anyone have any experience of stage III breast cancer..

[hermykne]

good and bad. SIL diagnosed with this and of cousre everyone is hoping ofr the absolute best, there are alot of niggling questions there that we are slow to ask and answer if posed.

treatment / recovery / reaction / survival any factual postings please.

It depends so much the exact details hermykne- I'm really sorry to hear this. There are different subsets of Stage 3- do you know if her lymph nodes are clear? Is she HER2 positive? If she is then she would benefit from Herceptin and the outlook is immediately improved. Is the tumour ER positive? If so then Tamoxifen and equivalents will help. This isn't meant to be a barrage of questions I am firing at you, but some possible things that are worth asking if you don't know.

Bump for you and your SIL. Has anyone told her about the Lavender Trust (this is supprt for 'younger women')? There is very likely to be a support group that the hosp will know about where she can meet others who are or have been in the same situation.

thank you both, shes actually in san francisco, we havent heard anything this week from them and you now the mind is racing, plus we'd like to know those details you menion tamum so we can be frank about it to each other and others but it may still be sinking in. very shcoking news about 3 weeks ago for ti to be so advanced as well.
tamum those references are a great help.
i think herceptin has been
mentioned

Don't know particulars but a friend of mine had a radical mastectomy a few years ago and during the operation to remove her breast, they replaced it with a synthetic replacement - and later, a tattooed nipple.

The result is AMAZING. She has two breasts which look and feel completely natural. She is large-breasted and really looks fabulous.

She has been free from cancer since and is very healthy and active.

oh MP thats great news, my sil is having a dbl mastectomy and chemo plus radiation. its just a mind field for us being so far apart

thanks mp, these little snipppets will no doubt come up in conversations that can maybe ligghten the mood. my sil is just at the outset of her treatment and the centre in san francsco seems very ahead in treatments.
me and dh had the frank discussion last night about his brother and their son(3 in jan) if it didnt go well. my dh and his brothers father died at 37 and dhs poor brother is faced with his wifes cancer and he is just 38 in january. its a cruel irony.