Listening to CSpan and I thought I heard some good news about Elizabeth Edwards!

OK, I am a West Coaster and just got up and turned on CSpan to catch Washington Journal and was half asleep at the time. As I was getting my coffee, I thought I heard a quick news blurb that the doctors had informed Elizabeth that the type of cancer she has is not some really, really bad type that they at first thought she may have had and that with this news she most likely could live very well for years with the use of meds.

Anyone else hear anything like this??? I am so hoping that I heard this correctly and this is some good news for her! If it is, all I can say is: Blessed be!

Edit for typo.

This is wonderful....and I should have looked more closely at the boards to see if something was already up ~~ but I guess another thread about something good for her cannot hurt!

Elizabeth of overstating her disease. My mother had this type of breast cancer. It is "estrogen sensitive" which means that it can be treated with estrogen reducing drugs. Breast cancer that is not estrogen sensitive is more difficult to treat. When my mother's breat lump was biopsied and identified as cancer, they did not know what kind of cancer it was. This all happened at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, one of the best facilities in the country. We had to wait at least a couple of weeks for additional test results to find out what kind of breast cancer my mother had and that then determined her treatment. My mother's breast cancer had not spread as Elizabeth's has and the main goal of my mother's treatment with drugs was to try to reduce the size of the tumor.

So the initial bad news that Elizabeth got is still very bad news but the route that her treatment can take now that they have identified her type of breast cancer is good news. Also bear in mind that the drugs used to treat estrogen sensitive breast cancer come with their own dangerous side effects.

One final thing: I think I'm correct about this, when breast cancer spreads and is found elsewhere in the body, it is still breast cancer, in other words, what was found in Elizabeth's bones is not bone cancer but is breast cancer that has migrated to her bones. Please someone correct me if I'm wrong on this but I think the estrogen reducing treatments will help Elizabeth wherever her cancer may be.

....and this is good info that should be posted for everyone. Medical testing is not exact and, yes, they keep checking it out to see what exactly is going on. That seems to be true in all critical situations and I know from personal experience that this is true with most things and not just cancer.

And, I do think you are correct about the difference between bone and breast cancer in this case. Not real clear on this situation over-all, tho, but I do think that when there is a secondary site after a primary site has been treated, that it is termed as you noted with use of the primary site to define the type of cancer which has spread. But, like I said, not sure on this.

BTW: Hope all goes well for your mom and that she lives many, many happy and healthy years!

It is breast cancer that has spread to the bones. They look at the cancer cells and if they are identified as the same cancer cells that are in the breast cancer it is considered mets. If it's a different cell type then it would be another primary.

Hoping things go well with your mother. :)

I hope this treatment plan can help Elizabeth also.