Late Side effects after TNBC treatment

jane0321

Hello all,

My mom was diagnosed with TNBC this past July and went through chemo treatment, surgery, and just finished radiation in February. The tests have shown that the cancer is all gone, YAY! However, a week later after finishing radiation she went back to work (she's a pre-school teacher) and is now severely sick. She is constantly nauseous, tired, and weak. She felt like she went back to work too soon and will not be returning. I want to know more about the late side effects after TNBC treatment, is it common for most survivors to become ill? She has gone to the doctor this week and everything seemed to be physically fine. She will be going back next week to make sure. I'd also like to know if there's any remedies she can do in order to gain weight and get her appetite back. NOTE: She did get a double-mastectomy and did not get reconstruction. My family and I are also wondering could this just be a pyscological thing from stress?

Thank you so much for your help, any advice will be greatly appreciated

Legomaster225

Sorry your Mom is not feeling well, especially at the end of active treatment when you thought things would improve. Stress could very well play a part in how she is feeling. I cannot eat and lose weight (which I can’t afford) when I get stressed as well. I do try to drink high calorie, high protein Boost or Ensure when I feel that way. I also try to eat a lot of protein on days I feel better knowing bthat I may not feel as well another day or need to make up for past days. I can usually at least tolerate liquids. Boost has a extra high calorie version but I have only seen it on amazon not in any store. It is not cheap.

If her blood work is ok that is s good news. Some person ole just need a little more time to bounce back and I dint think it is unusual to feel fatigued. Exercise helps even though it may be the last thing she want so to do. Even just getting big out of the house can brighten the day and maybe make her forget about cancer for a while. Is there a counselor or someone she can take talk to at her cancer center?

jane0321

Thank you! She actually was drinking Boost for awhile! Now she's just too worried it'll upset her stomach again. She tries forcing it sometimes and doesn't help. The doctor actually gave her a vitamin D prescription, and she was drinking these and they told her to stop because it was almost too much vitamins and that could be upsetting her stomach. Also curious if delayed side effects of radiation is common.

Thank you for your help I'll let my family know about counseling, that would be good for her by all means.

Moderators

We too are really sorry to hear about your mom's struggles. It can take quite a long time to regain strength post treatment, and her immune system may be temporarily compromised. That together with working closely to young children (and their germs) could be wearing on her this early post treatment. Definitely worth her talking to her treatment team about boosting her immune system, and what she should avoid/not avoid. She'll probably have to be patient, and gentle on herself for awhile.

Here are some articles that you may find helpful in helping your mom.

http://www.breastcancer.org/tips/nutrition/after_t...

https://community.breastcancer.org/blog/how-to-tra...

https://community.breastcancer.org/blog/exercising...

http://www.breastcancer.org/research-news/20120502

http://www.breastcancer.org/tips/immune/boost

Hang in there!