Lymph Nodes affected

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Frenchie
Frenchie Member Posts: 37
edited June 2014 in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

My dear wife - Andrea, had her mastectomy yesterday. Surgeon was pretty down beat beacuse he had to do a full clearance of the nodes.

So we're shortly to discuss the chemo regime..........

.........Trip Neg, Grade 3, Stage 2 (possibly 2B), 2.7cm, Node involvement. 

ANY suggestions. advice we can go armed with to the Oncologist would be so very much appreciated.

James 

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  • mary6204
    mary6204 Member Posts: 373
    edited December 2008

    Sorry to hear that James.  I don't have any suggestions, but I do have a friend that had the exact same situation and she is doing well.  She had chemo from March through May this year followed by radiation and she's still a little tired, but doing well otherwise.  She's had one clean mamm since then.  Chemo is hard, but doable. With your support she'll do fine.  I know it scary, but everyone here is great and I'm sure you'll get lots of good advice. 

     The only thing I can say is take a paper and pencil for the appointment and if you don't feel confident in the oncologist, get a second opinion.  She'll have no choice but to do chemo, so she'll need your help.  My husband was good after the first couple of treatments.  He knew which day's I'd be tired, sick, hungry etc.  He kept a cooler of ice cold water and pop nearby me during my sick days.  Maybe your wife will be lucky and not get sick.  I'm almost 4months past chemo and I feel exactly like I did before my nightmare began.  Good luck and God Bless, Mary

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  • NancyD
    NancyD Member Posts: 3,562
    edited December 2008

    I had the same situation. My stage went up to III because of the nodes they found after surgery, but I had been receiving chemo before surgery to help reduce the area of active cancer in my breast. I had hoped the neoadjuvant chemo would have eliminated the cancer in the nodes, but it didn't.

    I had two more dose of my chemo (TAC) after surgery, so I feel pretty good about that mopping up the remaining cells floating in my system. I also had radiation to the axiallary and supraclavicle nodes in case there was anything hanging around those areas.

    Depending on the number of nodes involved, both chemo and radiation may be recommended. They are very doable, but not without short-term and potential long-term side effects. If your wife is staged higher than you expected, please consider going with the most aggressive treatment possible. Most women do not develop serious long-term side effects. It may sound like many do, reading this board, but then, the women who have no complaints don't hang around here Wink.

    Triple neg breast cancer is generally considered the hardest to stave off long-term because it doesn't respond to anti-hormonal treatment. So hitting it hard the first time is your best tactic.

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  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Member Posts: 1,376
    edited December 2008

    James:

    I had the similar situation as your wife, 10 years ago.   I had the mastactomy, chemo ( AC, T) and radiations.  With the advance treatments today, your wife can win this battle. 

    My husband's care and encourage gave me the strength.   You are doing the same to Andrea.  "10 Years, The Encouragement!" tell my story to her, give her encouragement. 

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  • HeatherBLocklear
    HeatherBLocklear Member Posts: 1,370
    edited December 2008

    James,

    Nancy is right. You need to take the most aggressive approach possible. In other words, even if the path report comes back good after chemo and surgery, still you should go for radiation. If there's is doubt at surgery about whether or not all the cancer is gone, request additional post-surgery chemo.

    This said, most women in your wife's case do fine. It's a tough battle, it will wear her out and probably exhaust you too, but you're a team and you'll make it through.

    All the luck and love in the world to the two of you,

    Annie Camel Lumps

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