Triple Negative Breast Cancer

kederrick said:

My triple negative story.
I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer in Jan 2010. I was 45 years old. I immediately looked at my husband and said "I won't see Trevor, our grandson (who was 2) make 5 or my daughter get married. My only personal experience with breast cancer at the time was my mother, who was diagnosed at age 28, had a radical mastectomy followed by chemo and cobalt treatments only to find it returned in her liver a few months later. She lost her battle at the age of 30. Naturally I assumed that the same thing would happen to me. I live two hours from Houston and was determined to go to M.D. Anderson. God had different plans as they could not get me in for 6 weeks and that would be to redo my mammo, ultrasound, and biopsy and then schedule an appt with a doctor afterwards. I knew it was aggressive, however, at the time I didn't know it was so rare or just how bad. A family friend called and told me about her experience and her doctor in Baton Rouge. He is a christian man, world renown, and specialized in breast cancer only. I saw him a week after receiving my biopsy results (which at the time said it was malignent but I was still awaiting the ER/PR/HER2/and Fish results). The day I saw him I had gotten my biopsy results showing the triple negative but still waiting on the FISH test results. At that time the tumor was .90 cm at the largest area. I had surgery 17 days later and opted for a bi-lateral mastectomy. By the time the surgery was done the tumor was 2.5 at the largest area, giving me stage 2A breast cancer. There were no nodes involved. I began chemo (Taxol and Cytoxin) three weeks after surgery. The day after treatments I received a shot of Nulasta which helps keep your immune system built up. Four treatments three weeks apart. My last treatment was May 19. I feel great and confident that I did the right thing. I was cleared to return to work July 1. (I teach elementary and the exposure to that many kids could have been dangerous during chemo) and I go back to the doctor in August for blood work (tumor markers). I was also genetically tested for the BRCA 1 and BRCA 2 mutations which I did have one of those. Since I don't have my ovaries or either breast now we will just keep a close eye on things. But as of surgery I was "technically" cancer free at that time. God knew what was best for me and I have the upmost conficence that he sent me to the best in the world.

faith_trust_and_a_little_bit_of_chemotherapy said:

My first post on my last day of chemo
I was also diagnosed in January of 2010. As a single widowed mom, I had similar thoughts...I won't see my daughter graduate from HS. I returned to work, also teaching, as soon as I was cleared by the surgeon. I just finished my 6 course of TAC today. I chose to do chemo on Fridays, rest weekends, and returned to work on Mondays. It has been an education just watching the changes my body has gone through.

I asked for all my labs as I have finished my chemo treatments and was surprised to see that my markers have been going up. The nurses assured me that with my triple negative status this is not unusual, but I'm concerned after reading this board this evening. I see the radiologist for a consultation in a week and it looks as though "how I spent my summer vacation" will be spent with daily radiation treatments.

My chemo nurses also said, my hair should begin to return in about a month, the taste of food and neuropathy in my feet should take 1-3 months, but that everyone is different so...

But the blasted chemo is done!

faith_trust_and_a_little_bit_of_chemotherapy said:

Thanks for the encouragement
No one mentioned the cumulative affects of chemo, it seems they eek out the information on a "need to know" basis. Hell, after number two I was ready to power wash the patio furniture and wondered what all the fuss was about. I admit to feeling beat after this final TAC round, I'm trying to be kinder and gentler with myself.

When I was first diagnosed my daughter was online with a friend and started asking me some very pointed questions...seems her friend's mother is a survivor and she knows a survivor and they graciously met with me and shared their stories prior to my surgery. I email a small caring group of friends with updates on a regular basis.

There would seem to be an underground of supporters for us through this trial. Smiles on the faces of other women that see us and not see past us. Maybe it's the scarves, night caps, or lack of eye brows. Maybe they see our fatigue. I had a woman, a stranger, reach out and pray with me in the bookstore yesterday, it ended with an embrace.

But I am rambling, it must be sleep deprivation and I have a long commute and work tomorrow.

Truly I thank you for your words, I will continue to seek the answer to the increased marker numbers, but try not to make myself crazy over it. I will keep it mind they are simply numbers.

