Happy Happy Day!!

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Heatherbelle said:

ahh you all are so great
ahh you all are so great with your kind words & genuine happiness for me & mom! i'd sit up and write another of my "short novel" responses here if i weren't already sitting here half asleep! your comments brought tears to my eyes -which is no easy feat because i'm not that emotional! i love the support and comfort we have here for each other. I never had a sister, just one crappy brother, and now I have so many
love and hugs to you all!
heather

Heather,
It made me so happy
Heather,

It made me so happy to hear the positive news about your mom. Im glad for the both of you. I know what it feels like to worry about a parent when we are already so overwhelmed. My mom has heart problems, has a pacemaker to help and as of a few wks ago a CT scan and many other test have confirmed she has a tumor in her stomach, we wont know what it is still it is taken out. Her surgery is next wk.

Lupe

Marcia527

Glad things are going well!
Glad things are going well! :>)

MomMichelle

Heather,
I am so happy for
Heather,

I am so happy for you and your mom. The news sounds so good...always welcome to hear that on the boards. Hopefully they can schedule the lumpectomy and she can move past this chapter! Prayers still coming!

Michelle

RE

OH YEAH!
Heather I can so relate to your post as my mom and I did a stint of cancer treatment together as well. I am super happy your mom will not have to do the chemo and will have a more manageable radiation. It's no fan to hear those nasty "you have cancer" words but it certainly sounds like her's was caught in a very early stage which is wonderful. Now on to you, how GREAT that you treated yourself to such a lovely scarf wear it with pride my dear you certainly deserved it. Thank you for updating us on your mom it is always nice to hear good news!

(¯`v´¯)
.`•.¸.•´
¸.•´¸.•´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•´ .•´ ¸¸.•¨¯`•.•..•¨*RE

cahjah75

Heather unlike you
I had no brothers but I have 3 younger sisters. I watch my mom and know that she feels helpless re breast cancer. Her mother died of it, her oldest sister is still going strong at age 90 after mastectomy at 68, but 3 of her 4 daughters have breast cancer. That's a lot to deal with! But, we're close and help each other out. I'm glad despite dealing with your own problems that you can help your mom out too. That's what love is all about and I'm sure she appreciates you :-)
{{hugs}} Char

Double Whammy

cahjah75 said:

Heather unlike you
I had no brothers but I have 3 younger sisters. I watch my mom and know that she feels helpless re breast cancer. Her mother died of it, her oldest sister is still going strong at age 90 after mastectomy at 68, but 3 of her 4 daughters have breast cancer. That's a lot to deal with! But, we're close and help each other out. I'm glad despite dealing with your own problems that you can help your mom out too. That's what love is all about and I'm sure she appreciates you :-)
{{hugs}} Char

Oncotype test
Hi Heather:

All good news about Mom. If all goes well with clear margins, no lymph node involvement, please ask about an oncotype dx test if her tumor is Stage 1, small, estrogen positive, HER-2 negative.

I was told from the get go that I probably would not need chemo - just lumpectomy and radiation. Everything went swimmingly. My tumor was .6 mm, ER+, HER-2 negative, lymph node negative, no evidence of vascular involvment. All good stuff if one has to have breast cancer. At my post op check, the surgeon said the medical oncologist would likely "offer me chemo" because without an oncotype test, the jury is really out on whether chemo is needed or effective in this group of early stage 1 cancers. So he suggested we do the test. Turned out my "score" was in the high risk rate for recurrence at a distant site within 10 years. For my score (31, the lowest number in the high risk category doggone it) there is a 21% recurrence rate. The higher the number, the higher the percentage of recurrence (for the study they did) and the more beneficial chemo can be. I could have declined chemo but my medical oncologist said I "needed it" and by then I'd decided I wanted to give it all I could anyway. Chemo reduces the rate of recurrence by 30-40%, and I will know I've done everything I could to keep this sucker from coming back.

