Vascular Invasion

Your oncology team will keep tabs on this and all the drugs you currently take are working towards stopping any further invasion.  Stress and worry although not easy to dismiss are an area where we must try to refocus.  Keep mentally busy and physically active. Indulge yourself and your family. I really wish for a great positive response from your oncologist…if you can’t get hold of him I always try Macmillan Navigators. They’ve been a great source of information and chasing specialists for me. XxxX

Thank you, I was so positive at the start - they told me the cancer had gone with chemo and no node involvement.  When I had the lumpectomy they found the chemo had only partially worked and that there was lymph node involvement.  Since that day I've found it so hard to be positive.  Some days are ok but it's always there at the back of my mind. x

That’s what happened to me. I couldn’t cope with the node involvement, found after my axillary clearance, which I had done at the same time as my elected mastectomy. That was nearly 21 months ago, and I have accepted it now. I never thought that I would be able to move on, but the advice from @Tavares is spot on. I have a gratefulness list in my head each evening and that helps me a lot. Abemaciclib hadn’t been approved for early breast cancer when I had surgery and radiotherapy, so I missed that, but it’s good that you are able to benefit from it. 

I think from day of confirmation we live in fear of the unknown. When we get a good report we don’t exactly feel like partying but a small sense of relief. For your diagnosis to have changed is not fair and worrying but it’s far from the end of the road!  There are so many interventions available and I know this through a friend who’s been stage 4 for the last 4 yrs and still walks/swims/sings in a choir/walks 3 miles a day! She’s had lots of chemo which is keeping C at bay. There are many good news stories out there! I’m really with you on this xxxx

Hi, it's really scary I know, try to keep going, as you are doing great 

I had vascular invasion, for me it meant that the tumour was very close to the surface of the skin of my breast. When I had radiotherapy they gave me treatment to address that too. 

I'm sure your oncologist will talk you through it all & if there is anything specific needed.

I'm taking abemaciclib too, with anastrozole 

Best wishes x 

Hi, how long have you been taking abemaciclib for?  Do you have any side effects?

Did you have lumpectomy or mastectomy?

It feels so lonely a lot of the time, I haven't met anyone locally who is/has had the same diagnosis (or similar) to me.  

I hope my oncologist will see me early next week to talk through it all - he has been positive saying that I'm a good candidate for cure but I feel like there are so many unknowns x 

Vascular invasion means that the tumour had infiltrated a blood vessel. Cancer cells can travel through blood or lymph fluid and both the chemo you have already had and the treatments you are currently on are intended to treat any disease systemically. 

Hi I am on cycle 7 of Abemaciclib, main side effects for me have been diarrhoea & fatigue.

I had a mastectomy although that was after breast conserving surgery but they thought there was further cancer, they were correct!

It can be very lonely, where do you live? X

I'm assuming channel Islands? 

Your story sounds like mine, I had conserving surgery but was in lymph nodes and they didn't achieve clear margins.

Yes Guernsey in the Channel Islands.  

How have you coped with the diarrhoea, I find that I don't have much of an appetite at the moment as well as diarrhoea x