My Mums Journey

sara123

Hello to all and well wishes I am very new to this world and I am finding it hard to understand.

I understand the medical terminology but I dont see that it always reflects the experiences that people go through, we want to be fully armed and aware of all ahead ...

My mum was diagnosed 1 month ago with IDC (T1 CN1 MO) Hormone Neg/  Her2 + 4/21 lymph nodes involved .Tumour was 1.9 cm

Surgery involved wide local incision and level 1 +2 lymph node clearance, margins are clear and nothing found on any scans (bone, liver etc..)

Chemo to start in 3 weeks as follows taxotere and carboplatin and herceptin every three weeks also with the herceptin to follow for a further 5 cycles.

Radiotherapy will commence after chemo  

My mum and I met with the oncologist and he was so statistical we had just got over the surgery and she was someway feeling normal and then all these stats crazy

She knows the journey will be tough would love to hear what you all think

My warmest wishes to you and yours 

Sara  

Sassa

It will not be a fun journey, but your mum can do it. We Her2+ women are very lucky to have herceptin.

 {{{Hugs}}}

sara123

Thanks Sassa

Its good to hear encouraging words

fightinhrd123

Absolutly agree with the above poster, i am 39 and have done chemo, surgery and now rads and herceptin.   Herceptin is our miracle drug, it'll be a rough few months, but probably not as rough as she thinks!!!!  Its very doable and the treatment works

sara123

Thankyou so much , do you think there is any merit in having chemo weekly other than every three weeks ..mum is having a hard time dealing with the length of treatment

By the way we are in Europe ..Ireland to be exact

Wishing you well

Estepp

ditto what these ladies are saying! Good Luck to your mom! Long road... but not too hard.

fightinhrd123

I didnt do weekly, i did every two weeks, but by the second week i was up and around and living life pretty normally.  I would think it would depend on the kind of chemo also.  Do you know what she's getting yet?

fightinhrd123

Ooops nevermind, i just read your above post again.  i didnt have any of those treatments, sounds like a good plan though. I dont know how old your mom is, but i would think having three weeks would give her more time to recover between treatments?

maryannecb

Hi, I did my chemo every 3 weeks for 6 months, then completed the year of herceptin. It really does fly by. I am glad it is over but have made a full mind and body recovery.

Best of luck to your Mum.

sara123

Thank you all for your kind words and advice. I am quickly learning that every cancer is different , MaryAnne I love your photo (look whos boss)

Fightinhard my mum is 58 yrs old but very strong and stubborn !!I see what you are saying but I have read that if you do lower doses every week the side effects aren't as great ..would love to hear more about this

However with our health service in ireland even though we have private insurance I don't think you are allowed to have an opinion other than what the oncologist says

Already today he told my mum he would not permit chemo treatment unless she took the anti nausea drugs and nexium and decadrom (steriod) perhaps we are naive at thisearly stage re the side effects .

Best wishes  Again ..I hope I am not stirring up bad memories of those early days ..you all sound so positive now

sara

fightinhrd123

Everyones different, but i was so thankful for the anti nausea pills.  I didnt have them the first round, and yuck!!!  Also from what i understand, any heart damage caused by herceptin, is reversable.  Anyway, i'm sure you will learn alot more in the days to come!  Like i said, i dont really know about the chemo being done weekly, but im sure there are people that do.  Your mom is really in the worst part right now, once she starts treatment and has her plan in place she's going to feel alot more in control.  Dont read too much into the statistics, Herceptin has not been out too long for our kind of cancer, and there not current.  Its been proven to cut recurrence rate by 52 percent!!

bluedasher

Sara, the TCH chemo is almost always done once every three weeks. It hasn't been tested "dose dense" (every other week). That is because it is a newer chemo that was tested around the time that they started testing dose dense with chemos like AC-TH. It tends to cause less side effects than some of the other chemos. The A (Adriamycin) in AC-TH can cause heart problems and  I've heard that is less of a problem on the dose dense. But since you mom is getting TCH she doesn't have to worry about that.

The Herceptin in TCH targets the HER2+ characteristic of your mom's cancer cells and is a very effective drug. Sometimes doctors give the Herceptin weekly while giving the TC every other week but studies seem to indicate that it doesn't make a difference. The Herceptin can cause heart effects, but the effects reverse when the Herceptin is stopped. They will monitor you mom's heart with a test probably once every 3 months while she is on Herceptin to make sure it isn't making the heart function too poorly. The usual test is a MUGA but sometimes they use an electrocardiogram.  Herceptin is very powerful for our kind of cancer and the heart effect is very managable (and in many women pretty minimal).

TCH is the chemo that I'm doing. On the Chemotherapy section of this board there is a thread titled taxotere, carboplatin and herceptin where you can talk to a whole group of women on this therapy at various stages. 

I'm 56 and I'm in cycle 4 of 6 TCH cycles. In the US, Hereceptin is continued for a year which would be about 11 cycles after the TCH finishes but in Europe the usually stop Herceptin sooner and my oncologist says that the full year probably isn't needed though she is still doing it unless a heart issue causes her to stop sooner.

The decadron and antinausea meds help stop nausea. I think the decadron also helps lower the likelyihood of an allergic recation to the taxotere. I don't like being on all the drugs either but it is necessary. I don't take nexium - is that to prevent heartburn? 

My chemo ward is open plan I guess but it is set up pretty well. There is a wall down the center so you don't see the chairs facing you and there are little half walls so usually you just see the chair to one side of you. In any case there are curtains that can be pulled to give more privacy. The important thing is that they have comfortable recliner chairs with little side tables that can hold your drink, snacks and what you bring to amuse you. Chemo takes several hours usually and the nurse needs to be able to monitor several patients at the same time so the open plan allows. that. Mostly I don't notice much about the other patients. I think they try to make the environment as pleasant as possible.

This isn't a pleasant process. The worst side effect I have is tiredness and they don't have much to help that other than resting more than usual. I'll be really glad to be done with chemo, but the statistics for TCH both in terms of effectiveness at reducing recurrence and at avoiding serious long term side effects like heart problems are really good.  I'm convinced it is the best therapy for people in our situation and I'm glad it is available to us now.