treatment question

kris2386

My mom was originally dx 6 years ago with triple negative breast cancer, stage 2.  She had lumpectomy and radiation only.  She took tamoxifen for 5 years?  Not sure why as she is negative?  Then she was taking Aromasin??  Anyone else take them and are negative? Now she has been dx with bone, lung and liver mets about 6 weeks ago.  Her first symptom was a cough and then a mass started growing very fast under her left collarbone.  Since she started treatment the clavicle pain is 100% improved and she is taking only motrin for pain now.  She is doing abraxane/gemzar/zometa.  And still taking the aromasin.  Does all this sound right?   Anyone else taking or has taken the same treatments?  And how did it work for the diagnosis.   THanks for any comments.

TenderIsOurMight

Kris,



Two possibilities which come to mind are:



1) She was not triple negative, perhaps got confused thinking she was, but in fact was and is ER+ and so her physicians treated her over the years as such



2) Some physicians prescribe to the theory that in the off chance their are ER+ cells not "showing" in the triple negative diagnosis (the ER + cut off limit tends to be 10% or lower, but some bring it down to 3% or lower) that they went ahead and treated her anyway. Perhaps she has an extremely low expression of ER+ cells, and they did not make this clear to her.



You are certainly forthright to question this. Necessary to get the best possible understanding of her current tumor marker as it applies to ER, PR and HER.



Glad she is having a good response to current chemotherapy, and welcome to breastcancer.org discussion board, which tries to lend support to individuals and family members.



Please post again, should you wish, as the triple negative women have much personal knowledge and experience.



What a wonderful daughter or son you are!

Tender

Indigoblue

Kris,

You are a wonderful child to research and question your mom's treatment.  I only recently discovered  in my biopsy that I actually do have one Her+.  I was origianlly told I have zero, none, nothing, no receptors.  If there is a tiny chance your mother will avoid another er positive cancer; which happens, it might be a preventative treatment for her protection from other multi focal cancers.  Ravideb was discussing this somewhere online here; and it's possible to miss little cells with extrogen/progesterone sneaking around...while the physicians are focusing on triple negative.

My MIL had a lump which turned out to be Fibrous Sarcoma; hopefully she will do well.  She had surgery and radiation, and feels better now than she has in years...she is 89 yrs old and has more energy than I do. 

I hope you have a lovely Happy Thanksgiving, and enjoy the holidays. 

Tender has given you some stellar advice.  There are some incredible pwople with remarkable knowledge and experience to share.  I can only tell you bits and pieces, as the treatments and testing for b.c. changes almost daily.  Even medical wizards get confused, but it's sure nice to know they're here for all of us!

Pies are done...

(hugs to all)

Indi

kris2386

Thank you ladies for responding.  I am doing my best to be an advocate for my mom.  According to the path report that I talked about with her chemo nurse yesterday she is er-, pr-, her- and that was the same when she was diagnosed 6 years ago.  I guess she must have been on those meds just in case there were some positives floating around.  Next time I go to her appt with her I will ask.  I don't like to question too much, they are suppose to be the experts, but I do have many questions being a nurse myself.  Believe me, I do ask alot of questions anyway!  I have learned alot on this site and have recieved some very comforting advice, thank you.  I know my mom can fight for a long time, she has 3 grandsons she is fighting for.  She has an awesome support system.  Its good to see some of the stories of people fighting for many years and still having quality of life.  It is just so hard to deal with at first when you first hear the words "stage 4 breast cancer".   Happy THanksgiving to all of you and thanks again for responding. 

Kristi