If a Stage IIIC non hormonal receptive breast cancer went from nothing to this in 8 months, is it aggressive?

Question

Being that it grew this fast to be this detectable, ie 11/14 nodes affected, in this amount of time, when did it actually begin? Do cancers start 20 years before or 7 years before they are detected? How would one figure out when this cancer started to start to figure out how a person got it?

Answer 1

I was told that by the time a lump is detected by a mommogram you have already had it for up to 8 yrs. Trying to figure out how you came to get it will just drive you nuts. I fought this thing this yr. Don't often think much about it till it is you facing it. I guess that is self-preservation. Who wants to think about it. In my age category this disease is rampant. The nos. I met while in treatment just makes your head spin. I believe it is something we came into contact with as small children. Chemicals that were being used, like DDT. These weren't around in Mothers or
Grandmothers day, & neither was the cancer. We were sitting ducks.

Answer 2

No one knows how or why an individual gets cancer. If you ask an oncologist most of them will just say they don't really know when or how the particular cancer developed. Cancers can manifest at any age or stage of human development, including a fetus or infant. There is also a type of cancer that happens at conception. So, other than some of the obvious cancers, like skin cancer, genetic links, or mesothelioma no one can say for sure how a person gets cancer.

Cancers progress at different rates. I think my interpretation of an aggressive, fast growing cancer may be different than your scenario. My son has a rare abdominal sarcoma that can double in 28 days. He had a well physical to play high school basketball in December . . no outward signs of cancer or tumors, nothing . . he felt fine. In January he experienced what we thought was the flu. But he never got better. In February his blood test indicated a low thyroid condition. He was still playing basketball and working a job. By the first of March he was diagnosed with stage IV abdominal sarcoma, with multiple masses and widespred disease.

Some cancers just grow larger (my sons primary tumor was 19cm, but many report tumors larger than this) and spred more rapidly than others. It is possible that they may have started earlier . . but no one knows. I do know however that in December his cancer was undetectable to human examination and by the fourth week of February finally became detectable (you could finally feel it). So, we are talking weeks here and not years. That's one of the reasons that cancer is so deadly, it can grow to enormous proportions in a short amout of time, and overwhelm the body before you can react. Depending on the cancer, that's why early detection and treatment is critical.

Answer 3

Cancer is so unpredictable. If we knew the answers to these questions, we could beging treatment before it starts. But we dont. It is a game of roulette. Cancer is blind and like I said unpredictable. It is like a criminal. It strikes when the time is right and the unsuspecting are unprepared, usually finding themselves unarmed, when it is too late. That is why regular doctor visits are important at least twice a year, especially if you have a fsmily history of this awful disease. I really don't know the answer to your question but if you have this disease, early treatment and taking care of yourself is key. And never, ever give up. That is when cancer wins. It can be beaten. And it can beat us. It is just the way life is. If you have cancer, I suggest Cancer treatment centers of america. Good luck and my prayers are with you.

Answer 4

Forget about how you got cancer, it's in the past and you can not change it. You have cancer now, so put your time and effort into beating it. Do the treatments, eat right, keep positive and fight, good luck