oestrogen negative cancer.......ER-

My daughter and I attended a Breast Cancer Conference in San Francisco last Saturday. One of the researchers there, I believe he was from MD Anderson, said there is a study that shows that women taking Fosamax or Actonel for osteopenia and are ER- are having some positive benefits regarding their cancer. Has anayone heard of this???

Hi Ladies:

Okay here is another article to share on something FINALLY showing a significant benefit for ER neg breast cancer!!!!

Here is the section:

"Although this study was primarily designed to assess the effect of a low-fat dietary intervention on women with breast cancer overall, a preliminary sub-set analysis suggests that the risk reduction was greater for women with estrogen receptor-negative cancers, which is considered a marker for poorer prognosis. These women on the low-fat diet had a 42% lower risk of recurrence than those following a standard diet. Women with estrogen receptor-positive cancers experienced a 15% risk reduction, which was not statistically significant".


http://www.rxpgnews.com/cancer/breast/article_1479.shtml

I sure hope they study this deeper.
It sort of makes sense to me in that I was always thin...thin...thin....could eat what I wanted and always had butter in everything instead of crappy margarine.....liked my rich seafood sauces that I would make(with whipped cream),I ate well including fruits an dveggies. I never ever watched my fat intake though.

Hugsss
Barb

looks like its been awhile since anyone posted here, but perhaps thats because we are few and far between. i found a lump on right breast end of june 05. i had mammo and ultra sound,then biopsy about a week later. on 7/12/05 i called dr from work for results, which i already had a feeling about. doc says positive for cancer, infiltrating ductal carcinoma. had lumpectomy on 7/25/05 and 1 positive node out of 17. er,pr,her2 neg. is that a good thing? how will that effect menopause? or will it? i will start tx on 8/30/05. 6 tx once every 3 weeks of taxotereand a/c, then 6 weeks of rads. thanks for letting me share.

Hi!

I was diagnosed @ 36, April 2005, IDC 1.9CM, left breast. Er-, PR+, Hers2-. Had mastectomy, having 4 cycles of A/C, no radiation, no hormone pills, no tamox, nor herceptin. After, this I'm done with treatment. I am around 50lbs overweight. Tested for BRCA, negative. Even though my mother diagnosed 1 year ago, grandmother (maternal) diagnosed two days before me, and now myself diagnosed @ 36 years of age.

I have been lurking for the last few weeks. Found a lump August 1st...Last mammo Fall of 2003... Like everyone here I can't believe I didn't feel it sooner. No family history of any cancers...was told by internist every other year was ok . Had mammo, us and core biopsy Aug 17, Lumpectomy with SNB August 24. 3 cm, grade 3, ER neg, Pr neg, Her2 neg, Negative lymph nodes and clean margins first time around. I am seeing my ocologist for the first time on Sept 6. I expect I will start chemo soon. Glad to see there are other women in my boat doing good. It was a real downer when the prognostics came back. I was hoping that there would be a third line of treatment. BTW you can call me Kris.

Her2Neu negative is a good thing. It means it is less aggressive than Her2Neu positive. Er- Pr- is not always aggressive. I was triple negative and my tumor happened to be a very aggressive grade 3 but I am sure that there are other Er- Pr- out there who only had a grade 1 or grade 2. Let us hear from Er-Pr- ladies who had a grade 1 or grade 2 tumor.

Hi, I was dx in Feb from a mammogram, no lump ever felt even by the vast multitudes that were feeling me up once they decided something was wrong (teaching hospital). I had a lumpectomy in March. Tumor was Stage 2, 2.5 cm, er-/pr- node negative her2 neg. Just finished chemo (4 a/c then 4 taxol) and am about to start rads.

It has been exceedingly frustrating trying to find out any info, especially in that mad rush at the beginning when you have to make quick decisions and BC talk is still a foreign language. Later on everyone you talk to who has had BC or knows someone who has says knowingly "and then you'll be on tamoxifen" and you have to say no, I won't and they look confused.

If this helps anyone who hasn't already made decisions, I finally found a decision tree on the NCCN web site under the physician section treatment guidelines. Go here: http://www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/f_guidelines.asp?button=I+Agree#site then scroll down and pick Breast Cancer. It will open a pdf file.

As for fat, well, it can be added to the list of bad for yous. The recent "Ask the Expert" here on environmental issues was chock full of other scary things to watch out for. We just might have to learn to live on organically grown carrot sticks.

Thank you for the link. Very educational.

We triple negatives have to band together! Come on!!!

