The "Stage" (progression) can be listed as 0-4, and followed by an A or B to break it down further. It tells you where you are at this moment in time.

The "Grade" is a determination of how quickly the cancer cells are reproducing- so basically a score for aggressiveness. To determine that they look at the tissue sample for three characteristics. Each of those characteristics are given a point score of 1,2,or 3. Then they add them up, and determine your Grade.

Grade 1 is a slower growing cancer, Grade 2 intermediate, and for me the radiologist said my total score was 9 and it looked like the tumor was looking for extra credit! My grade was an easy determination of 3- aggressive. And they wanted me to understand that as I waded through all the info to make the decisions as to which protocols to pursue.

@A MyBCTeam Member Cancer Stages go 0-4, so getting a 3 is not the worst. Check the resources tab along the top. There are lots of reader friendly articles, on a variety of topics. You may even find a few where you would want to share with your son. He is worried about his mom- and likely not getting his information from a reliable source- to many times, people hear stories about the "friend" "family member" "neighbor" and think that particular scenario is the norm. And it is not! Tight hugs and prayers to you and the family as you navigate through all this! Hugs!

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A MyBCTea...

They give each of these a score and then add them up. These are mine. I guess if it total is under 6 its Grade 1 and over 7 Grade 3

Histologic Grade (Nottingham Histologic Score):

Glandular (Acinar) / Tubular Differentiation: Score 1

Nuclear Pleomorphism: Score 3

Mitotic Rate: Score 2

Overall Grade: Grade 2 (scores of 6 or 7)

I also had Stage 1, grade B (same as yours basically, clear margins), had lumpectomy, sentinel biopsy and oncotype dx, and afterwards I had the five radiation treatments and have been on Anastrozole for over a year.