[Jackie07]

Can't believe it's been 11 years and 4 months since the first diagnosis of my breast cancer.

Statistics is just statistics. It paints an overall picture, but can't guarantee each individual case will be the same.

My recurrence was found in the fourth year after my initial diagnosis in 2003. Herceptin wasn't available back then so I did six rounds of FEC plus standard radiation treatment. I'd read about the high recurrence rate of and Herceptin for Her2, and asked (the surgeon) for a mastectomy and (the oncologist) Herceptin. The lady surgeon persuaded me otherwise and I underwent a lumpectomy plus radiation plus chemo (Herceptin wasn't approved for early stage yet and the medical oncologist told me FEC was just as good.)

The following three years I continued to have very painful mammograms. But because the report had been 'clear', I thought I belonged to the group of women who'd always have painful mammograms. Until I'd become so weak/tired/ill and had to take off from work. Went to a weekend clinic just in case my employer needed a doctor's note, and that's when I (and the weekend clinic physician) realized my physical problems might have been related to the breast cancer. Because at 2.5 cm (about an inch in diameter) it had become 'palpable'.

The previous mammograms did not missed the tumor. It was the doctors who read pictures had missed it. They had misinterpreted it as 'scar tissue'! I doubt this day and age anyone would make the same kind of mistakes as Her2 is now a well-known subset. But you never know.

Guess what I was trying to say is, don't worry about the statistics. Don't let down your guard because of the statistics. Be your own best advocate. Know our body well. And when in doubt, go to the doctor. When in doubt of the doctor, go get a second, even third opinion. Hopefully the technology now is so good (digital and all) that no 'hard to interpret' excuses will ever be given for any mis/delayed diagnosis.

By the way, the lab work usually will shed some light as well. I can't count on mine because I also have five slow-growing brain tumors (unrelated to bc) in the center my brain. The official classification of this rare type of brain tumor has been changed from Grade I to Grade II, so my 'rap sheet' has now listed it as 'brain cancer'. Guess I've had brain cancer since I was born ... (yet still here - what a miracle!