I read an article that stated that women who had insitu cancer and received radiation had a 50% less reoccurance than women who did not have radiation.
A little about me. I was diagnosed in April 07 with inflammatory breast cancer. Are there any other women on this site with that type of cancer? IBC is rare and occurs in 3-5% of breast cancer. By the time it is diagnosed it is Stage IIIB or V. I am lucky, I was stage IIIB. The survival rate at 5 years is 40%. It usually reoccurs within the first 2 years.
Anyway, I have been through chemo, a mastectomy and radiation 2x a day for a month. I finally finished my herceptin treatments on June 2nd. My pathology results were very good. I had chemo before surgery.
On top of cancer, my oldest son returned to Iraq today to finish his 15 month tour there. So I have been really sad today.
Planning my Disney trip is very good for me. I am so glad to be alive and to be be able to go there. Now if I could just build up the endurance for all the walking.
Oh I am rambling. Sorry. Thank you everone for being there for me and the rest of the survivors.
I am just finishing up treatment for stage 2b cancer. I know your treatment schedule was difficult but its nice to know how good/strong you are feeling about coming through treatment! I am praying that I start feeling better soon, too.
~~~***GAGWTA sistas***~~~
Happy Independence Day!
Dawn-You have a great attitude! I did a lot to fight my cancer, but I did not do radiation...and I admit I did not want to. I know some people would find that strange because I did lots of surgery and chemo. It wasn't even about being "done" or having to get burned or shlepping to the hospital every day...I had some pretty strong feelings about what God was telling me I needed to do. Some of it meant changing drs, and even going against recommendations. I felt God telling me NO rads, so the thought of it scared the hell out of me! I did meet with a rad onc and thank God she did not recommend it to me. I have seen articles since then like the one Maureen posted, that state a higher survival rate for patients who received rads, even with masts. I think that's great news for those who need it. It wasn't generally recommended for patients like me with 2+ nodes at the time I was going through it, but for some patients it was and my onc wanted to get the rad onc's opinion. I do not regret not getting rads for one second. You are right, it's so personal. Follow your heart...
Happy Independence Day!
I do not regret not getting rads for one second. You are right, it's so personal. Follow your heart...
havinfun- I'm glad you caught your IBC early, that's great news! How were you diagnosed? Was it visible? I'm sorry you have to endure having your son gone for so long. Thank you for your sacrifice so he can serve us. I'm praying for his protection and safe return home.
as no MRI back then) when I cared for her. She'd asked her doctor during her treatment whether she should take the lump sum payoff vs the lifetime retirement payments when her company was laying off. Thinking her odds weren't great, he told her to take the lump sum, which she did. It was a decision she'd deeply regretted, and so advised me (and all of you since I told her about you) to make decisions as though I was going to live. It's something I still struggle with, but I do think she's right.
As I said, no two cases are exactly alike and no two treatments will be exactly alike. Oncologists have a great handle on the complexities of treatment and are very skilled at matching treatment to the individual, it's their job. They can interpret the latest data, and don't forget they also have protocols from the American Cancer Society as well as board and peer consultation, supervision and review, etc. 
As for having confidence in your own decisions (and caregivers), I wholeheartedly agree. It's why it's so (difficult, yet) important to do your research and soul-searching at the outset so that you can have confidence in doing what's right for you. Forums like this, and even support groups, are great in many ways, but the drawbacks are that people tend to compare themselves to others and get nervous when it seems they did or didn't do something that someone else did or didn't do. I go out with a survivor group and notice it every time. The conversation turns to who did or didn't do radiation, tamoxifin, who has routine blood work, CTs, MRIs, etc, and who doesn't. Everyone starts getting anxious.
As for me, being invasive ductal ER/PR/Her2 (ie triple) negative, my options were fairly limited. Surgery, chemo, radiation, that was it. No herceptin, no hormonal therapy. I had to choose between mastectomy and lumpectomy, and radiation was recommended either way, even before node status was known. My caregivers were pretty clear that they wanted to be aggressive as possible now given my age and grade 3 status and I agreed. Let's do it now. I was bummed I couldn't take tamox, and knew I had to be at peace with whatever I chose. The hardest decision was probably what type of surgery to have, and I ultimately chose lumpectomy, knowing that my risk of breast recurrence was a little higher than if I'd chosen mastectomy, but the radiation gave me some confidence with that. Besides, I'm not as worried about a breast recurrence as I am about a metastatic recurrence, so although I dreaded the thought of chemo, I would have taken whatever they offered me if it could help prevent that (and of course this made me crazy as a cardiac nurse). That was my own personal preference. My team is part of the Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Institute network so I was confident that they were up on the latest knowledge and research.
