Saturday, September 5, 2009

WTH?

Breast cancer stages include:

  • Stage 0 (including lobular carcinoma in situ and ductal carcinoma in situ)
  • Stage I
  • Stage II (including IIA and IIB)
  • Stage III (including IIIA, IIIB, and IIIC)
  • Stage IV
  • Recurrent.
I thought there was a Stage V. I don't want to be the highest stage!! Why doesn't recurrent have a stage? I am not content with this. But I'm not sure I understand the difference between IV and recurrent...sounds like a fine line to me...

Femara

All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome when using Femara:

Arthritis; back, bone, leg, or arm pain; breast pain; constipation; cough; diarrhea; dizziness; headache; hot flushes; flu-like symptoms; flushing; increased sweating; indigestion; infection; joint or muscle pain; loss of appetite; nausea; night sweats; pain; sleeplessness; stomach pain; tiredness; urinary tract infection; vaginal dryness; vomiting; weakness; weight gain or loss.

HELLO! Back pain??? Bone pain?? The cancer is causing back & bone pain!! I don't need more!! And constipation? It had better go away when the radiation is over.

I think I'd better stop googling Femara side-effects.


5 comments:

Unknown said...

Good grief, what exactly is the POINT of the Femara??? Very strange!

Don't worry about the missing Stage V -- Google isn't ALWAYS right you know! Thank goodness!

by...K@ Ashcroft said...

What does Recurrent mean? Does that like reoccurring? If that's the case, does it start over back to stage 0? strange.

The Dirty Pink Underbelly said...

I think recurrent means...crap, now I can't remember. I'll have to look it up. Yeah, I think starting over at zero is a good idea!

The Dirty Pink Underbelly said...

Stage IV Breast Cancer:
Stage IV breast cancer is distant metastatic cancer. The cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Recurrent Breast Cancer:
Recurrent cancer is cancer that has come back (recurred) after a period of time when it could not be detected. It may recur locally in the breast or chest wall. Or it may recur in any other part of the body, such as the bones, liver, or lungs.

Seems pretty vague...sounds like really the same thing.

The Dirty Pink Underbelly said...

Maybe this website sucks..