Hi everyone, am on a quest for information and wondered if anyone out there has had a similar experience to me or knows where I can get information from!!! I found a 1.2cm lump on my chest wall which was diagnosed as a grade 3 Her2 positve cancer. I had a mastectomy, 22 nodes removed, all clear, margins clear, scans etc show no signs of cancer anywhere else.treatment being offered is 6mths chemo and 6wks radiotheray!!! seems excessive....anyone any advice? thanks

My tx plan and dx were very similar. My tumor was almost 5cm and luckily no node involvement. I had a full node dissection. Had a lumpectomy and reincision and luckily my margins were clean. My tx was 6AC and radiation. I was also neg for er/pr and her2neu as well . I was 36 at dx and my onc wanted to treat aggressively.

I would do all that you can now . It might seem excessive to you now because it hasn't spread. However, you want to fight it with ever you can now to prevent it from coming back. I didn't have a choice about chemo it was a given just had to decide what the best tx plan would be for me. I met two oncs and since my hubby is an MD we were able to fax my reports to other docs and my husband could talk to them about what they would suggest. I would highly recommend a 2nd opinion if that will make you more comfortable. I thought the 1st onc I met with had a great bedside manner and was very sweet. The 2nd onc I met with (who actually was the one I chose) when he came into the room and started talking my husband said my face fell to the floor. He really said this is what you have and this is what you need to do. He really is a great guy and actually left onc research because his mother -in-law got bc and he wanted to be able to help take care of other patients. HE also calls back in a very timely manner when I have a question or problem . You also need to feel comfortable with your doctor and trust them. Even before he was my doctor and I called he always called back to answer my questions and he never wavered in what he thought was best. THe first onc I saw was really wishywashy and told me should would do what ever I wanted . I wanted her to tell me what to do, plus she wasn't good with follow through and returning calls. Three years ago I never would have thought that I would have chosen ONC#2 initally but it was a good thing. He might not have said what I wanted to hear at the time --but he was always confident it what he thought was the best course of tx for me.

Sorry this is so long. I guess what I am trying to say is take your time and don't make a hasty decision. Get several opinions from different doctors if you need to. Usually if the tumor is over 1cm most oncs recommend CHemo and radiation as insurance. Look at as if you have car insurance just in case you are in an accident or have your car stolen --but would you think of driving around with out it if you thought it was worth the risk? Good luck

I also am a er/pr neg but her2+. I am 35 and found a 7mm tumor. It was recommended to me by three oncs that I have 4 AC every three weeks. I was hoping to escape it since it was so small but no. I also had negative nodes, a bilateal mastectomy...didn't want to take any chances, and no vascular invasion. Well the point I am trying to make is that chemo is recommended for er neg cancers because there is no other treatment. I think you were recommended for 6 cycles because of the size of your tumor. In retrospect...keep in mind I am I just had my second AC today...chemo really isn't that bad. For me it is like volutarily giving myself the flu for a week. Today I am half way through.

Hi All I too am er/pr neg her2neu neg. my dx was 1.2cm, nodes neg., pet/cat scan neg. mastsectomy and tx a/c every 3 weeks for 4 times. my second tx is Monday 10/3 So I will be 1/2 way thru....so many have different treatments...Glad I found this site I'm always trying to find others that are negative...very hard to find...All the women I know that have bc are positive er/pr....

Hi ER- friends, Carolyn, since your tumor was a 5, did it just pop up over a couple of months? My tumor was 6.5 at dx, but completely disappeared within 3 chemo treatments. I started having too many things wrong with my blood so my doctor then started me on Taxotere (I may have spelled it wrong). I had 2 treatments of this and started having some skin and nail problems so we decided to go ahead and do the mastectomy followed by 4 treatments of Taxol. I didn't have any bad reactions to Taxol at all. Then I had 25 doses of radiation. That went very well. I finished that up at the end of June. So my treatments lasted from the end of Sept. to the end of June. Do any of you have any numbness and tingling in hands & feet from the Taxol? I am so glad I found this site.

Hi Melica and er-friends, I have never heard that about having a core biopsy. Why haven't they gotten the word out. I had a pet scan after the core biopsy which showed cancer activity in the right breast, some on the chest wall, and some under the right arm. Afer I had the mastectomy the Dr. was only able to get 2 nodes out which proved to be negative so even some of the scans may not be 100%. No cancer on the chest wall either! After reading back on some of the older postings on this website, I could not believe how we all have so much in common. Mostly about the lump coming out of nowhere, almost overnight. I always had lumpy breasts so it was always hard to do a self breast exam but I had been getting yearly mamograms which only showed up cysts the 4 months before I was dx. I am really not worried because I have God in my corner and I give all my worries to him. It really works. As my Dr. says I am a walking miracle.