[madubois63]

Susan - I answered you on the other board, but repeat my answer here for those that might need encouragement too. I KNOW how you feel. I've had to deal with the whole "poor prognosis" thing 4 times. I never listen!! Donna put it in to words very nicely, and someone has got to be part of that small percentage. There is no reason why you can't be part of it. I wish my cancer was only stage II with no nodes!! I am not making light of your situation, but like Donna, I was diagnosed with Inflammatory bc (nearly 8 years ago). IBC is always staged at nothing less than stage IIIB - I was stage IV because it went to the nodes and chest wall. I beat the odds then. The cancer came back 4 years later, and I beat the odds again. Then, the chemo gave me leukemia. I had a bone marrow transplant and more chemo to beat that too. This past June, my liver started to fail. They gave me a less than 30% chance of surviving the year...I am here still and doing better than ever!!! My liver is fine, the leukemia is considered cured and I am bc free. It is all attitude and what you do with it. Please don't let doctor's notes or anything they say get the best of you. I keep telling them that they obviously don't know ME. After the relapse, I went to Sloan Kettering for a second opinion just to ease my mind. I totally trusted the onc I had, but just wanted reassurance. I left there more depressed than ever. They would have sent me home to die...Well, the jokes on them!! My onc never gave me a timeline. He always gives the truth and then discusses how we go about beating those stupid statistics to the ground. Every brick wall I've hit in this journey has been a hard one - bad prognosis, incurable, inoperable, it's every where, less than 2%, less than 30%, only 3- 5%...I've pretty much heard it all. I am not bragging or preaching. I tell my story (over and over again) to let you know that if I can beat what I've been through, you can face and defeat your situation!!!! Good luck and God bless...