That the main purose of all this is to gather statistics....to find out who has who hasn't what,who their relatives are or aren't what experiences they have had or not had... With great numbers of people inputting information comes knowledge. I am a 10 year survivor...the notion that sentinal node was "OK' was brand new....I didn't trust it....so I had 12 nodes excised. During my treatment, the protocol of 4 treatments of adriamycin and cytoxin and then 4 treatments of taxol....even for non mestatized BC, was new. Herceptin was brand new.... And I expect to see massive strides in the next 5 years. We're getting close I hope, for a vaccine like wwe have for the organism that causes so much cervical cancer. Linda C

Shannon, thanks for responding again & sharing more about yourself and family. I feel you really understand both sides of the coin; being the one with the diagnosis and being the loved one of that person. You are a very compassionate person who can put yourself in others' shoes. Auntjen...thanks for the hugs and good wishes. I appreciated your support! Texanjana, thanks so very much for your empathy & for your prayers. There has been a new development. Day before yesterday when my sister went to get her chest x-ray for pre-admission/pre-surgery, they found "something" on her lung. Today she had a CT done. Just talked to Peggy and all they determined via the CT was that there is a "mass" on her lung. The details still remain sketchy. They want to do a "fine needle aspiration" & a PET scan next week. She needs to call Monday to schedule those tests as no one was around this afternoon to do that. They have cancelled the surgery for Tuesday. She's hanging in there! I think she's looking forward to having a quiet day at home tomorrow (no tests) to "chill out!" Then we'll all be over to bug her on Sunday! Hopefully by the end of next week we'll have a better idea of exactly what she has & how it should be treated. Again, thanks to each of you for your interest, support and prayers.

my husband, doug, had breast cancer in 2001. it came as quite a shock to our family. he was having a bloody discharge from his left nipple for 3 months before he approached me with tears in his eyes. upon going to several surgeons for opinions, we were met with much fear based haste to make decisions. one of the options presented to my husband was to remove his testicles. that wasn't an option on our priority list, and in, fact, even a biopsy was refused by my husband as there is a theory that once the cancer clusters are punctured, wayward cancer cells can travel throughout the body. we did a lot of reading and computer research to find answers. my father bought doug several shipments of appropriate supplements and some of the powdered herbs, graviola and cat's claw. we got appointments with a D.O. , a chiropractor, an herbalist, and a counselor. doug started exercizing, eating simply and nutritiously, and meditating. one of the best resource books we read was susun weed's book, BREAST CANCER? BREAST HEALTH. susun's book helped him relax, become introspective, and regain health. she offers an informative description of an anti-cancer lifestyle, what it is to be diagnosed with cancer, explanations of diagnostic procedures, in home treatments as well as treatments offered by the medical establishment. She outlined 6 steps of healing which empowers the person with cancer to take the course of healing into their own hands. here is a link to her site if anyone would like to visit: http://breasthealthcancerprevention.com/ during this time, we visited a surgeon who specialized in women's health in the southern part of our state. she monitored the tumour's size and growth by ultrasound, something that had been discouraged in our own area. doug gave himself one year to treat the small in situ tumour on his own. at the end of the year, the cancer had not grown, but doug chose to have the tumour taken from his breast. he has been cancer free ever since...9 years. alot of his well-being during that time with cancer he attributes to the philosphy shared in susun weed's book, his relaxed positive outlook, and his ability to not buy into the fear factor. .

My wife had a mastectomy 10 yr ago and because of a potential threat, all 21 nodes were striped out. Back then, that was the standard practice. Her lump was fairly large: A lumpectomy was performed while she was on the operatng table and the quick analysis said the margin was not 'clean' so the surgeon proceded with the full procedure including all node removal. It truned out that all nodes were clean and the removal was unnecessary. We also found that if the surgeon had removed just a little more material around her lump, the margin would have been clean and that would have prevented a lifetime of problems. Less than 2 years later, the recommendation for her case type changed and the new procedure became: remove the first node and check it. If it is ok, stop. It was our experience that removal of all nodes create a drainage problem. Fluid tends to build up for at least 6 weeks until the body can find ways to absorb and reroute it. These nodes are part of the drainage system for the infection fighters. The body did eventually heal, but a comprise remains. My wife has a lifing restriction of 10 lbs on that arm for the rest of her life. A larger weigth will not do physical harm, but the exertion can overload the drainage system and the muscles may be weak. it can result in a minor injury that will take a long time to heal. So my advice is: Do not let your nodes be removed unless these are PROVEN invaded. Over 10 years ago, complete removal was done to insure that an invaded node was not missed. In too many cases (back then) when nodes were left, they gave trouble and once the cancer invaded the nodal system, it is very late. Better (and faster) detection plus more research has changed the picture. Be sure to discuss with your oncologist.