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-   -   11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets (https://her2support.org/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=56295)

Shaysmom 10-15-2012 08:31 PM

11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
When I was dxed at 29 on 10/23/2001 with stage III bc, I was devastated. No one in my family had cancer, I had no risk factors. I did a trial where 2/3 got Herceptin but I was in the 1/3 that did not just a/c and 12 weekly taxol.

In 10/2002, I found out after a hysterectomy that I had mets to my ovaries. My gyn gave me 24-26 months. I had a two year old. I was told I would never see him start kindergarten. I was very depressed. I worked in a hospital and all the cancer pts we saw were very sick or dying. My oncologist said, its b/c the ones doing well were just out there living their lives.

ON 10/23/2002 exactly one year from the day they told me I had breast cancer I started Herceptin. MY oncologist wasn't that hopeful b/c I had only been off tx for a month when I was dxed with mets. But Herceptin and Femara gave me years of NED and stability.

Things have been really hard the last few years but I am still here. Ten years later.

So I hope for anyone newly dxed, thinking like I did that it was an automatic death sentence, that people are out there living with this disease.

Kelly

KaiM 10-16-2012 06:23 PM

Re: 11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
Shays mom,
What a wonderful post, thank u so much for sharing! I was diagnosed a year ago with mets from the get go, my second child was just three months old. I was so scared I wouldn't even live to see him turn one, but here I am a year later feeling better than I have in years! I know that this disease can turn on me at any time, but I have to live my life with hope that I will be around to raise my children. I choose to live my life with hope because the alternative is just too devastating.

Cure4Cat 10-16-2012 07:32 PM

Re: 11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
Shaysmom,

Thank you for the inspiring post. I was really scared when I was diagnosed. I had just turned 31 and had a 7 month old son. I had no family history of breast cancer so I really had nobody to help me through it all. This site and the many women like you that I have met along the way have really helped to keep me going. My son is now almost 3 years old and I have brought a program called Live, Laugh, Learn to my home town by an organization called Rethink Breast Cancer (Canadian Charity that helps women under 45 dealing with breast cancer). This program has really helped many young women to not feel so isolated. I wish you many, many, many more years!

All the best,
Cat

pwiswell 10-16-2012 07:40 PM

Re: 11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
I was originally diagnosed with b/c in 2003. I found out it had metastized to my bones in 2008. Since then I have undergone different forms of therapy including Herceptin, Taxol, radiation. Herceptin held the mets at bay for three years and then stopped working. I am now on Xeloda and Tykerb and doing fine. When I was first diagnosed my kids were 2 and 4, today they are 12 and 14 and I am going strong. I don't think anyone should put a limit on someone's life. Everyone is different. I was told I had two years, it's been 10 and I expect to be around for 10 more. With today's treatment, metasized b/c is no longer a definite death sentence.

Gift 09-19-2014 03:40 AM

Re: 11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
You ladies are giving me HOPE.

July 2010, I was dxed with stage 3 b/c. Been thru TCH, surgery, radiation, and a year Herceptin.
Jan 2014, it came back in my bladder and spreaded to liver and lung. I am fighting the same battle another time.
Have got 7 from 8 rounds of Taxotere and Tratuzumap (either Herceptin or Herculis because I am part of a reseach of Mylan company, anybody heard of the name?). And then Tratuzumap until progress decease.

Don't know what will happen next. Having read your stories is very supportive.
Even though treatment choices are not as many as in USA, there are still some ways out if the current one won't work. Thanks to technology.

The most important thing is to thank you Ladies, who've been through tough times and are still here sharing, posting, etc.

pinkrosepetal 07-31-2016 12:31 PM

Re: 11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
Love seeing your post year after year stable.

bhardy15 08-10-2016 08:31 AM

Re: 11 Years bc, 10 Year with mets
 
Your story sounds hauntingly like mine! I was diagnosed 3 months p/p too. Stage Iv De Novo (from the start). Are you still doing well on Herceptin? I had liver mets and 3 nodes, but all is completely gone after chemo. Please give me hope to see my baby girls grow up!


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