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Old 01-31-2010, 10:31 AM   #1
bejuce
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Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 510
Positive stories, please come out of the woods

Hi my HER2 family,

I have been a little overwhelmed reading all the stories
of recurrence and the emotional postings by those who lost their loved ones to this dreadful disease - MightyOak, Irene, Julierene, and many others.

I'm sitting here in my family room with my youngest - who's only 3 - and trying hard not to cry over the losses we've had on this board and over the fights that many of our members are so unfairly but courageously fighting.

I think I'm in desperate need for a reminder of the positive stories here to alleviate some of my fears at the moment. I can't stop wondering whether 3, 4 years from now I'll be unfortunate to have to deal with a recurrence. All that I want in life is to be here for my hubby and kids and to see them grow into adulthood. I love them so much and the fears of leaving them are too much o bear sometimes.

So please I ask those of you with several, many years out to share your stories again as I sit here in fear. How many of you are out there who were stage 3 and with many nodes out?

Thank you so much!!!

Bejuce (Marcia)
__________________
ER+ (30%)/PR-/HER-2+, stage 3

Diagnosed on 02/18/09 at 38 with a huge 12x10 cm tumor, after a 6 month delay. Told I was too young and had no risk factors. Found swollen node during breastfeeding.
March-August 09: neo-adjuvant chemo, part of a trial at Stanford (4 DD A/C, 4 Taxotere with daily Tykerb), loading dose of Herceptin
08/12/09 - bye bye boobies (bilateral mastectomy)
08/24/09 - path report shows 100 % success in breast tissue (no cancer there, yay!), 98 % success in lymphatic invasion, and even though 11/13 nodes were still positive, > 95 % of the tumor in them was killed. Hoping for the best!
September-October 09: rads with daily Xeloda
02/25/10 - Cholecystectomy
05/27/10 - Bone scan clear
06/14/10 - CT scan clear, ovarian cyst found
07/27/10 - Done with Herceptin!
02/15/11 - MVA-BN HER-2 vaccine trial
03/15/11 - First CA 15-3: 12.7 and normal, yay!
10/01/11 - Bone scan and CT scan clear, fatty liver found
now on Tamoxifen and Aspirin


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