Is Anyone Else Dealing with Stage 3 Breast Cancer?

Hi Marie! So sorry to hear that your on this site too. ☹️ I think a malignant neoplasm means the same thing as a cancerous tumor. So if I'm understanding you correctly, you have breast cancer stage 3? Is this correct? I know it is so confusing at first ( and actually later on, I have to keep going back and looking at my records to keep things straight and I'm still learning). There are many types of breast cancer. For example, DCIS ( which means it has started in place), ICL ( which I doing know as much about but it l the L stands for lobular - like little fingers I guess). From all my research I have done, there has been a lot of progress in breast cancer treatment and the survival rate has greatly gotten better. Hopefully 🙏 you have good doctors that are actually specialists in breast cancer and can educate you on your choices. Also, ( I think) treatment options can be similar to other stages...surgery, radiation, chemo, hormone therapy. Have you gotten your blood work back and biopsy report? For example, have the doctor given you a hormone status ( estrogen and progesterone+/-), HER status (+/-) and their percentages? There is also blood work called Oncotype and it tells you more about your particular cancer and what treatment makes sense. For example mine came back with a score around 3 for effectiveness of chemotherapy so if I had done chemotherapy it would not have benefitted me. So this type of bloodwork test is very important to getting an effective treatment plan. But I want to reiterate that all our situations can be so different, it did make it frustrating to say the least, when trying to figure out what is best for yourself and what others have going through. I would just check with your doctors and make sure you have the full description of your cancer and not just the stage. Have they given you a plan yet?

DCIS means it has stayed ( not started) in place

I didn’t realize an oncotype can determined by a blood test. I thought a tumor sample was necessary. That’s great that you were able to avoid chemo!

Oh well I'm not sure. Maybe it was through my biopsy. I had so many blood tests and biopsies I can't keep them straight

Many people in this community are navigating stage 3 breast cancer alongside you, so you're definitely not alone in this journey. This space is filled with others who understand what you're going through and are here to offer support, share experiences, and connect with one another during treatment.