What stage were you when you found out you had breast cancer?

Question

How did you find out & what stage were you at? What treatments did they give you & did they work?

Answer 1

I was one of the "lucky" ones. I had an area of dense tissue that my OB thought I should get checked out (I had just weaned my 14 month old son). The breast surgeon didn't find anything on the ultrasound but wanted to do a biopsy while she had me there. The biopsy found stage 0 DCIS. Crazy, it wasn't even related to the dense tissue (which ended up being just dense tissue). A mammogram showed it scattered throughout my entire breast.

I had a mastectomy and thankfully the biopsied nodes where clear so no further treatment was needed. Now I get exams from my breast surgeon and ob every 6 months and mammograms every 6 months.

I was only 28!

Answer 2

Stage 2 invasive carcinoma. How did I find out? I felt pain. A couple of months later felt a lump and saw a dimple. By the way, the mammogram and gynecologist physical breast exam had both missed it. What treatments? So far three surgeries, lumpectomy and 2 re-excisions as the margins were not clear. Waiting now for chemo, radiation, and 5 years of aromatase inhibitors. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

Stage II B - I found a non-painful lump about five weeks after a clean mammo. I didn't do anything but watch it for awhile - how could it be cancer, I just had a clean mammo!

By the time it was removed three months later, it was 3 cm and had spread to two lymph nodes. It was aggressive. I had a mastectomy and chemo, and never looked back.

3 years post chemo, my hair is halfway down my back, and my breast has been rebuilt. Life is sweet!

Answer 4

I found a lump, which I foolishly ignored for a few months; one of the reasons I ignored it was that I had always heard that cancerous breast lumps weren't painful, and this one was.

It was stage 3, grade 3 with 13 lymph nodes affected. I had a mastectomy and node clearance, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and now take Arimidex.

In December it will be four years since my diagnosis; I am fit and well with no evidence of disease (NED); there are no guarantees with breast cancer, it can return any time, but Takarri's stories above are encouraging and give cause for optimism

Answer 5

Stage one for me - no lymph node involvement. Had a lumpectomy, chemotherapy and radiation. The chemo was my choice - it had a 50-50 chance of helping the kind I had. I didn't want to have any regrets --coulda shoulda woulda --down the road. Just hit 10 years!

Answer 6

stage 3 grade 3..i had a cyst the size of a large baseball in my breast and the doc drained over 500cc out of it in 3 days..it kept flaring back up and would not respond to antibiotics or steroid shots so he had the fluid tested and it came back non cancerous but he sent me in to have it surgically removed and they found the tissue around the cyst was full of cancer

Answer 7

I had small cell carcinoma in my breast - an unusual combination. It had spread to 3 of 16 lymph nodes biopsied.

I had lumpectomy, axial node clearance, chemo and radiation.

3 years down the track I am still doing well.

My sister had true breast cancer, mastectomy , axial node clearance, followed by chemo and radiation. Still foine after 13 years.

My mother had breast cancer, lumpectomy on right, lumpectomy on left, mastectomy on left with axial node clearance, chemotherapy, 15 year remission, metastasis, inoperable chemo, radiation, death.

Aunt (no blood relation) right mastectomy, axial node clearance, chemo radiation, 4 years later gave birth to 5th child, 2 years later, left mastectomy & axial node clearance, chemo, radiation, 3 years later birth of 6th child! Went on to foster over 40 babies during 40 year remission. Died of metastasized breast cancer 50 years after original diagnosis!

Never give up, keep fighting!