[TriciaK]

What a wonderful thread! I hope my post will be helpful also. Most of you probably know my history since I think I may well be the oldest survivor on this site, being age 81 and now fighting my 4th round of BC in 26 years. I was diagnosed in 1985 with in situ stage 1 BC in my right breast. The only treatment was a bilateral mastectomy. The cancer returned in my spine (2 vertebras) in 1990. I assume it should have been considered stage 4 then because it had travelled, but don't know for sure. Again no chemo, just tamoxifen and alternate treatment, including self hypnosis and vegetarian diet. Went for 15 years NED. I stopped seeing an oncologist because I moved away. My last MRI report had read "healed metastatic breast cancer", so I just more or less forget about the cancer! Then I had a heart attack in 2004 and in the testing process a CT scan showed that BC was back, in my right lung, and now her2. I have to be thankful for that heart attack! Six months of Navelbine and Herceptin, then herceptin alone for 11 more months stopped the BC. My ejection fraction dropped to 30 so I had to stop the herceptin. I had a triple bypass in 2006. A year ago the BC showed up again in the right lung, and we have tried 5 kinds of chemo since then. I had some bad side effects to the first 4, and am now on halavan alone. I have become weaker with each chemo but am hoping the halavan will do the trick. I am uneasy about not having herceptin too and am considering seeing another oncologist.
I hope my story will be encouraging, even though I am fighting the Beast for the 4th time. I am thankful for the 26 years I have been fighting and all the blessings received. This last month has been the Month of the Babies: 5 new great-grandchildren born in the last 30 days, 3 boys and 2 girls! I have lived long enough to see my children become grandparents! The total now for my husband and me is 9 children, 32 grandchildren and now 48 great-grands! My prayer is that each one of you may continue to win the fight for as many years as I have! This website has been a blessing I am so grateful for and I am thankful for all I have learned and shared here. My advice to you is to keep being a part of this wonderful caring and informative group, and remember faith and fear cannot coexist. There has never been as much hope as there is now for new treatments, even a cure! Hugs, TriciaK