kaye301

At the time of my dx I was very naive about breast cancer--or cancer at
all--for that matter. I thought one either had it or didn't. I had no idea
there were different types of breast cancer, let alone so many variations of
each. I had no idea what the significance of positive lymph nodes were. It
was probably a good thing or I would have been quite depressed if I had
understood the significance of my pathology report at the time.
I was just thinking---what cancer 'was' or 'is.' Is it somehow the key to all
life contained in a single cell--that continues to proliferate and mutate until
survival is achieved and then overruns everything else? Or is it the 'mother'
of all viruses? Just some food for thought...

alexandra koffman

I am surprised that you hadn't researched this all since you have a family
history.
Yes there are many shades of breast cancer....Unfortnately for me I have the
type that does not respond to hormones!
It also sounds like there is limited research going on for my type of
breast cancer..I find this very depressing..
ALex

'mother'

tim jackson

I think a lot of the current areas of advanced research will eventually
apply to most types of cancers including ER- breast cancer, eg perhaps the
P53 gene replacement therapy (advexin), but most of these things are some
way from a relevant treatment reaching the market.

As breast cancer does already have quite a lot of effective treatments
available, new drugs seem to tend to be targeted toward the more 'difficult'
cancers first, where they can prove themselves before displacing or
supplementing the established bc regimes.

Tim

kaye301

history. >>

Well, um, no excuses although there may have been a little bit of denial. With
my past memories of my childhood--with my mom's relatives droppling like flies
from cancer--particularly breast cancer--I didn't want to be paranoid or
reminded of it. I did all--well not all--but most of the 'right' things. I
had regularm mammograms and self-checks. Unlike my mom, I nursed my
children--and unlike my mom and what I had read about possible breast cancer
protection, I had a 3rd child and nursed all of them together for a total of 52
mos)--each exclusively for 6 mos, then the oldest to 18 mos., my middle one
until 13 mos., and my youngest until she was 21 mos. Unlike my mom I did not
smoke. Unlike my mom I didn't stay home and watch the 'soaps.' Unlike my mom
I did not take HRT. Unlike my mom, when I noticed something suspicious I did
not wait to get it evaluated. So, I thought by doing that doing the regular,
recommended eval's I would beat it. I also had genetic testing--but tested
negative for the 'known' genes. With the way things have gone for me, our
family probably has their own unique gene ;-) Seriously, when I heard
'cancer' I turned the other way--it was the last thing I wanted to 'know
about.' I didn't want to be paranoid about it.

kaye301

<< It also sounds like there is limited research going on for my type of
breast cancer..I find this very depressing..

Alex, I can only imagine how you are feeling re. that; it must be so
frustrating! The only 'favorable' factor that I had was that I was ER+ That
doesn't mean that all the cells were ER+ and if enough were ER- then eventually
those cells can take hold and proliferate...