Just diagnosed with stage 3 invasive ductal carcinoma her2 negative. What does this mean
Breast cancer comes in three grades from grade 1 to grade 3. Grade 1 tends to be the slowest growing and the most organized like normal cells. Grade 2 is the intermediate grade, and grade 3 tends to be the fastest growing and the least organized like normal cells. I am also diagnosed with a grade 3 IDC, HER2 negative tumor. Grade 3’s seems to be quite common though so don’t panic over it. A lot goes into staging and managing beyond just grade. One of the other things you have also probably been told is whether you are hormone positive. Did your tumor test positive for estrogen and/or progesterone? You might have also been told how many receptors you had for the hormones and how intense they were. That also gives you some information.
I am so sorry you are joining us here. But you have tons of company since this is the most common cancer for women. As a result we also have lots of treatment and much success with that treatment. Feel free to ask any other questions you want or just to vent. Everyone is super nice on this site because we all understand. Much love and good will being sent your way.
Oh and I also realized that you asked about stages and not grades. As far as stages, with breast cancer they come in four stages. Stage I is early stage where the cancer has only started spreading outside it’s primary location and is under 20 mm, Stage II is localized spread where the cancer has spread outside it’s primary site and might have gone to lymph nodes or where the cancer is larger than 20 mm, Stage III would mean you have regional spread where the cancer has spread outside the breast to lymph nodes and/or is larger than 50mm, but it hasn’t gone to distant sites. This stage is curable although you will probably have some extensive treatments. Stage 4 is where it’s gone beyond the breast to distant parts of the body. If you have other questions don’t hesitate to ask as everyone here wants to support each other. I know just getting diagnosed is a horrible shock.