HI, how does grade 3 breast cancer work? I’ve read all the information on the internet but I can’t seem to get more solid facts on survival rates.
Hi there, I would advise you not to read up on it too much,you may end up scaring yourself to death like I did at first,but the best bit that I understood about grade 3(which mine was)is that although it is pretty big as tumours go,it hasnt started spreading. I got my DX in Nov 08,had chemo,MX,rads now on 8yrs Tamoxifen,went for my 6 monthly check last week and got another 6 monthly all clear,the doc said I could go on 2 yearly mammograms now so I must be doing well. I must confess that my recovery has had little to do with positive thinking,I had some really dark days and still now have a fair bit of nerve pain in my scar and where my lymph glands were removed but Gods good so onwards & upwards. We now have moved to Spain where the sunshine has helped me to move on and stop thinking about BC as much,we have an orange tree on the verandah and the other day my hubby measured the biggest orange,2.5cms,same size as my tumour was,
it seemed hard to believe that something so tiny could have ruined a year of my life,disfigured me,and caused so many tears. I dont suppose this will have helped you at all but I just wanted you to hear from someone whos got through it.
Take care,love from Mags x There`s a girl on the IBC sub forum called Theresa (Rhapsody angel)who knows about survival rates in general,maybe you could ask her how to look it up x
Hi Mags,
Thankyou for your post. It’s somebody very precious to me who in fact has been diagnosed: grade 3, tumour measuring 4cm. She’s alrady had the mastectomy and is now awaiting chemo. You’re so right about reading up on the internet. It is not a productive process, in fact it just intensifies my worry. Your comment really made me feel positive about fighting this and reaching recovery.
Hi scroc - sorry that you have had to join us but welcome… Basically grade 3 cells are most different from normal cells (they have grades 1-3) It is so hard to say what will happen with survival rates etc - there are ladies who had small grade 1 tumours who have died and others with large grade 3 with lots of lymph nodes involved who live long lives… But in general oncs use something like this link to decide on treatment based on how much benefit different treatments will give on average… Also of course new treatments are coming along all the time that might help… The pictogram version is easiest to read. lifemath.net/cancer/breastcancer/therapy/index.php
Theresa x
The prognosis is a sum of many parts, oncologists use the adjuvant online, you can access this and many other medics use the Nottingham Prognostics Index, you can look it up and calculate when you have your path report. But, these are only statistics. BC is tricky and the individual outcome can’t be accurately predicted, we all wish for a crystal ball. Good Luck.
It’s important to understand the difference between grade and stage, which can sometimes get confused. Stage relates to how far the cancer has progressed (on a scale of 1 to 4, though there are other schemes of staging), whilst grade relates to how “aggressive” the cancer cells are (as Theresa says, on a scale of 1 to 3).
Grade is actually determined by several factors, but it includes how rapidly they multiply, how much they still resemble breast cells (called “differentiation”), and some aspects of how they behave. You shouldn’t necessarily let the grade worry you, though. I wrote a blog article (“Swings and roundabouts”) back in October about my way of thinking about it, which I found helpful (see my profile for a link to the blog).
Jansman is correct, the stage and the grade are two different things, and both affect prognosis. I was Stage 2 grade 3, 6 years ago, and am doing fine, as are quite a number of women Stage 3 and even 4.
best of luck
Sarah
Hi,
I would really appreciate some advice from anyone who has had experience with chemo.
My sister is going to start her first round of chemo at the beginning of August. It’s a very worrying time at the moment, since following her pathology report, we are organising IVF too. I am getting married at the end of August and have planned for my sister to be bridesmaid. (Despite the distress, the family is very much looking forward to the wedding as something positive in all of this). I’m trying to figure out how she’s going to be after she’s had her first bout of chemo and how I can be of help.
Hi
Chemo can be very hard to predict. As it is her first cycle it is difficult to know what to advise. Some women sale through, they carry on working and functioning as normal. Others are floored. My onc asked if I had morning sickness or travel sickness as fec tends to make you nauseous and that helped them to decide my anti sickness regime. If the wedding fall in week 3 of her cycle and it is her first chemo I would be hopeful that she should be ok and still have her hair. She just needs to be careful that her White blood cell level doesn’t get too low if she is exposed to a lot of germs. I will say quite a few women ask for their chemo to be arranged around events. I have not done it personally but onc’s seem ok with it. As for helping her well as her sister you will know her very well and I am sure you do lots of things every day that help. Congratulations on your wedding. Good luck dx
with regard to grade three ,my oncologist said I should be glad it was grade three because it is so different from normal cells that the chemo is very effective against it ???don’t know if this is true or just a pep talk???
As someone who is Grade 3 & Stage 3 I am heartened by Looking Lovely’s comments!
I would say that that is putting a VERY positive spin on a not very good grading!