Hello and thank you for getting back to you.

I am afraid that no one here can tell you what stage your cancer is. Your own breast cancer team will do that once they have completed all your tests and investigations.  However, your cancer has not necessarily spread to another organ, if a cancer does it is referred to as a stage 4 cancer. 

I hope that has been of some help.

Please get back to us if you need any more information or support.  You may find it helpful to talk things through with one of the nurses on our helpline.  The number to call is Freephone 0808 800 4040 and the lines are open from 9am till 5pm Monday to Friday.

Take care,

Caroline 

Hi Caroline,

Thank you, that helps. So, I would be a stage 3C with cancer in the superclaviour fossa and infraclavicular area, regardless of lymph node involvement in those areas?. However if it spreads outside into other organs such as liver, lungs, bones etc.. I'd be a stage 4? It's hard getting my head around it all.

Hello cos7 and thanks for getting back to us,

I can understand you asking, but I am afraid I am not in a position to be able to confirm what stage of  breast cancer you have. 

I can follow your thinking in that if there is cancer in the supraclavicular and infraclavicular (above and below the collar bone) lymph nodes this matches the 'N' criteria in the TNM staging system for a stage 3C breast cancer. But as you have been reading, staging depends on the size of the tumour (T), how much the cancer has travelled to the lymph nodes (N) and also if it has spread to a different organ further away (M for metastases or cancer spread). That said, it is possible that your stage is a 3C, but you need to talk this over with your specialist team to get their input. I hope they can clarify this for you. 

I think you have already seen it, but if not, our website explains breast cancer staging at this link.

Please give us a ring if you want to talk anything over. We are here weekdays 9-5, and our number in 0808 800 4040 . 

Best wishes,

Julia

Hello Caroline, 

I had breast cancer in 2013 so this is a reoccurrence, I do not have a tumor it's contained within the lymph nodes as I had a bilateral mastectomy back in 2013. It hasn't spread beyond the superclaviour fossa, so I believe this is a stage 3C cancer?