Understanding the details of the breast cancer prognosis

At any point in diagnosis and treatment, when the doctor is giving you this type of grading or staging information, don't hesitate to ask her to clarify what she's telling you. If the doctor says the cancer is stage III, for example, it's perfectly okay to ask exactly what that means for this particular type of breast cancer. You might also ask how the doctor arrived at her conclusions (which tests were run and what did the results show?), how this particular type of tumor tends to develop from one stage or grade to another, and what the cure rate is for this particular breast cancer at each stage. Another way to zero in on what the cancer prognosis information means is to ask the doctor if there are cancer cells in just one location -- such as a single tumor -- or if cancer cells have been detected elsewhere, and if so, where.