Wishing you the best as you go for your followup. Sending power, love, and a sound mind!

Praying for you.❤

Thank you for sharing with our community.

It's amazing how a few compassionate words from a stranger can provide comfort and hope during our most vulnerable times. Holding onto those simple, yet profound interactions can be a source of strength. It's these shared human moments that remind us we're not alone in our journeys. Thank you for being a part of the Yerbba community!

We're so glad that the video offered you helpful ways to manage fears of recurrence, especially after such a tough night. Thank you for sharing your experience with the Yerbba community. Platitudes can be so annoying, can't they?

We're so glad to hear that our videos are helpful! Thank you for being part of the Yerbba community.

We truly appreciate you sharing your experience with the Yerbba community. Thanks for watching.

We're so glad to hear that you found comfort and support in your prayer group and through your friends. It's completely normal to have moments of anxiety during treatment. Remember, you're not alone, and it's okay to lean on your support network. Wishing you strength and peace as you complete your last treatment.

Thank you for your kind words and for sharing your journey with us. It's wonderful to hear that you find comfort in prayer and in the support of friends who truly understand what you're going through.

Indeed. Seeing a therapist can be a tremendous help.

You are absolutely right. Our brains are wired to think about the worst-case scenario. Your team may offer you a short period off the drug to see what happens to the alkaline phosphatase. If it's from the aromatase inhibitor, it will go back to normal. It is not the case that the AIs cause liver damage, just the lab abnormality. Remember that you're "allowed" to have other things not related to the cancer or its treatment, so checking in with your team about other possibilities would be prudent if the trial off of letrozole does not lead to a normalizing of the alkaline phosphatase.

@@yerbba Thanks so much for your thoughts. ❤️They are also running labs for ionized calcium since my calcium was up just a little. My vitamin D was high so I’m taking it every other day now and I’m also told depending on these results of the calcium test, they will look further into hyperparathyroidism. Your right, it’s easy for us to automatically assume the worst but we also have to remind ourselves, we’re all going to have aches and pains that are not related to cancer. 😊

Thank you for your message. We do see every single comment. It's understandable that you would have these feelings!

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write.

This must be so hard for them and for you. Thank you for coming here, and please keep coming back.

Great question. A complete pathologic response after chemotherapy (primary systemic, or neoadjuvant, chemotherapy) appear to have a better prognosis than those who do not. However, I have many patients who had an incomplete (partial) response who have not had a recurrence.

Thank you for watching and your support!

It is hard to avoid sugar. Fruits and vegetables are natural sources of sugar and actually are protective against cancer. Added sugars have some downsides of course, such as unwanted weight gain and, in people who are diabetic, even natural sugars can cause problems with glucose control. There is no compelling evidence that added sugars lead to breast cancer (aside from the link between excess body weight and cancer) or breast cancer recurrence.

While dealing with side effects may be challenging, your belief that they will eventually subside is a testament to your resilience. We appreciate your kind words about our videos. Thank you for watching!

There's no one tried and true way to address fears of recurrence. The actual risk of recurrence is not related to the fears of recurrence. That is, people with a 50% chance of the cancer coming back may have less fear of recurrence than people with a 10% chance. Our thought is that we've all lived with uncertainty in the past. Once we have kids, for example, we fear for their safety even when they are adults. Or we may have been in a car accident and had such fear. The same ways of talking to oneself can be useful with breast cancer recurrence fears. It also helps to know that your wife is doing all the things that have been offered to her. In terms of the recurrence after 10 years, the risk is indeed there but is much lower, particularly in someone who had a low risk to begin with. Detecting cancer early with circulating DNA testing does not improve people's outcomes. The cancer will be treatable when it's actually causing symptoms. When we detect and treat cancer so early we can't even see it, we are just prolonging the time that someone is on treatment. It's counterintuitive because we hear all the time that early detection leads to a higher chance of cure. But that is for early stage breast cancer, not recurrent (advanced) breast cancer. Also, a negative ctDNA test does not actually provide reassurance to people because they just wonder what the next test will show. There's no real way to "test out" fears of recurrence. We wish there were.

@@yerbba Dear Dr Griggs, being a head and neck surgeon myself doesnt necessarily help with recurrence anxiety. However, reading your reply is somehow reassuring. What I don't fully understand and would be grateful to hear your thoughts is the true meaning of the Genomic test (Prosigna). Prosigna was originally tested on post-menopausal women but now available and validated for pre-menopausal patients. They test 50 genes of the tumour, of the largest focus, they have not sent the other two smaller foci for genomic testing. Histologically they were all grade 2. I don't quite understand what 7% risk of recurrence over 10 years means and how reliable that is. Does this mean if the tumour or the tumours are left untreated and in situ for 10 years, the chance of the tumour to metastasize is 7% ? When does the 10 year clock start ticking as probably the tumour has been there for a while prior to diagnosis (Interval Cancer)? She had 3 foci and loads of surrounding DCIS, the DCIS part has been narrowly excised, hence the need for post mastectomy RT. What the Prosigna genomic test has said is that the specimen they have tested was luminal A and not chemo sensitive, hence endocrine therapy (tamoxifen) recommended. Not sure about the other 2 foci but we were told there is no need to test the other two as they will likely be the same?! Many thanks for your good work.

Hoping that is helpful for you and for others here in our community.

Thank you for writing with your story and the treatment you've received. It's hard to estimate the likelihood of recurrence without knowing everything about your tumor. It is, however, more likely than not that you will remain disease-free for many years if not indefinitely. Endocrine therapy will decrease the risk of recurrence even more than the chemotherapy you received. If you continue to have ovarian function, you may be offered ovarian suppression with injections or through removal of the ovaries. Wishing you all the best.

Thanks for watching!

@debtreat7382 Do you have a favorite scripture?

Amen

My favorite scriptures Psalm 91 Isaiah 41:10

@@jessicaphillips8366 Isaiah 41:10 is a favorite of mine also. Jeremiah 29:11 is another one of my favorites. I will check out Psalm 91. Have a good day! ❤️

@@amya9597 This is one of my favorites: Romans 8:38-39, ESV For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.