I am reading through my letter which explains my diagnosis of breast cancer, whilst waiting to go for my 2nd chemo of taxotere.
As ther terminology is possibly different here in France, does anyone have a clue what the letters S.B.R. mean? Apparently my score is 9, grade 3.
I so wish I could get my letter translated into English properly so that I know what I am dealing with as I am just getting myself worked up about it. I’ve tried to ask if the cancer is invasive ductal, invasive lobule etc. but was told “its cancer” which isn’t very helpful.
I haven’t slept well, lots of thoughts going through my brain that I wish I could switch off, but can’t.
Sorry for my rant ladies, hope you all have a good day and in particular those of you having chemo this week.
Sorry but I don’t know what the letters mean and I never had a letter sent to me about my DX, have always read stuff over GP’s or hospital docs shoulder as they are talking to me.
Is there nowhere you can go to get the letter translated, at your GP’s or maybe an English speaking solicitor, you just need to make sure whoever it is will be discreet about what they read about you.
I just googled France Cancer and SBR and it appears that SBR is the Scarff-Bloom-Richardson grading system.
Here in the UK the Nottingham prognostic index is often used:
“The Nottingham prognostic index (NPI), based on tumour size in breast, node involvement and Scarff-Bloom-Richardson (SBR) grading, has been shown to constitute a definitive prognostic factor of primary operable breast cancer in the adjuvant setting.”
It looks like the french still operate a modified version of the SBR grading system.
After a bit more reading it seems that the SBR grading tells you nothing at all about the tumour type just that it was a high grade tumour which we already know because it was also grade 3. I also had grade 3 tumours (2 of them in my case) and while they are fast growing it doesn’t mean that you’re doomed or anything like that. In the UK it does mean that chemo may be on the cards but I’m nearly half way through that and it’s OK honest.
This PDF will help you understand what you can translate:
breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=11769
Last one I promise.
There’s an online service called babelfish that allows you to translate between languages, it’s OK, not perfect and certainly not as good as a doctor but may help a little.
You could maybe also talk to someone on the helpline on here, there may even be someone with medical knowledge who speaks good french.
Do you speak french? Is it just the medical terms that you are unsure of?
Thank you vertangie for your help. I speak a little French but find medical terminology totally different. I did try an online translation service, which is what freaked me out I think.
I’ll see how I get on today with the Onc, the previous one I saw was a bit reluctant to give details out, but I NEED to know as much as possible, Is that how everyone feels?
Another question I am not sure about which maybe is easier to answer: will having chemo make me go through the menopause? At 50 I knew it was going to happen sooner than later, but am wondering how they help with things like hot flushes etc. if HRT is out of the question?
peacock… take a print of that pdf with you so you remember what to ask about.
Chemo does send some people into the menopause yes. I’m 1/3rd of the way through mine and no symptoms yet. There’s another pdf on the site about menopause etc but basically we have to use non hormonal treatments I think. This may help:
breastcancercare.org.uk/content.php?page_id=1134
Still at least that’s one part of the treatment that we were all going to do eventually breast cancer or not.
I would recommend taking a written list of questions to the onc and a friend to help you remember/ write answers down for you. I took my fiance which was a great help.
peacock - chemo put me into the menopause at 44. I use starflower oil & vitamin E for hot flushes. Some use evening primrose rather than starflower - I don’t really know what the difference is but starflower seems to work a bit better for me. I think it’s a bit of trial & error. I’ve also used acupuncture, which seemed to help a bit.