Breast Cancer Prognosis

[lizw]

Hi could anybody let me know what stage and Grade an aggressive breast cancer would be that has affected 19 lymph nodes out of 21.

Also with chemotherapy and treatment with Herceptin what is the prognosis?

I do understand this is not an exact science and I know all the factors that can influence the outcome but I cannot find anything on line to give me even a rough estimate

[crete]

im sorry you cant get any info on line that must be very frustrating for you have you tried cancer back up ? i would think someone at the hospital where the diagnosis was made would be able to answer your questions often they have a specialist nurse practitioner who could assist dont be concerned about contacting them that is there job, what about mc millan nurses they are great at providing info, cant think of anything else at the moment but ill have a wee think and maybe get back to you ,have you tried N H S 24 who maybe able to put you in contact with someone ?

[PinkFizz]

Are their any messageboards or sufferers groups specifically for this??

[crete]

im sure there are self help groups available on the net might need a bit of time to find them .

[raysparx1]

Hi lizw, is this you ? if it is,you really need to talk to the nurse about prognosis, Herceptin is said to be a real breakthrough, my wife had 3 out of 14 affected, six months chemo and 5 years on tamoxifen, she had the Cancer diagnosed 7 years ago,she is ok, I am convinced the one thing that helped greatly was talking about it, being 100% positive and looking to the future,the treatment is getting better all the time, if it is you Please talk to somebody and I know it is hard,but be Positive, good luck, Ray xx

[crete]

lizw.. ive found a good site which may be of assistance .www.besttreatments.co.uk.

[PinkFizz]

http://www.cancerhelp.org.uk/help/default.asp? page=195

Don't know if this helps at all.

[PinkFizz]

http://www.cancersociety.com/forum/index.cfm?u tm_source=GoogleGrants&utm_medium=CPC&utm_term =Cancer%20patient%20support%20group&utm_conten t=Support+Groups2&utm_campaign=Cancer+General

And this - sorry if they are no good.x

[lizw]

Thanks everyone so much - really appreciate your time. It's not actually for me. The person involved will know their suspected prognosis but it wasn't something I could ask her for various reasons.

I just want to have a rough idea (I think I do anyway) so I can help the best I can.

Life's not very fair sometimes is it.

[crete]

no lizw its not good luck.

[raysparx1]

lizw, I have just spoken to my wife, she says that amount is very high, not a great sign,sorry to say,but they must be positive, the good thing is they would not presdibe Herceptin,if there wasn't any hope,cos it is a very expensive drug, so the hospital must be confident .

[raysparx1]

Sorry," Prescribe"

[lizw]

Hmm, she (my neice) had to fight to get herceptin, luckily her private health company funded it, so I'm not sure that it's the case that the hospital really believed it would help.

However, she has finished chemo and the horrors of that and has been for her mamogram and there is no sign currently of cancer so I suppose we must all just sigh with relief and move on.

Very hard, she doesn't really confide in us and brushes everything under the carpet - hence me just wanting a bit of realism injected as 'everything is fine' .

But I guess you have to think that when you are 34 and a mother of three month old baby boy.

Thanks so much everyone - really appreciate it.

[raysparx1]

Keep her positive, and looking forward,she has a baby to live for,hope things work out for her, Ray

[crete]

this young women is very brave and she will dictate how she will deal with her condition i agree re the herceptin some people seem to think it is given out to almost everyone now but in some cases it is not advised when she wishes to divulge info she will in the meantime you do what you can when you are needed,one thing which seems to be in her favour are people like you who are concerned about her,