With a low score (under 17 I think)there is no evidence that chemo is even effective and the rate of recurrence is really really low so the benefit even if it does help, would not make that much pf a percentage difference. 85% of breast cancers fall in this area (I think I read that somewhere).

I know Mom has other health issues, so even if her score is high, the risks might be greater than the benefits and she may decline chemo (nobody can make us do anything), and if it's low, she will be more assured. For me having this information was really important, even if it wasn't what I was expecting.

Just some food for thought. Wishing both of you the very best.

Suzanne

Heatherbelle

Double Whammy said:

Oncotype test
Hi Heather:

All good news about Mom. If all goes well with clear margins, no lymph node involvement, please ask about an oncotype dx test if her tumor is Stage 1, small, estrogen positive, HER-2 negative.

I was told from the get go that I probably would not need chemo - just lumpectomy and radiation. Everything went swimmingly. My tumor was .6 mm, ER+, HER-2 negative, lymph node negative, no evidence of vascular involvment. All good stuff if one has to have breast cancer. At my post op check, the surgeon said the medical oncologist would likely "offer me chemo" because without an oncotype test, the jury is really out on whether chemo is needed or effective in this group of early stage 1 cancers. So he suggested we do the test. Turned out my "score" was in the high risk rate for recurrence at a distant site within 10 years. For my score (31, the lowest number in the high risk category doggone it) there is a 21% recurrence rate. The higher the number, the higher the percentage of recurrence (for the study they did) and the more beneficial chemo can be. I could have declined chemo but my medical oncologist said I "needed it" and by then I'd decided I wanted to give it all I could anyway. Chemo reduces the rate of recurrence by 30-40%, and I will know I've done everything I could to keep this sucker from coming back.

With a low score (under 17 I think)there is no evidence that chemo is even effective and the rate of recurrence is really really low so the benefit even if it does help, would not make that much pf a percentage difference. 85% of breast cancers fall in this area (I think I read that somewhere).

I know Mom has other health issues, so even if her score is high, the risks might be greater than the benefits and she may decline chemo (nobody can make us do anything), and if it's low, she will be more assured. For me having this information was really important, even if it wasn't what I was expecting.

Just some food for thought. Wishing both of you the very best.

Suzanne

Thank you Suzanne - we were
Thank you Suzanne - we were told that the no chemo was "tentative" - depending on lymph node involvement. From her path report we know that shes ER and PR neg.
We've also discussed the benefits of chemo vs the side effects for her. Hopefully path reports will come back all good!
thanks for your input & concern
*hugs*
heather

Double Whammy

Heatherbelle said:

Thank you Suzanne - we were
Thank you Suzanne - we were told that the no chemo was "tentative" - depending on lymph node involvement. From her path report we know that shes ER and PR neg.
We've also discussed the benefits of chemo vs the side effects for her. Hopefully path reports will come back all good!
thanks for your input & concern
*hugs*
heather

Sounds good
Heather

I think the oncotype test is only for estrogen positive, node negative, Stage 1 cancer, so it probably doesn't apply to your mom. Here's hoping those nodes are negative! As you and I both know, chemo ain't that much fun (but it's doable).

Suzanne

sal314

Great News!
I'm so happy for you and your mom!! Will be praying all goes well with her lumpectomy and radiation treatments!:)

Blessings,
Sally

Heatherbelle

sal314 said:

Great News!
I'm so happy for you and your mom!! Will be praying all goes well with her lumpectomy and radiation treatments!:)

Blessings,
Sally

Thank you Sally Her
Thank you Sally Her surgery is this Friday. They're thinking (again, as long as there's no lymph involvement) that she will be able to have the partial breast radiation where they implant the little radiation seeds into her breast. Mom can't drive because of her disability, and although I know she's still a tough cookie & could get through it, I fear the radiation every day for 5 or 6 weeks would just wear her out. Of course I'm looking out for my mom & just want her to get better in the most painless way possible!
*hugs*
Heather