biopsy. I filed a lawsuit and reported it to every governing body I could think of. These doctors must be held accountable.

Is Maria's cancer hormone positive? What about Her2?

There are still many options left. I bet her oncologist has many tricks still.

Best wishes.

Hugs.

Lesley

vac

I was diagnose 4 1/2 years ago i was 49yrs old i had 13+ lymph nodes my cancer was hormone + i had bilat masectomy i had chemo every 2 weeks then 6 months later i went through stem cel transplant my md said i would die with out it. 3 months later i had radiation. i went through alot, it was worth it i feel pretty good except for my feet. i have neuropathy from the chemo. keep in touch