My wife was recently diagnosed with breast cancer

The lumpectomy was performed on 12/6/06. It was stage 1 (1.4 cm) but grade III. She's also pre-menopausal, and triple negative (with respect to hormones). Every doctor is pushing chemo. Are there anyone else out there who's experienced the same condition? All feedback is welcome.

I had my Gastric Bypass Surgery in April of 2003, I lost a tremendous amount of weight and wow did I look good and felt good. The in December of 2004, my husband found a lump in my right breast. I had been ignoring because when all the weight is gone you have bones in places that you didn't know that existed. My cancer turned out to be stage I and grade 3. My lymph nodes were clear. I went through a lumpectomy, chemotherapy, radiation and a because I was her2 positive, a years worth of Herceptin. I became post menopausal I am now taking Arimedex, for approximately 1 year. Grade 3 is the most aggressive and fast growing cancer. It not only travels through your lymphatic system, but also your blood stream. It is not the breast cancer that kills you its the metastasis into vital organs that take lives. Because it is a Grade 3 cancer, there was not choice for me. I will do whatever it takes to stay alive, I have 2 young boys. I lost all my hair, I was very sick, weak, and struggled with white blood cell count, red blood cell count. I developed a blood clot in my first portacath, then developed an infection in my second. It has been the worst journey of my life. But just think I had 3 different doctors say that if I had not lost the weight, I would not have found that lump in time. That is just a scary thought. Breast cancer does not run in my family. It is something I never dreamed that could happen to me, but it did. I am a survivor. They say I am in remission and when I pass the 5 year post, than I will be considered cancer free, for whatever that means. With you posting and asking for feedback tells me that you love your wife and you are afraid for her. Just give her the support. There will be times that she will be as hostile as anybody can get. It is terrible. I am know suffering from severe depression that I hear is normal for 30% of breast cancer patients after treatment. My husband had to learn to be patient and supportive. My husband had to learn how all this treatment will affect me. I highly recommend the website from Susan G Komen for more treatment information.

Thanks for you reply to my post Pat. = ))

I'm 46, pre-menopausal and believe I'm having a lumpectomy with sentinel node biopsy next Wednesday 12/27. I have DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) moderate to high grade. Hope to hear from my surgeon to find out the breast MRI results. I saw the report and see that the one duct runs from the area of "suspectibility" 6.5 cm back towards the muscle wall. Hey, that's 2.6 inches. That is a long segment in my book. I'm wonder if mastectomy is wiser. From my stereotactic biopsy, I'm ER+/PR+, HERS2-. I'm supposed to have radiation (6 weeks) and then be on tamoxifen or raloxeine (think that's it). My sister 49 was diagnosed with ILC (invasive lobular carcinoma) in January of this year. She had bilateral mastectomies with DIEP reconstruction (16 hours of surgery). Her tumor was 2 cm but her sentinel lymph node was positive (others were clear). She went through 4 AC and 4 Taxol chemotherapies (dose dense meaning every other week rather than every 3rd week). She did very well through all of it. I saw her in September and she was about a month past her last chemo and was doing well but bald. I will be seeing her this Friday. My sister is post-menopausal and ER+/PR+, HERS2- and is taking Femara. She did genetic testing and was negative for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene. If she had been positive, she would have had a prophyllactic removal of ovaries. Best wishes to you and your wife! I do know how hard this is especially right at holiday time. Kathy

Hi, Harry. I too am a breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in November 2005, stage 1, grade 1, premenopausal, Her2-, ER/PR+. I elected not to have chemotherapy because the tumor was grade 1, less than 2cm, and I took a test called Oncotype Dx and got a score of 7, which is very low and indicates that there is not a high likelihood that the cancer will return. That was my choice based on my own information, and against all the doctors *****commended chemo because I'm young (I was 37). Does she have another surgery coming up--a partial or full mastectomy? If so, that gives you more time do to the Oncotype Dx if she is considering not having chemo. She may also want to consider doing genetic testing to get information that can help her with other decisions she'll need to make. Just thinking out loud, my own two cents would say go ahead with chemo because of the tumor grade and because she's triple negative, which means she won't have the option of hormone therapies as adjuvant treatment. There are very few cut-and-dried decisions for this condition: whatever decision she makes is the right one, because it's the right one for her. Please please please refer her to www.youngsurvival.org, which is a website for women diagnosed under age 40 (or women who were premenopausal at diagnosis). We are a very informed and extremely supportive group of women and would love to offer her support and information. I'm telling you, the women on these boards have more information than many oncologists! :-D My prayers are with your wife. This is treatable and beatable!