Asians with tri-neg?

I am Indian and triple neg.

I do not think it very common in Indians. I am the first Indian I know that has bc. However, since being dx I have found another indian friend who was diagnosed and also in the US. That is part of the problem why it took them over a year to take me seriously and the fact that I am young with no history. Things would not have been so bad..well hindsight is 20/20.

Hi Aurora,

I am getting neo adj chemo. 4 DD AC and 4 DD Taxol. I have so far finished 3 AC tx and get my 4th AC tx tomorrow. Followed by Bilat mast, then 7 weeks rads and break for 6 months before recon. I cannot get hormonals as I am triple neg.

I am Asian Chinese background and with 1 cm tumor and 1mm micro in one sentinal node.

hi Timtam

What was your dx and treatment? I heard BC in China is also rising and how is it in Japan or among Japanese women in the US? People often say we eat healty in Asia thus don't get BC. I tend to eat a bit european food, etc and not sporty, had baby late. Is that reason all? What kind of food and life style do you have and do you have any family history? I don't have any family history for any kind of cancer really. So this is really shocking and I really hope that I can fine soon so that I can live a long life to see my baby girl growing up .....

My dx was IDC ER/PR postive HER2 negative. My tumor was originally measured 3.5+ cm and one of my lymph nodes was confirmed positive by MRI's. I stared two different neoadjuvant chemo's (12 x weekly Taxol followed by 4 x EC every 4 weeks). By the time I was done with chemo, my tumor was shrunk to less than 0.8cm and that lymph node didn't show up swollen anymore.I had a lumpectomy followedby yet another chemo (12 weekly Taxol again) then did 30 rads. Been on Tamoxifen along with the Lupron shot since February of 2006.

I am not a medical profession so I could be wrong but I don't really believe that there was anything I could have done to avoid this disease. All kind of people do get BC, regardless of whether they are fat or skinny, whether they are fitness junkies or couch potatoes, whether they are meat eaters or vegetarians. But I guess the amount of soy intake may have something to do with the likelihood of getting BC. I say this because soy is almost always in our diet. You can't cook a thing without soy sauce here in Japan. Also those who are at my age or older eat Miso soup like everyday. Miso is a thick paste made with soy. Though younger people eat less and less soy because their life style has been getting westernized, which I guess is why BC in Japan is skyroketing. I already got BC and my tumor was ER/PR positive. So I don't think eating a lot of soy is good for me anymore. But taking soy looks like a good thing for those who haven't got this disease. I still do eat soy but in moderation.

As for my family history, nope no one in my family has had BC. But the leading cause of death in Japan is cancer (lung cancer in men and colon cancer in women). So it is almost impossible to not have anyone in your family who didn't die of cancer. My grandfathers on both sides died of stomach cancer, my dad was dx'd with colon cancer a couple of month before I was dx'd (he's still fine). 

This is just me but I refuse to live like dying. I will eat and do whatever I want. Not being able to eat/do what I want in fear of getting cancer again is just not my style. Even if I could avoid everything that might help me avoid the risk of getting cancer again, it would not make me feel like I was really living. I have come to realize that the stats for myself only would be either 0% or 100%. So if that's the case, then why not live like my risk is 0%? I refuse to be changed by cancer. I want to think I have lived my life just the way I wanted when I die, rather than the way I had to because of cancer, even if that made my life shorter than I wished it to be.

That being said, I think I feel this way because I am single and have no kids. If I was a mom, I would feel differently. I could sacrifice QOL or anything else to see my kids grow up.

Hugs,

Fumi

hi Kelty

I am also Chinese and 39 years old. Did you have any family history with BC and did you breast feed? I don't have any BC history in the family and only thing I think of is if it is because I gave birth late at 35 and only breast fed a few months (not full but mixed with bottle) . What kind of treatment you get? Let's keep in touch.

Hi, Newalex,

My mom had BC. My first one was born when I was 32, and second one last year. I did breastfeed but only a little over 4 months for the first one (because my mom was very sick at the time and I went back to China, she passed away shortly after), for the second one, I intended to breastfeed longer however, I had to stop because I was DX with BC myself this time.

I'm not sure if breastfeeding really affects much in my case(triple negative and family history). I have requested genetic testing for BRAC genes, the results are not back yet.

I had the mastectomy on 01/16. Will start my Chemo on Feb 9th with DD ACx4 and Taxol x12. then radiation for 5 weeks.  I'm still debating on mastectomy on the other side during the breast reconstruction surgery(probably 1 year from now).

I've seen many BC patients are quite healthy in general and seldomly get sick. My grandparents have a very unhealthy diet and they are in their 90s.  I decided not to think too much about why this is happening to me. The science is advancing quickly and most of the BC patients I know in US are doing well. I plan to leave the treatment questions to my doctor. For the sake of my little ones, I will try to live a life as normal as possibly.

Ladies!

One victory to celebrate today - the second lump is benign, so can opt for lumpect plus excision of second lump on 10/2.

About breastfeeding, i breasfed my first girl for three months ( at age 36) and boy three years (39 - 41 yearsold). The BC surfarced only in late 2008 when i was 47. had menopause at 45 and early menarche.

Hm,,,,,,,,,like you others, I do wonder about the effects of breastfeeding on BC. But i still gave teh children the best gift that their mother could give them - breastmilk vs milk powder/cow's milk!

Will share my receptor status when i get them.

For those starting chemo, Chinese friends here ahve advocated hoong chou (hung chau) or red dates boiled with lean pork or pork bones to boost white blood cell production. 

I started another threads on Yun Zhi.  It's different from Reishi.

http://community.breastcancer.org/forum/79/topic/728849?page=1#idx_14

I'm half Filipino, inherited the BRCA2 from my dad.  In fact, 4 of my siblings did as well, and 3 of us already had breast cancer, but I was the only one who was triple negative.

Alex

Yet another Asian Triple negative here. Was diagnosed at 35 and I am 37 now (2yrs out). I am of Indian origin living in the USA for past 15yrs.

-Ren

I don't believe I'm Triple Neg but I am half Japanese (maternal side) and ER positive as well as positive for the BRCA2 gene, which I'm gathering I inherited from my father.  My sister was the first one in the family to create the BC family history.  She was 38, followed by my mother a few years later, who was dx at age 70.  Five years later I was dx at age 49 - two weeks later I turned 50.  My treatment was a bilateral with immediate free tram reconstruction and four tx of DD AC.  I was on tamoxifen for several years and am now on Aromasin.  Last month I had a laproscopic hysterectomy, an oophorectomy (and a bunionectomy), all on the same day.

Daly City, you only live 15 minutes from me - maybe at some point we can meet up.

Margaret