Breast Cancer Now Forum

Late again! Sorry to be behindhand with my birthday greetings, Celeste. I hope you had a really super day, you youngster, you..... Love Kathy xxx ... View more

Great article, Brian I really hope it gets read and remembered by lots of people. Well done! Kathy ... View more

This is what I wrote I missed the broadcast item but have just read the website. I am VERY disappointed to see the misleading statistics about 5 year survival being trotted out yet again! Yes, 80% (or even 90%) of those diagnosed with breast cancer today will probably be alive 5 years after diagnosis, but that doesn\'t mean that they will be free of cancer. Those with Grade 3 tumours and lymph node involvement certainly do NOT have a 90% chance of being disease-free in 5 years time. I was diagnosed 7 years with a small Grade 1 cancer with no node involvement. Last summer I found another lump in the same breast under the old lymph node scar and had a mastectomy in October. The cells which grew into this tumour almost certainly came from my first breast cancer, which means that at the 5 year mark I was alive, but was definitely not free of breast cancer. Breast cancer is not at present curable, in the sense that any of us can know that it won\'t come back. My surgeon told me that she wishes that she could be like her colleagues in other cancer fields and tell her patients that if it hasn\'t come back after 5 years they are cured. Unfortunately breast cancer isn\'t like that and can come back 10, 20, 30 or even 40 years after first diagnosis, sadly very often with fatal results. The current statistics for breast cancer tell us that about 41,000 people are diagnosed with breast cancer each year and at the same time about 12,500 die each year of this dreadful disease. By my reckoning that means that over 30% of people diagnosed with breast cancer die of the disease at present. Thankfully there have been many advances in treatment in recent years, but none of them is a certain cure and many only serve to prolong life or slow down recurrence. Breast cancer is NOT a good cancer to get - no cancer is ever good and it certainly isn\'t trendy, unless by that is meant that it is becoming more and more common, with over 8000 women under 50 being diagnosed every year. Of course I hope and pray that Kerry Robertson\'s treatment will be successful and that she will be among those whose cancer does not recur, but sadly, with a Grade 3 tumour and lymph node involvement, she has a more than average chance of recurrence. Glib and uninformed comments such as those quoted on the website do no-one any favours and unfairly minimise the suffering of the tens of thousands of women (and some men) who have to cope with this devastating disease. ... View more

Guess what, folks? I just checked the ITV website again to re-read some of the statements and the item\'s been removed! The others from this morning\'s show are still there, but they\'ve pulled the bc part. I suppose that\'s better than nothing - at least no-one else will now be able to read the inaccurate rubbish it contained and possibly be misled into thinking that bc is no great shakes! Well done everyone - I think our emails of outrage made a difference. It\'s just a pity that they won\'t ask some of us on the show to put another point of view, but I suppose we\'re not trendy and uninformed enough! Kathy ... View more

I\'ve written too ...pointing out that with a small Grade 1 tumour and no node involvement I\'ve had a recurrence after 7 years. Survival does NOT mean disease-free survival and there is NO certain cure for breast cancer. I do get SO tired of this constant misinformation and media glibness. Kathy ... View more

No problem, Tim We all need reassurance where bc is concerned. If I remember rightly, Nicky is being treated at the Royal Marsden and treatment doesn\'t come better than that. If it\'s any help, my second tumour last autumn was grade 2 and because it was strongly hormone positive, I didn\'t need chemo, either. After my mastectomy, I was put straight onto Arimidex and am tolerating it well so far. DCIS stands for Ductal Carcinoma In Situ and is usually thought of as a pre-cancerous condition, because it is confined to the milk ducts and can\'t spread or invade other tissue. But DCIS can sometimes become invasive which is why it is always treated when found. No need to apologise for worrying about Nicky. You love her and loving people means you worry about them and do everything you can to help them. I think you are very lucky to have each other and hope that you have many, many more years ahead of you. My huband and I will be celebrating our 38th wedding anniversary in April, so I know exactly what you mean. Love Kathy xxx ... View more

Hi Tim Sorry you\'re still worried about Nicky\'s treatment. A few points occur to me, having read your post. The first is that Herceptin is not normally given for early breast cancer without chemo either first or alongside and chemo is nor usually given for small, ER+ tumours with no node involvement.. There are risks attached to Herceptin and unless Nicky would get real clinical benefit from it, it is not likely to be prescribed. It\'s a case of balancing benefits against potential side-effects. You haven\'t mentioned the grade of Nicky\'s tumour (1, 2 or 3) and again this would make a difference as to whether Herceptin would be considered appropriate. If Nicky\'s tumour wasn’t high-grade and her risk of recurrence is low enough for chemo not to have been recommended, then Herceptin would probably not make much, if any, difference. You said in a previous thread that Nicky was going to have her ovaries removed so that she can have Arimidex or Femara, because she can’t have tamoxifen. If this is still the case then she will be getting a very good follow-up treatment, which will do a lot to prevent possible recurrence. Hope this helps Kathy xxx ... View more

