[linn65]

Norkdo.....My Breast/ONC surgeon said it was not the lump that would kill me it was the spread of the cancer. The most important thing was to stop the spread of the cancer and forget about the lump we could remove that at anytime he said. He said we have to treat it systemically first. Then he said you got HER2 at the right time if there is a right time because of herceptin. HER2 was the driver of the cancer and cancer is like a puzzle and everyone is individual and he said we need to treat it that way. It is not one size fits all.

It all made sense, and I was a human laboratory he said....way cool he thought. But I have to say some people do have PCR (pathological complete response), and I was hoping that or lump noticebly smaller. He said after chemo maybe I could have had a lumpectomy, and maybe I could save my breast. He said he did not believe in staging and when doing chemo first you can not really stage the cancer but sometime through all of this one of my doctors would have guessed a stage 3.

Looking back I would have pushed for the projecta to be added instead of my sister asking and me not pushing. I would have insisted on it and tried to be more demanding of my care. It is not like I would have jumped up and down about another chemo drug, but I would have rather added that and maybe taken away carboplatin or I guess added the 4th. It was all so new and we were all so naive about breast cancer.

Lizbeth, I was never afraid of the bump or now we know raised right rib, but it has always been my ankle.

2 weeks back to work Friday, and OMG it is soooo hard. The mornings are okay the by Noon I am flat out whacked in my brain, body feels like I am dying a slow/painful death, and then I want to cry because when is all this going to end??? Sometimes a day at a time can not even work at times.....YUCK.