Hi Marie. I too, am a stage 1V IBC survivor. I am 60 in 6 weeks (I can tell you, an achievment in itself, amd boy will I throw a great party!) and diagnosed in June 2003. Had ACx 4, 6 weeks rads (once a week with booster to help knock out the skin involvement) then Taxol x4. Then fingers crossed until I had a recurrence,diagnosed by my surgeon when what looked like a subcataneous cyst showed up on the scar line on the chest wall. Had a CT scan and showed mediastinal node involvement and axillary node involvement as well as a mod. pleural effusion. Began Herceptin Jan 2005. All well until Mar 2007. Very small plueral effusion again in right upper lobe. Began Taxol and Herceptin. Now on round 3 I think., Feels like it has been working. Can feel that Herceptin chomping away at it again. I can say that the last two years of my life have probably been some of the very best. I have been able to do what i want to do, which includes working 2 days a week at a job I love, look after the two little grandchildren once or twice a week, go overseas a couple of times a year and pursue exercise (swimming) and hobbies from which I also get great joy. All those around me whom I love have taken on special meaning. Sitting looking out at the garden for an hour or so drinking a cup of tea can be sublime. For the first time, I think about what I want first, before thinking about what the "others" may want. As some one else on the site said, it is definitely an individual journey, both how we react to it and how our bodies respond to the treatment regimes. But there is certainly a lot of hope out there, that's for sure!!
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