Start new topic I know this has been mentioned before, but I think it\'s really important that the \"Start new topic\" button or line is made MUCH more prominent or moved to a better position. This is particularly important for people new to the forums who so often add their first tentative posts to quite inappropriate threads, because they don\'t know where else to put them. The moderators do a good job of moving some of these posts, but it\'s more difficult when replies have already been posted and it means that threads often get fragmented and some new posters get overlooked. It may be my worsening memory, but I don\'t remember this happening much, if at all, on the old forums, where the \"Start new topic\" and \"Add a post\" buttons were side by side on the top line of the page, instead of being widely separated as they are now. If they could be brought together again, that would probably do the trick. Kathy ... View more

Background colour and contrast Although the bigger, darker print has helped a lot, I still find the forums tiring to use for any length of time. The white background is glaring and makes reading and writing hard work, and for me the contrast is still not good enough. The print needs to be even blacker. Perhaps it\'s a subtle hint to me to spend less time on the forums and get a life :-)) Kathy ... View more

Go for it, Jane. I\'d have nominated you if it were that kind of appointment system. I can\'t think of anyone better equipped to contribute to this process, if you feel you have the time and inclination to do it. Kathy ... View more

Hi Ruth Sorry to hear you\'re so distressed. I\'m no expert on employment law, but there have been a couple of threads running (one in After treatment has finished, I think) about the Disability Discrimination Act and the protection it now offers to people diagnosed with cancer. I\'m about to go out, so haven\'t time to look back through the threads for the details, but it might be worth your spending a bit of time trying to find them. Adele is the person who first posted the topic and hopefullyshe will see your query and be able to help you. Good luck Kathy xxx ... View more

Nice to be missed! Just back from a weekend away, Celeste, and didn\'t expect to find a search party out after me after only 4 days 🙂 Glad the glitch has been sorted out - I don\'t want to be closed down just yet, even accidentally! Now to catch up with the rest of the forums. It\'s amazing how many new posts there are since last Thursday. Who said the new forums are quiet? Kathy xxx ... View more

Me too The loss of the contact buttons is something I felt very strongly about when the new website was launched and my feelings haven\'t changed. Tbey have always been optional and as long as BCC makes it clear that they can\'t be held responsible for the consequences if people choose to have a contact button, then I can see no problem. Kathy ... View more

Housework - a hot topic Like the rest of you who\'ve posted on this thread, housework comes a long way down the list of my priorities, even more so after my recurrence.On our fridge is a battered magnet which reads \"Housework is something you do that nobody notices, unless you don\'t do it\" and for me that just about sums it up. Being perfectly serious for a moment, cancer is one of those things that shakes up a lot of our certainties and preconceptions. There\'s nothing like being face-to-face with your own mortality to put a lot of things into a different perspective. Suddenly, time, which we all thought was unlimited, has become much more precious and we have to weigh up what we most want to do with this valuable commodity So the house is a bit dusty, the kitchen floor really, REALLY needs mopping and a weird part of me prefers cloudy days so that the sunlight doesn\'t show up how much the windows need cleaning! But so what! I refuse to be made to feel guilty because my house wouldn\'t pass muster for an Ideal Homes exhibition (or anything else for that matter). I\'m alive and feeling better than I could have hoped last September and I have family, friends, work and hobbies competing for my time and energy. Housework will just have to be content with what\'s left! Love Kathy xxx ... View more

Hi Christineann The short answer is that it depends on the cancer. According to my specialist breast surgeon, for some cancers 5 years without recurrence does equal cure. She wishes that breast cancer was like that so that she could sometimes have the pleasure of telling her patients that they are cured. Unfortunately it isn\'t. It can come back months, years or even decades after first diagnosis and treatment. It won\'t come back for all of us or even the majority of us, but no-one can ever promise any of us, not even Kylie, that our cancer won\'t recur. Kathy ... View more

Hi Sandra In the UK, women who have early stage ER+ tumours and no node involvement, and for whom chemo is not thought necessary, are normally offered radiotherapy as well as hormone therapy after a WLE. After a mastectomy it will often be hormone therapy only. Things may be different in other European countries. I had a stage 1, grade 1ER+ tumour 7 years ago and had a WLE, radiotherapy and 2 years only of tamoxifen (stopped because of side-effects). Last year I had a small, Grade 2, strongly ER+ recurrence under my old lymph node scar (outside the area treated by radiotherapy first time round). This time I\'ve had a mastectomy and am on Arimidex. As I was post-menopausal with both my cancers, I was told chemo would only have been thought appropriate if there had been node involvement or the cancer had been grade 3. Hope this helps Kathy ... View more

Bus pass this year I\'ll be 60 in April, which puts me firmly among the oldies on the forums. As we know it\'s the younger ones who are actually in the minority in breast cancer terms, it\'s just that they are much more likely to be the computer literate ones. Don\'t worry, Daphne. No one who posts as often I do can feel left out..... Kathy xxx ... View more

Stomach cancer Jane, I\'ve just checked the book I quoted and it says that the highest rates are found in Japan, Central and S. America and eastern Asia. Lowest rates are in Australia, Canada and the US. Stomach cancer is declining in nearly all countries with the spread of refrigeration and the move away from eating so much salted and cured meat, but it\'s still the second most common cancer worldwide (10% of cases) and the sixth most common in Britain. As for the indutrial pollution you mention - that\'s a time-bomb waiting to go off. Kathy ... View more