Question regarding reocurrence.

[Linda2]

I have been reading everyone's diagnosis and I am very curious about how your reocurrence was discovered.

Right now I am NED, but I never had symptoms when they found the breast cancer. It was discovered on a mammogram. I have seen where some of you were diagnosed with breast cancer and then maybe 3 years later the cancer showed up in the liver, brain or lungs. How did the doctor find this? I have tumor markers done every 3 months and that is all my onc does. Or do you have symptoms?

After reading one of the posts, I am a little concerned about prognosis with the Her2 gene. My doctor never gave me a prognosis. Someone said 5 to 10 years. Is that the life span with this cancer?

Sorry, but I am freaking out a little bit.

[Andi]

I was feeling great, except I developed a "dry cough" that would not go away and would not respond to any over the counter things. When I reported this to my Onc, he ordered a chest xray which showed a fluid accumulation. They biopsied when they did my pleuridisis and it showed it was mets.

[AlaskaAngel]

Hi Linda. I am Stage I HER2+++, ER+, PR+ and am NED but I will add what I have to say. At diagnosis I was not assertive enough with my onc and was never even told I was HER2 positive, much less given any idea of my level of risk either, sad to say.

If you can, either use the online predictor Adjuvant! or get a medical provider to help you use it. I was told that since Adjuvant! does not include consideration of HER2 positivity in its calculation for risk, that a guess as to the increased risk for us is somewhere around 5% greater than the results you get from using Adjuvant! prediction. (However, the person that told me that might have given me the increased risk "guess" for a Stage I.)
IMHO, HER2's really do benefit from more frequent markers and more frequent imaging, based to some degree depending on stage at diagnosis. Some here use the Bayer test in addition to markers like CA15-3 or CA 27.29, and some have found the CA-125 to be helpful as well even though it is not specifically a marker for bc.

AlaskaAngel

[Adriana Mangus]

Hi Linda: I developed a cough that did not go away for quite a long time, I visited 3 doctors before an x-ray was performed. The x-ray showed a large mass on my rt lung, had a bronchoscopy then the lung needle (no fun, at all), and it was discovered that it was a recurrence from the primary tumor. SO here am almost 4 years ago since the recurrence. Do not "look" for symptoms, be proactive, listen to your body, it will tell you when something wrong is going on.
Have a great day!

[Sheila]

Linda

I am more proactive now that I've had a recurrence...before I just had tumor markers, now I get scanned at least once a year...brain MRI, CT scan and bone scan....the 5-10 years you are referring to is an old stat...pre herceptin for early stage....I did not get Herceptin when diagnosed as I was stage 1 and it wasn't given or recommended...I have been stage 4 for 3 1/2 years, coming up on my 5 year date with diagnosis, and I am living life to the fullest....vigilant, but enjoying every day with a great quality of life....sometimes I have to remind myself...you have cancer, you are allowed to take a day to yourself...i have found over the years working as a nurse, taking care of many cancer patients, that ATTITUDE is a big part of the healing process...when I get a not so good report I pull up my boot straps and fight harder....I plan to be around for along time....I have things to get done!

[Linda2]

Thanks for all of your responses. I wish you all the best.