My radiation oncologist was a major perfectionist, to the point of driving those that worked for her crazy. But I loved her, she was my favorite doc. I asked her one day why things were taking so long (and I'm generally very patient so I mean this was taking really long). She pulled up a chair and explained that they saw on CT when they were mapping me that my breast tissue actually extended up into my axillary area so she wanted to get it just right to "give me my best chance to avoid recurrence". I cried the whole way home that day seeing her seriousness and hearing those words, but it did give me confidence in my treatment and this doc that I'd chosen. (I know this will sound strange, but I had such an easy time choosing my docs, I almost feel like I was somehow "led" to them. Right away when I met her, I knew she was the right one.) I also had right sided cancer so that probably helped me worry a little less about the ill effects of radiation to my heart and lungs, but by the end of treatment I did have 3rd degree burns and was in excruciating pain; I still never regretted doing it overall. I sometimes have pain/discomfort in the irradiated area, especially under my arm, and sometimes when I'm laughing really hard I get a spasm there which can take my breath away and I figure it's related to radiation, it does make me wonder a bit what the heck's happening there - does anyone else who's had right sided radiation get that??
Oops, officially rambling here... to sum up, our decisions are personal ones and people should be confident with them knowing they followed their hearts and minds.
FIrst of all, welcome to our little corner of the disboards!
FYI..there is a great women in our local support group who had Inflamatory Breast Cancer eight years ago and she is doing AWESOME!
My husband did 26 years in the USMC so I totally understand your sadness about your son leaving. God is with him over there and he will be in my prayers...I know waiting for that return date is hard.
I am trying too to build up my pre-cancer strength for my December trip to Disney. We go every year at that time, but last year I was having a mastectomy on the day we were supposed to start our vacation. SO...this year I will be back, come h** or high water (as my mom used to say). It brings me such pleasure to plan disney trips. And the people on these boards understand my obsession...so I am among kindred spirits!
Happy 4th of July! And keep my Dad in your prayers. He is having a hard time without his wife and really trying to be there for all of us. He is a wonder. I KNOW my mom is at peace and with God.
[/QUOTE]Another RN here, nice to have company. There have been quite a few since we began the thread. Funny how sometimes you just "know". Wasn't it interesting being on the other side of the bed, Peggy? I like to think that as a caregiver I was compassionate before, but my own experience did crank it up a bit. I'd found a lump myself and had it checked out right away but wasn't overly concerned as I'd had a scare with biopsy before and it was benign. But during the biopsy for the lump I could kind of tell something was really wrong just by how the staff was acting. Hearing the actual words was just devastating. Cancer wasn't the thing I thought I'd wind up with, and certainly not two weeks after turning 41.
Being a survivor has changed my life in many ways, some for the better, some for the not so better. One thing I hate the most is having it at the forefront of my mind when decision making, where that wasn't how I operated before. Like I said, maybe it's a good thing - we've probably saved some money that way, LOL. On the other hand, I hate the worry - but that's just me, I happen to be a worrier. I try to keep in mind the words of one of my favorite patients, Anna, an 18 yr survivor (of cancer in both breasts, two separate mastectomy surgeries 3 wks apart
[/QUOTE]Besides, I'm not as worried about a breast recurrence as I am about a metastatic recurrence, so although I dreaded the thought of chemo, I would have taken whatever they offered me if it could help prevent that (and of course this made me crazy as a cardiac nurse). That was my own personal preference. My team is part of the Harvard Medical School/Dana Farber Cancer Institute network so I was confident that they were up on the latest knowledge and research.
My radiation oncologist was a major perfectionist, to the point of driving those that worked for her crazy. But I loved her, she was my favorite doc. I asked her one day why things were taking so long (and I'm generally very patient so I mean this was taking really long). She pulled up a chair and explained that they saw on CT when they were mapping me that my breast tissue actually extended up into my axillary area so she wanted to get it just right to "give me my best chance to avoid recurrence". I cried the whole way home that day seeing her seriousness and hearing those words, but it did give me confidence in my treatment and this doc that I'd chosen. (I know this will sound strange, but I had such an easy time choosing my docs, I almost feel like I was somehow "led" to them. Right away when I met her, I knew she was the right one.) I also had right sided cancer so that probably helped me worry a little less about the ill effects of radiation to my heart and lungs, but by the end of treatment I did have 3rd degree burns and was in excruciating pain; I still never regretted doing it overall. I sometimes have pain/discomfort in the irradiated area, especially under my arm, and sometimes when I'm laughing really hard I get a spasm there which can take my breath away and I figure it's related to radiation, it does make me wonder a bit what the heck's happening there - does anyone else who's had right sided radiation get that??
Oops, officially rambling here... to sum up, our decisions are personal ones and people should be confident with them knowing they followed their hearts and minds.
