Mom detected with Stage IV breast cancer, doctor report below, need suggestion/analysis

seetha

Dear friends,

My mom (68 years, India) is undergoing BC treatment at one of the well reputed hospitals (Apollo, Chennai) and she has taken her first dose of Chemo. This is the doctor's response (below), please share your thoughts as we are still shocked on this whole episode.

Q: Could you please explain the prognosis
Dr. A: Depends on the response we are looking at 1-3 years
Q:The results of the tests taken recently
Dr. A:The ER and PR are negative and Her-2-Neu is positive meaning she has aggressive variety.
Q:What is her health condition now (medically)? stable
Dr. A:How is she responding to chemo? seems to be responding
Q:What is the future plan? Heard she has to come back after 10 days for her second chemo.
Dr. A:she will continue chemo once in 3 weeks.

Physically, she is weaker than before (she is heavy in stature), coughs more often than not. Unable to eat dietary food, got swelling on her arms. She did not have any adverse reaction to chemo or other medicines yet.

Is this a better sign (is her body responding well?), will she live long enough? What should I ensure next, should I do anything different in her treatment?

Folks who are knowledgeable in this domain, or who have experienced it (unfortunately), please share.

Thanks and god bless,
Kumar

mmontero38

Hi Kumar: Though I was not
Hi Kumar: Though I was not diagnosed as stage 3 like your mom, I had invasive ductal carcinoma stage 1 grade 3. My lymph nodes were clean but they found traces of cancer cells in the blood vessels in my breast so I had a mastectomy. I them went through 8 rounds of cytoxan, adriamycin, and 5FU which is known as CAF. As i was going through chemo, I also swelled up and started retaining liquids. The doctor gave me a diuretic to help and I was then fine. You haven't said what stage her cancer was diagnosed at nor if she had any lymph node involvement. That would most certainly make a difference in her prognosis. Yet, there are many women on this site that were diagnosed with stage 3 and 4 and are still here with us many years later. So please don't interpret the doctors prognosis as gloomy as he pictures it. Find out what stage and if her lymph nodes were involved and if he feels it has spread anywhere else. Also, what chemo are they giving her. Write back with this info and we may be able to help you a little more. God bless, Lili

mmontero38

Kumar, I just realized you
Kumar, I just realized you put your mom was diagnosed stage IV. There are many women here that had that stage and are here many years later. It would all depend on how your mom responds to the chemo. Did they say it had spread anywhere? Answer back, Hugs, Lili

seetha

mmontero38 said:

Kumar, I just realized you
Kumar, I just realized you put your mom was diagnosed stage IV. There are many women here that had that stage and are here many years later. It would all depend on how your mom responds to the chemo. Did they say it had spread anywhere? Answer back, Hugs, Lili

Yes, lymph nodes are
Yes, lymph nodes are involved and it had spread to the lungs - making it hard for her to breathe. The fluid has now subsided allowing her to talk, but she feels uncomfortable due to cough and the dietary food. I can send the medical report if required. Thanks for your comments Lili. Hope mom can fight it out.

seetha

mmontero38 said:

Kumar, I just realized you
Kumar, I just realized you put your mom was diagnosed stage IV. There are many women here that had that stage and are here many years later. It would all depend on how your mom responds to the chemo. Did they say it had spread anywhere? Answer back, Hugs, Lili

What does "The ER and PR are
What does "The ER and PR are negative and Her-2-Neu is positive meaning she has aggressive variety" mean. I looked up information but would like to get realistic answers..

cabbott

seetha said:

What does "The ER and PR are
What does "The ER and PR are negative and Her-2-Neu is positive meaning she has aggressive variety" mean. I looked up information but would like to get realistic answers..

Different kinds of cancer
There are many different kinds of cancer, even many different types of breast cancer. Doctors have run lots of different tests on various kinds of breast cancer cells. They keep the tests that seem to show something significant about how cancer cells work and how they might be best treated. The majority of women have cancer cells that have little receptors on them that fit with two hormones: estrogen (ER) and/or progesterin (PR). These two hormones can actually act as fuel for that kind of breast cancer and make it grow and spread. The good thing about finding this out is that there are drugs like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors like Arimidex that can control hormone-fueled cancer. The tamoxifen fills the ER receptors and keeps the body's estrogen from getting to the cancer. Aromatase inhibitors work only after menapause and lowers the estrogen your body makes from fat. This also starves the cancer cells and stops them from growing and spreading. Some women, including your mom, have cancer that is not fueled by estrogen or progesterin. Their cancer does not respond to either tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor. That kind of cancer tends to be more aggressive. That means it grows and divides faster. Also it spreads to other organs more often. That's obviously not good news. HOWEVER, it tends to respond to chemo BETTER than hormone-controlled cancer. HER-2-NEU is another test that doctors started using a few years ago. Some women test negative and some test positive. If they test positive, it is GOOD news. There is something called herceptin or trastuzumab that will not work folks that are HER-2-NEU negative, but it will work for your mom who is HER-2-NEU positive. In short, the tests you mentioned tell the oncologists which drugs will work the best and which won't work at all to control your mom's cancer.

seetha

cabbott said:

Different kinds of cancer
There are many different kinds of cancer, even many different types of breast cancer. Doctors have run lots of different tests on various kinds of breast cancer cells. They keep the tests that seem to show something significant about how cancer cells work and how they might be best treated. The majority of women have cancer cells that have little receptors on them that fit with two hormones: estrogen (ER) and/or progesterin (PR). These two hormones can actually act as fuel for that kind of breast cancer and make it grow and spread. The good thing about finding this out is that there are drugs like tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors like Arimidex that can control hormone-fueled cancer. The tamoxifen fills the ER receptors and keeps the body's estrogen from getting to the cancer. Aromatase inhibitors work only after menapause and lowers the estrogen your body makes from fat. This also starves the cancer cells and stops them from growing and spreading. Some women, including your mom, have cancer that is not fueled by estrogen or progesterin. Their cancer does not respond to either tamoxifen or an aromatase inhibitor. That kind of cancer tends to be more aggressive. That means it grows and divides faster. Also it spreads to other organs more often. That's obviously not good news. HOWEVER, it tends to respond to chemo BETTER than hormone-controlled cancer. HER-2-NEU is another test that doctors started using a few years ago. Some women test negative and some test positive. If they test positive, it is GOOD news. There is something called herceptin or trastuzumab that will not work folks that are HER-2-NEU negative, but it will work for your mom who is HER-2-NEU positive. In short, the tests you mentioned tell the oncologists which drugs will work the best and which won't work at all to control your mom's cancer.

Thanks cabott. That was very
Thanks cabott. That was very clear and consoling. Thanks very much for your time and god bless - Kumar.