Brand new here, anxious about treatment

Lcsbeach

Hi,

I'm pretty much at the beginning of this journey, though I'm at the outer end of the age range (58, with a 15-yo daughter at home & a 21-yo son in college). First, let me share that I'm recently widowed, my husband passed away right before Thanksgiving following a bone marrow transplant, so cancer has really hit our family hard. I hear so many people saying they'd never make it through w/o the love, care & support...enough pity party already!
Anyway, I had a left simple mastectomy with expander on March 9. I had 3 stage 2 lesions, 6 lymph nodes removed, only 2 had cancer. Before surgery, I was told I was triple negative from the fine needle & core needle biopsies, but my onc had them redo the pathology b/c he thought they'd biopsied one tumor twice. Now it looks like I'm HER-2 +, and going into a clinical trial of TDM-1, an advanced form of Herceptin. First I do dose dense A/C, then TDM-1, then taxotere, then radiation with maintenancevdoses of TDM-1. I'm just so scared, I've read horror stories about taxotere, am worried if I'm too sick to drive myself to chemo & it's too late to find someone to drive me, I have to keep working at least P/T, remember rushing my husband to Hopkins in the middle of the night when he was sick..... Any thoughts? My chemo starts next Tues.
Also, more immediately, I had my first post-op saline injection Thurs. And can't believe how swollen, sensitive, and hard it is. Is this normal?? Does it last all the way thru reconstruction? Ouch! Anyway, sorry this is such a long post. I'm absolutely determined to make it thru this & have been out walking almost every day since surgery. Have even made a mile a few times!
Thanks so much. You seem like a great group!

Linda

dlb823

Linda, welcome to BCO!  Not sure why your post hasn't had any responses as yet, except that you've listed multiple concerns, which makes a post a bit hard to respond to; but I'm going to give it a try.

First, I'm so sorry your husband.  Geting a bc dx so soon after losing him must be incredibly hard for both you and your children.  But it sounds like you are in the hands of an excellent medical team, which is so important.

As far as Taxotere, from what I've seen here on BCO, I don't think very many women have extremely serious SEs, and when they do, those seem to come on during the infusion -- such as an allergic reaction.  I've seen almost no reports of emergencies or hospitalizations, unless the woman possibly had serious prior medical conditions.  Most of us just have two or three days of flu-like symptoms, so if you're working, it's best to schedule your infusion so that those yukky days (which start about 2 days after the actual infusion) fall over the weekend.  But I think it would ease your mind to have a back up plan if you need any sort of help.  Do you have a neighbor or friend you could count on for help if you need it?  I also think there must be bc survivors in your area who would be more than happy to lend you whatever support you may need.  Maybe check with the nearest American Cancer Society office.  They have a program (can't think of it's exact name at the moment) that pairs survivor-mentors with newly-diagnosed women.

As far as the reconstruction question, I'd suggest reposting that separately in the reconstruction section (click on Forum Index above), where it will get more attention.  I had Diep recon, so can't be any help there.

I'd also suggest looking in the Chemotherapy Forum for the April 2011 chemo group and introducing yourself there.  You'll find great support and sharing with women who are also starting chemo this month. 

Glad you've found us!  (((Hugs)))   Deanna

Lcsbeach

Thank you so much, Deanna!  Your words about chemo were really reassuring.  I have a choice of scheduling chemo only for Tues. or Fri., and was initially puzzled as to why the PA at my onc said Tuesday would probably actually work better.  I teach in a high school, so of course I have plenty of colleagues who are or have been in a similar boat.  I actually have a group set up at www.lotsahelpinghands.com who've been fantastic about helping with meals, chores, rides for my daughter and me, etc.  The resources there are really great for anyone who needs to set up an online support community. It seems the start of my chemo may be delayed a bit, which is very frustrating, since I'd already started scheduling physical therapy and some other appts. & work commitments based on the chemo schedule we'd already come up with.  I've just started back to work (as of yesterday) & am worried about fatigue.  In any case, thanks so much!  It sounds like maybe you're done with treatment???  Good luck.

Linda