my wife wendy and bad news today

andydentre

Wendy turned 54 yesterday, my wife and mother of my two boys Parker (24) and Dana (19). She was first diagnosed last April 5th 2011 on my son's 18th birthday. She has a triple negative breast cancer in her left breast and started with 7 sessions of chemo, (8th not given because she was too sick) She then had a double mastectomy and radiation which was all done by mid December 2011. Today she found out she has inoperable cancer in the sternum and other chest lympth nodes. We are numb, completely numb. We were just registered to go to a canadian living well with cancer conference in Saskatoon this weekend. We have cancelled because of the shock. 

 They have given us two choices 1) trial drug Foretinib or another round of chemo Carboplatin and gemcitabine. These would potentially slow down the spread give more time, but no cure. Any ideas which way to go? Thanks, Andy 

Lee7

Andy,

I saw this is your first post. I'm so sorry about your bad news. Can I suggest you post this same post under the Stage 4 forum. There would be many there who can give you lots of information and hope and may know more about the trial drug you mention.

Beesie

Andy, I'm so sorry about the news you and your wife received today.  I can only imagine the shock. 

I'm sure that other husbands and family members will be by here to offer support and suggestions on how you can help your wife.  To find out specifics about the treatment options, I agree with lee7 that you might want to post in the Stage IV forum.  There is a specific discussion thread that was started for those who are not Stage IV themselves but who have questions on behalf of others. That might be a good place to introduce yourself and ask questions about the treatment choices that your wife has been given.  Here's a link to that discussion thread:

If you are NOT stage IV but have questions please post here 

Please pass a long a big ((((Hug))) to your wife.   

andydentre

Thank-you Lee. I will repost in stage 4 area. Thanks for your concern as well. 

andydentre

Beesie, thank-you very much. I will repost and I will give her a hug, a big hug. Take care.

apple

I am so sorry..  We are all kind of in shock in the stage 4 forum, but still are friends, supportive and hopeful and benefit from the sharing... not the forum one wants to join, but it is the best.

EnglishMajor

Hi I am not triple negative but wanted to share this link;
http://tnbcfoundation.org/State-of-the-Art%20Treatment%20for%20TNBC.pdf

Angelfalls

Hello Andy,



I'm not Triple Neg, but I was diagnosed with an inoperable local recurrence in the sternum 5 years ago which has since spread to the lymph nodes. My sternum area was treated with rads, even though I'd had rads to the area at initial dx, and this got me to NED quite quickly. This may be another tx option for you and your wife to discuss with her team, although the lymph node involvement will mean doing chemo, as I now am.



Please feel free to PM me if I can help answer any of your questions. And remember to post on the Stage IV board for more support and information about the chemo choices you're facing. Good luck to you both,



Angelfalls xx

learnin

Hi. Sorry to hear your news. When I was dx stage IV I specifically went looking for clinical trials I could be part of - nothing currently close to home for me. But the foretinib trial sounds like an interesting option. Often new drugs are only available or affordable via a trial.



I also found out that platinum based drugs - like the carboplatin - have been shown alot of promise, especially for BRCA related tumours or triple negative. So Wendy has at least 2 good options.



Let's say you decided to try one, and if disease progressed, try the other. Does the order matter? Would the trial still take Wendy later if the carbo/gen failed? Or is there a window of opportunity for the trial?



I see you were asking about Mexico etc. Personally, I would not use energy and resources chasing questionable treatments when I still had good options close to home. I am cautious that centers like those use anecdotal stories to create a sense of false hope. What we all need is reality based hope - and you have lots of reason for that. Not cureable doesn't mean not treatable!



Feel free to PM me.