Tomour near breastbone

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Tomour near breastbone

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Tomour near breastbone Can anyone help me with this? My tumour was in the upper right quadrant near my breastbone/chestwall. I was diagnosed stage 1 as axilla nodes were clear and samples taken from my chest wall and muscle during surgery were all clear.

Here’s what Is really worrying me. I have just read that there are other lymph glands (mammary glands) under your breast bone and given the position of my tumour I am really worried that it may have spread there.

So I guess what I dont understand is how do they know it was stage 1 and not stage 3 if they dont take samples from these glands or do scans?

If anyone knows the answer to this I would be so glad to hear from them .

Many Thanks

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alise yes i know it’s worrying.
But here’s a cheering story from a lady I met at RT- she’d brought a friend in for treatment. Said lady had lump by sternum 25 yrs ago. Her GP pooh poohed it. 6mths later, and she was a slim active young mum, she’d lost a stone and a half so notice was taken and she was checked, had op and treatment. When I met her it was 25 yrs later- she looked wonderfully fit and was a granny.
Plus if you go to this site and look up Justy’s posts you will find out about what can be, but is rarely, done to survive well.
Best wishes, dilly

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Dear Alise I have posted a reply to you under your thread ‘Depression’ with information about the Breast Cancer Care helpline which you may find helpful regarding your concerns and questions.

Kind regards
Forum Host
Breast Cancer Care

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Alise,

I almost didn’t reply to your post in case I make matters worse, but I feel I have to respond because information is power.

I was first diagnosed back in March 2003 with a stage 2 er+ tumour (5cms with one node affected). After all my treatment was over, I asked if I could be scanned “just in case” and was even prepared to pay for this privately, so that I could reduce the “what if” anxiety that we all go through and that you are clearly now feeling. They refused, telling me no equipment would pick up anything that would be so small, that the chemo and rads would have killed any potential floating cells, etc.

But in Sept. '06, they found another 5cms tumour behind my breastbone. They can’t tell me exactly where it is, but there is a possibility that it’s in the internal mammary lymph nodes. They believe it’s been there the whole time, so they were treating me as Stage 2, when I was at least 3b, possibly even 4. They have told me I will never get the all clear now.

Unfortunately, as I have seen from my own experience and from a number of threads here, the NHS will only investigate once a patient is presenting with symptoms and by the time that happens, the cancer can already be quite advanced. Even in my position, they are still refusing to scan me from the neck up, unless I get blurred vision, headaches, etc.

The positive news is that, as Dilly says and as you can see on the secondaries board here, more and more women with advanced breast cancer are staying well for longer, with their cancers being managed as a chronic, not a terminal illness, giving them a better quality of life.

So try not to worry too much and waste positive energy on the “what ifs”. Get out there and enjoy being the other side of treatment! You deserve nothing less.

Mel x

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Mel the bcmets survivor of tumour/enlarged glands behing breastbone was get to a thoracic surgeon- she feels she owes her life to chap ho cleared hers.Advise you to try my suggestion to alise so you can get more info. best wishes, dilly

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Thanks, Dilly. I really appreciate the advice.

Mel xx