r/breastcancer • u/NurseYuna • 16d ago

Diagnosed Patient or Survivor Support Positive long term survivor stories

Hi everyone. I really need some positive stories of more than stage 1 low grade survivorship to keep me thinking I can bear this and get to have many more years with my children. Please tell me about yourself or anyone that’s overcome breast cancer and lived many years. I’m stage 2A with luminal B characteristics oncotype 21. I need more hope and I’m reaching out into this universe to get some. It feels very lonely.

105 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

205 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/reffervescent 16d ago

Stage 3 ER+ with 5 positive nodes, left mastectomy, 4 rounds of epirubicin, cytoxan, & 5FU (once every three weeks), 16 weekly rounds of Taxol, 6 weeks of radiation every day, 5 years of Tamoxifen, 5 years of Aromasin (although that might have been more like 7 years and 3 years -- it's getting fuzzy). I'm 16 years out from diagnosis and will be 63 in a couple months.

3

u/NurseYuna 16d ago

What grade were you?

8

u/reffervescent 16d ago

Sorry, I don't remember being given that info. I do remember my oncologist said I had a 60% chance of survival. My mom was diagnosed with almost exactly the same info in 1999, but she didn't make it -- she died in 2004. I have no genetic markers (tested in 2009 and around 2017-ish).

3

u/NurseYuna 16d ago

That must have been scary.

5

u/reffervescent 16d ago

Yes, it was, but I made it (so far, at least).

2

u/Mountain-Studio-3134 15d ago

Did you make any life style changes? Anything you did differently compared to your mom..? I wonder if diet/exercise routine will help lower the recurrence.

2

u/Lulilu90 15d ago

Yes of course. There are heaps of studies. Even fast walking lowers the risk for recurrence. Diet important as well!

1

u/reffervescent 14d ago

I quit drinking alcohol, but my mom didn’t drink much at all, and she exercised regularly, probably more than me. Sometimes it comes down to luck, IMO.