Bless you all.

arkansasgirl said:

IN LEFT FIELD!
Hi

I'm triple negative too. I also have a very rare type of BC that chemo and radiation has
no effect. But after being DX in April 2009 - had both breats removed and 6 rounds of
chemo I'm cancer free as of FEB 1, 2010.

My motto is: Cancer won the 1st battle and I won the 2nd but the war is not over for I
will not give up.

God Bless You

ARKANSASGIRL

24242 said:

Worried more about stage
I think I was worried more about the stage since chances for survival lessoned with each stage. Sure triple negative has less options for treatment phase and we definitely hit hardest with chemo and radiation. I was stage 3 IDC bc with 11 out of 21 positive nodes and HER triple negative at the age of 36. My chances for survival back 14 years was less than 50% with all the treatments in place. 14 years later feels pretty good even though have more health issues but dealing with them is all I can do and press for quality to my health is all there is. Easy no but doable for sure...
Tara

Skeezie said:

Hi Blessing, I was dx with triple neg bc in July 09. Stage 2, tumor grade 3. Lymph nodes clear, had a simple mastectomy and the pathology report came back absolutely no cancer cells in the breast tissue. I just completed 4 cycles of Cytoxin/Taxotere 12-11. Becasue of my pathology report I do not have to have rads. Initially I was terrified by the triple neg but not anymore. Chemo loves aggressive tumors and works well. There is research being done but it's for more advanced cases which gives me hope should this recur.
Don't let all the negative talk about triple neg bc freak you out. Google it in and you'll find tons if info on it. My onc was and is very upbeat about it. There is a Triple Neg BC website but I found most everyone to be very negative and not at all supportive like this wonderful website.
My onc said I have a 15% chance of recurrance and I just am going to live my life and not worry that triple neg bc is "so much worse". Educate yourself about it and you'll feel so much better. I know I certainly do. We are all in this together and we are lucky to be surrounded with such great support.

Hugs, Judy :-)

You wrote this in 2009... How are you doing in 2014?  I am also Stage 2, Invasive Metastatic TNBC with clear lymph nodes.  Just finished a round of chemo 3 months ago.  It's agonizing to wait 6 months to find out if I have any other type of cancer.  I AM HORRIFYINGLY SCARED....

How are you feeling, is everything allright with you?

Mary, Orlando, FL

blessing43 said:

Hi cabbott
Thanks ever so much for telling me about your friend. It is very encouraging to hear stories like yours and your frend's. Many of the articles on the internet on triple negative is quite discouraging but like your friend said, so also my doctor, chemo and radiation works on this type of breast cancer. Thanks once again for taking the time to encourage me on my battle. Congratulation to you for overcoming the beast and remain blessed in the Lord.

I had a partial masecptomy with no signs of spreading to the lymp nodes, stage 1 and I have to do 6 rounds of chemo for 18 weeks. I changed my eating habits I just hope I have a great survival rate.

sdunlap12 said:

Praise God

I had a partial masecptomy with no signs of spreading to the lymp nodes, stage 1 and I have to do 6 rounds of chemo for 18 weeks. I changed my eating habits I just hope I have a great survival rate.

Hey Girl............I see you are new and I'm sorry to have to welcome you to this place.  You have posted on a very old post from years ago.... I did that when I first got on here too.  Thank you very much for filling out your Home Page for us so we can know what you are going through.   You are in the right place and you are NOT ALONE*...  I'm Triple Negative too........and I'm still here...but I was a lot older than you when it struck me.........it looks like you are doing all the right things and that they are moving quickly on it for you.  Sending you prayers for strength and courage and keep letting us know how you are doing.  You can start a new thread anytime you please on here....there are many women posting and all of them understand**  Glo

coug90 said:

I was dx with triple negative breast cancer in December 04. At the time my doctors described it as this gansta standing across the street wearing leather and chains... kind of a scary metaphor! But I've been in remission for 3 years now. Please feel free to contact me with any questions - I'll try to answer them for you. I also blogged my journey on my personal page - Coug90.

God Bless,
Sharon

Hi there,

My mom was recently diagnosed with triple negative. I am wondering what form of treatment you had an how you knew it was in remission? Do you go through chemo/radiation and then they do some sort of full body scan to know if there is cancer they can see and then get the "remission" status.

Congrats on being in remission by the way! Do you mind if I ask if you still fear the "gangsta across the street?"