Diagnosed stage 4

Hi Sharon1111,

I hope so much that you will be there to see your daughters grow up and marry and have children of their own.

This diagnosis is understandably really scary. But it does not necessarily mean anything more than that you will need more and possibly ongoing chemo/targetted therapy/hormone therapy to kick it out of your system if possible or at least to hold it stable for years. Is/was your cancer ER+/-, PgR+/-, HER2+/- ? What sort of chemo/ and other treatments did you have initially, and what sort are you having now and how often? 

Have you found a good support group for women with secondary breast cancer?- those are the people who have learnt the best ways to get past the fear and can help you in this distressing stage. Friends in that position say this makes the world of difference. BCNA have PYNKS, and here in Perth they are a brilliant group run by a very competent woman.

The book about how Herceptin was developed interviewed women who have survived over 20years at Stage 4 and are living well. I have a good friend who is ER+, PgR-, HER2+ whose dozen golf-ball-sized stage-4 tumors in her liver and lungs vanished completely after about a year on Paclitaxel and Herceptin. 

best wishes, let us know how you are going and how we can help