Rozebud

[Kansasrose]

Dear Rosebud: Thanks so much for your post. As an adult woman having lost her dad at the age of 10, I am especially interested in hearing from you how his death affected you, if there are particular things that would have helped/not helped as your family dealt with this loss. I am feeling as if I am not reaching my 10 year old daughter. She is not a talker, and continues to tell me she is 'just fine'. Thanks so much for your post, too. I had almost forgotten who wonderful this support group is, and really appreciate hearing from other ladies on this board fighting the good fight. Thank you very much. Feel free to pm me if needed.
-Kansasrose

[Rozebud]

I PM'd you separately. Figured it would be best to take this one off line....

[Kristen]

Hi, I can't believe I am a stage III, but I got out my path and this is what is says:
left br. 1 o'clock invasive ductal adencarcinoma of breast, gradeIII/III (at least .5cm) in a background of extensive high grade ductal...
3 o'clock invasive ductact. gradeIII/III with high grade and 3 o'clock in situ high grade with extension into large ducts.
the largest contiguous area of invasive measures 05cm, however this area of invasion extends to the edge of the biopsy specimen thus precluding size determination. Invasive component is graded as follows, nuclei-3,arch-3,mitotic rate2.
I thought mitotic rate is the rate it is growing? is that correct? because on the path that follows for what kind, her2, mitotic rate was 8.5 on a scale of what? I don't know the ranges, just like my amplification on fish was 7.6 out of what? Can you help me with that. I would appreciate it. thanks. hope all is well, take care k
ps if a blank one appears it is because i use the tab button and it just went. sorry

[Rozebud]

Gosh, I wish I knew. I have never heard of "mitopic" before. Those numbers almost look like the Bloom Richard grading scale, which goes from 1 to 9. A score of 8 would be grade III (7 to 9 is a III), but you already knew that. And the words don't match up to what my path report says. I have a grade III and my staging is not on the report at all. My report says lots of descriptions of the size of tumor and number and size of lymph nodes involved. And the report has 7 prognosis factors - ER, PR, Ki-67, Her2, p53, DNA analysis, and S phase (all but one are listed as "unfavorable" :( )

Maybe it is tumor size that makes you stage III? Isn't it hard to read these things???

On the her2, I am 2.7 by IHC and 7.8 by FISH. The higher on both, the better for response to herceptin, I believe. I don't know what the upper range is...my path report says that on FISH >= 2 is "amplified".

[Kristen]

Rozebud,
Hi, This may or maynot pertain to what you were asking but I thought since kk brought up Zoladex it might be worth your time reading.
On Susan Love's site if you scroll down, on the right hand side there is info on Tam & Zol, under Two new treatment options for premen. women. They refer to an old study, that was brought up at an ASCO meeting recently.
It might be worth a read, if not than at least her conclusion. take care k

[Beth]

Your welcome. As we all know it helps to talk about it. Yes, Stage IV at original dx. First, shock and plenty of it...for about 3-4 months. Then,denial, anger, sadness (lot's of it), guilt (about my kids & family putting them thru this), questioning (why me, why not earlier dx.) Finally acceptance then peace. Preparing mentally for the worst doesn't really help me because there is always hope even in the worst case. The chemo can put us in remission. I am working full time. My kids were really upset at first, but if I am positive, then they are. How are your kids/family, and more important, how are you? I know what you are dealing with, but if we can control the fear we can live fuller lives. A friend of mine here at work got killed in a car wreck a couple of months ago at age 59. Perfect health one day, gone the next. We are ALL mortal, no one stays. Time and cause are all up to our maker. I am sooo glad you have a good prognosis. (Good to me anyway). Best wishes for your continued good health.

Your friend,
Beth

[Kristen]

I think AIB1 has something to do with being hormone (er) positive. I know if you go the ASCO board and type it in it gives you an explanation.
I think that is where I looked it up/take care k

[AlaskaAngel]

I've felt that way ever since diagnosis, Rozebud! But because my onc has one of the top reputations and yet had me on tamoxifen (and I am HER2+++), I would think that there are others here who might want to read up on it on the net using AIB1 and HER2 and breast cancer -- and THEN talk with their oncs about it. Some of it you can understand, some of it you can't, but the more you read the more you will know.

A.A.

[Kristen]

i just type in ASCO on my search engine or Dr. Love has a link to ASCO on other topics, which you can navigate and search for AIB1. I keep reading these posts and I don't understand some of this because if your not er+ why would you be on tamoxifin? Am I missing something? I am er- and have no plans to go on anything when this is over. I think it stands for American Society of Cancer Oncology. It is the group that goes to the oncology meetings like the one in Chicago and San Antonio. Hope this helps. I am just trying to figure this one out??

[Kristen]

Hi, I sent you an email with my phone numbers. I am right here in Kc. Hope to hear from you. K

[Rozebud]

I just e-mailed you back. It is a small world! You are the second person I have met through a web site in KC (the other is someone I now consider a friend that I met on the YSC site!)