This message board and Early Stagers

This message board has become my primary source of information, next to my oncologist, of course. Had it not been for the information here, I would not have known to ask, and push for Herceptin back in May. I am very grateful. At the same time, it has been my biggest provider of sleepless nights. It is here that as a stage 1 I seem to keep reading the stories of others like me who suddenly became stage 4, and I become so frightened. I have done everything possible to prevent recurrence - chemo, Herceptin, double masectomy, ovaries out, Arimidex. And then I read stories of others of you who have done all of that too and still became stage 4. Or the article about Snail posted below from Sept. 19 stating that it is such a huge factor, and I've never even heard of it until now! Is it the "S" factor I have read of before?

Any encouragement out there? Does this really happen so often?
I am afraid. Thank you!

[Christine MH-UK]

In general your chances of making it should be good. Keep in mind that alot of people are diagnosed at stage I, so even if they do well as a group, even a small percentage is alot of people.

Getting the best treatment possible improves the odds. Although there are still no guarantees of success unfortunately, some of the research that people in the chatroom are taking part in, such as the vaccine research, will help reduce the risk of recurrence even further. Other research will improve future treatments so people with secondaries can live good lives longer and hopefully will eventually lead to a cure.

If you find that the board is filling you with worry, you might try avoiding threads that you know are likely to be upsetting. Your cancer might never come back and even if it did come back, so much progress is being made against the disease that it might be just a chronic disease by then.

[StephN]

Hi - to the "frightened one" -
There is a point for all of us when we just look at our future as a big black hole with the word cancer forming a question mark.
It sounds like you are doing you very best to be informed of the possible routes your cancer could take. This is a brave step in itself! Many women just want their treatment and then go back to their lives and let nature take its course. They just go along as if there is no threat to them. I have friends who are not HER2 positive and many of them are able to follow the aforesaid path. Those of us with HER2 really need to be more on guard even if it is out of some form of fear.

You have been able to do a LOT more for yourself against the cancer than many of us stage IV had the opportunity to do earlier. For instance, I could not have Herceptin - at least not assured of it and the trial was random at that time. Also the trial involved standard drugs with or without Herceptin. My med onc and I opted for more aggressive new drugs at the outset knowing that Herceptin was there for me in future need. "Future need" came along pretty quickly, but I got the cancer under control and have lived a very full life being off chemo for over 3 years now.
If nothing else, you MUST believe that even if there is not a cure, this disease can be managed like other chronic conditions. Look at what Christine has been able to do with her life being stage IV for so many years. She got this site going with her devoted hubby and they are always busy!
Knowledge should equal power, not fear. Try to get your mind around that concept, OK? And keep your health insurance paid up - NO matter what.

I find myself in the same situation as yourself. While some of these threads may instill much fear-it is a fear many of us face anyway. We all want someone to tell us we will never have to worry about any of this again. I try not to let the fear consume me. We have done all the treatments, and what a wonderful gift herceptin has been for those of recently diagnosed her2. The statistic's are out there , but we are each individual's. None of us know for sure what will happen tommorrow-as simple as it sounds enjoy today-worry about tommorrow when it gets here.
Hugs