Stage threeb breast cancer

katiesosa

I am looking for evidence of long term survivors of stage 3b breast cancer. I had a recent mastectomy and 27 lymph nodes removed-all positive for cancer. Tumors >8.5 cm. I am on A/c, then taxol 12 weeks, then herceptin and tamoxifin for 15 months. I want to know about treatment cycles of success. i worry maybe this regime isn't strong enough. I have 2 year old triplets and a three year old and I want to be here to see them get married- I want to know there are people out there doing that now. Are there? Thanks-kts

Mis37

I am also in stage 3 of breast cancer. I had a masectomy and 15 lymph nodes removed, all positive with cancer. I didn't start any treatment yet. Don't know just yet what my treatment will be. I have 4 children and I want to see them get married, too. I hope you find someone to answer your questions, then maybe they can answer some of mine. Take care and good luck.

LesleyH

My dear Katie,

I can only imagine you are as frightened as I was when I got my diagnosis of Stage III. I have survived almost 2 years now - and am very well. I had dose dense chemo. You must insist on this! If your onc won't do it, find somewhere else. It will improve your chance a lot! The regular regime of chemo won't do it. I'm here for you. Please take time away from your kids to exercise. An hour a day improves your odds of surviving by 60%.

Hugs.

Lesley

esmcj

I was diagnosed in 2000 with stage 3 breast cancer. 16 out of 18 positive nodes. Had 3 treatments of chemo prior to mastectomy to shrink the tumor. Had remaining A/C chemo, taxol and radiation. I then had reconstructive surgery. I was on tamoxifen for 3yrs and then went on femara. Which I am still taking. This June, I will be considered a 7yr survivor. I know there is always a possibility of recurrence, but every day they are finding new treatments. I too want to see my children get married and have kids of their own. And I plan to.

Meems

Katie,Although not long term (2 1/2 years) I still consider myself a survivor. I had a 5 cm lump, 7 out of 15 positive lymph nodes but my onc. said it can be CURED and for the most part that is what I believe. Hearing those words "you have cancer" are bad enough, but then you hear stage 3, then positive lymph nodes and it seems to get a little worse each time. But after initial shock I decided NOT to look at statistics, what COULD happen and and believe I would be one of the long time survivors. For the first time in my life I had to let go of the negative thinking and live each day as it came and before you know it, 2 1/2 years have passed!
I had the A/C treatment (8 of them) and was able to work through most of them and then 6 weeks of heavy duty radiation. You feel like treatment will never end BUT IT DOES, and you get to go on with your life and all of a sudden you realize how much time has passed and you didn't even know it. You will make it! There are alot of stage 3 survivors out there!
Barb

vac

i have stage 3b, it will be 5 years this oct!!!!i had bilat mastectomy, chemo every 2 weeks, stem cel transplant and radiaion.i am on tamoxifin and at the end of this year my occ will put me on femara. i have 4 children i pray every night a great positive additude and i laugh alot.take care and good luck vicki

24242

Katie,
You hang in there girl...
There is plenty going on in the treatment now for breast cancer even compared to 10 years ago when I was 36 at time of diagnosis. I too was stage 3 with 11 out of 21 positive nodes. Not sure the size of tumour but even at that rate I did not fit any of the criteria that was set out by the medical community for treating this disease.
I fought long and hard for everything there was out there even if it was only a increase of a few percentages in my survival. I felt from the beginning since I too had a son who needed me that if treated I would do everything I could. I live in Canada so our regime is completely different than you get down there. We get all the drugs at one time in one sitting and get the treatments 3 weeks apart. So I had six rounds of a 5 drug therapy which I don't know what the drugs were now. I after 2 rounds had a raging staph infection since had had a mastectomy to start my treatments. Since white cell count disappeared the infection kicked into gear and I spent 8 days in isolation. I took another month before I continued to be treated and many more days in the hospital trying to make sure infection was taken care of. After treatments were done I too did what I needed to ensure I had the chances at survival I deserved and finally kicked the smoking habit my present to myself.
10 years later I still can't say I saw the miracle of the cure but I am so grateful for everyday and being able to see my son thrive. I found resigning to the cancer and going through all the motions was the best that I could do to get through it all. I had the second breast removed one year later to day of the first mastectomy since continued to get benign lumps.
Where there is a garden there is hope!
Tara

jdubious

Hi Katie,
I'm a IIIb also - lobular, 3 out of 19 nodes positive. 2.5 years out from diagnosis. Had single mastectomy, 12 A/C (dose dense - every week for 12 weeks) followed by 6 taxol (again, weekly) followed by 36 radiation treatments, now I'm on arimedex now, for at least 5 years. I was also told my cancer was curable, so as far as I'm concerned, it is! I agree with previous poster about dose dense treatment - I wanted to be as agressive as possible in my treatment and I am fortunate that my oncologist agrees. If you aren't getting the answers you need from your doctor, look for someone else.