Age at Diagnosis

[astrid]

AlaskaAngel, I also have a strong history of BC. MY sister was 37 and my grandmother was 43 when diagnose. Both died of BC. My sister was only 40 and my grandmother was 53. My sister was stage 1 with no lymph node involvement at initial diagnosis. She died before they were testing for HER2 status. I know she was ER+.



I also was tested for BRCA1&2 and was negative. My sister’s original status scares me. The doctors are quick to give a good prognosis if you are node negative; however a triple + diagnosis is only 15% of all breast cancer cases. I often wonder if the tamoxifen made my sister metastasize or maybe the lack of herceptin. I start tamoxfen this week as there is not another standard treatment for pre menopausal women. My doctor assures me that all the testing done where tamoxifen activates cancer cells are on animals and not human testing. As part of my work benefits, we have a research group that will research published medical journals for information and they could not find anything on tamoxifen activation.