How I Beat Triple Negative Breast Cancer

The article was very interesting.  Thanks for sharing!

LRM216, I agree with you.  I was diagnosed just a month after her, and while I feel good and am hopeful I've beat it, I would never declare that as a fact. I know I will feel more oprtimistic after 3 years out, when I know the RoR for trip negs takes a nosedive.  But even then... who can say what the future will bring?

I've also been eating a low-fat diet, and exercising well.  But I refuse to give up all of life's little pleasures - like sharing my son's birthday cake or having a glass of wine. 

That was a great article..and like you guys..I certainly have my reservations!  I dearly hope that she has beat tn...I hope we all have!  Yes..she has beat it..for now..I hope it stays that way...

Honestly...I still don't think that having cake and drinking wine cause breast cancer...if that were so...well..everyone would have it..don't you think???

Ah well..this is a positive article for us TN's....it is good to hear.

I couldn't click on that article fast enough, because I wanted to know how I could beat triple negative breast cancer too!!!! And then I read it. Oh. Diet and exercise, ok. I guess 90% of us on these boards can say we beat it too. I don't mean to be cynical, but I kind of feel like she is not understanding something. I truly hope she has beaten it!! She is doing all the right things, that's for sure. Maybe I am too superstitious...

I have mixed emotions as well.  I read her article, and only wish her the very best. 

LRM216, I too have to take a look at the source of my feelings.  Maybe I just don't understand optimists?  I appreciate people who are very positive, but I guess I have just seen too many people berate themselves if it comes back. They start to question what they did wrong, that they weren't worthy of being cancer free. The list goes on.  (I used to work Oncology, so this doesn't come out of the blue.)  I am an avid swimmer, and I got breast cancer.  I just look at cancer as a bunch of cells that "went rogue" during cell division.  I didn't want to go through any part of this, but I did.  We are in a large company of people who have cancer. 

The most I would say is that I am cautiously optimistic.  I've just been knocked down too many times to think I am immune to the variances of life. I do the best I can, and can always strive for better.  So I guess my beef with the I've beaten cancer set, or any claims that cancer can be cured is the fallout if there is a recurrence. Or maybe I'm just trying to protect myself? and that's alright too.

Squidwatch - I agree totally.  I just wish I had the ability to say to myself and make myself really, really believe it - that I have beat this beast and am done with it!  I was diagnosed "early" so they tell me, and yet I still feel this way because I have seen too many other women with the same diagnose as mine and the same treatment recur or progress sometimes within weeks of their chemo end, or a year or so later - so much for the stats they try to give us.  I don't think I will EVER be able to believe I have beat triple neg.  As long as I can remain "cautiously optimistic" - I guess that's as good as it gets for me!  (and believe me, even to be cautiously optimistic is a real achievment for me to reach - I working it hard!).

Well, I guess it depends on how you define "healings" or "cure" or "beating cancer."  Did I get through treatment? Yes. Am I well right now? Yes.  Is that a miracle? Not to me. Is it a cure? Time will tell. I certainly hope so, but with all due respect to the celebrity set, I wouldn't advertise myself as beating it after just one year.  That's me, also cautiously optimistic.

Squidwitch,  Certainly, I understand your feelings and you are right, we all do deal differently with life in general. 

 If you have seen some of my other comments you will see that I have a dear friend who is now actually  a 14 year bc survivor who did it totally holistically/ post surgery. Having lost a sister to bc years prior and witnessing what she went through, she said if it happened to her, she would find another way.  And she did!  She has been inspirational to me in this journey.  If I didn't read some of the books and listen to some of the recordings she suggested, I do think I wouldn't be here today!  I believe it is body, mind and spirit to get through or cured from  bc.  (My friend went through the CCTA in IL.

  It also helps that my oncologist is a personal friend and for "me" she said she thought the least medical intervention, the better I would be.  She is very open minded to complimentary therapies.  It also happens that the oncology group she is with uses the "cure" word.

No, I don't think God punishes, yet ,I do think we are  on this place called earth for a reason..... and I do believe in something beyond this earth and this life.  To me healing is also internal  (spiritual )as well as physical, but I do think if one is internally in conflict it is very hard to heal anything physical.  Does that make sense to you?  Healing is that special place where inner peace prevails! 

p.s.  my friend is standing next to me in this photo!  I am on the far right w/ the dark hair!

Traci, just to clarify... it is my friend who lost her sister to breast cancer... not me.

I did, however lose 2 brothers to cancer 6 months a part. 

I know also that our God is a loving God... and it is unfortunate for so many who were raised on the hellfire and brimstone theory... I have met many people who turned away from our Lord because of that.

May I suggest a few books that I found helpful?  One is Conversations With God by Neale David Walsh and another is You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay.  I also have found interesting while challenging.. books by Caroline Myss.  Really, whatever speaks to your heart and uplifts you.  I also kept a journal of even my darkest thoughts and then trashed the journal to rid my spirit of any bad energy. 

Feel free to pm me any time.  God does still perform miracles!  We are all going to die some day, but from what I have learned through my tx, I may die of heart problems from the "red devil" before I die of cancer! 

God Bless you...  Everything is as it should be!

Carol

(edited for spelling)

kittycat,

I have been reading your posts and thinking about you.  It's wonderful that you have the support locally, as well as your family and of course, here Sometimes you just gotta laugh.  I couldn't exercise either, and do the best I can now 6 months out. It was strangly comforting to think that the chemo was going to be effective, as it kicked my butt all over the place. Not too many cells wanted to hang out, much less the defective ones. Hang in there Kitty! Let us know what you need and how we can support you

(waving fist in air, knock it out!)

Traci

First time posting a reply.  Hi everyone. 

I am familiar with Jennifer's progress and having TNBC myself, I hope she has beat it.  I was diagnosed 6 years ago with TNBC, had a mastectomy but no chemo or radiation.  Unfortunately it recurred 7 months ago in lymph nodes under my arm.  This time I had very heavy chemo called TAC, surgery to remove the nodes and I am now finishing 6 weeks of radiation. Of course, I am extremely hopeful that this will be it, but there still seems to be so little known about TNBC, I am not as optimistic as I would like to be. 

I also don't think that diet and exercise, or lack thereof, has anything to do with it.  My annual check-ups were always perfect, I exercised and did Pilates twice a week. I ate healthily, was on no medication whatsoever, and then I get breast cancer!.  No one in my family had ever had breast cancer before, and I even had the BRAC test done at my oncologists urging which thankfully was negative. 

And I don't personally know anoone who has TNBC but me.  When I got it 6 years ago, so little was known about the treatment for it, I almost got the impression that it was better than other types of breast cancer because follow up treatment was even dicussed.  Now I realize it was because they didn't know what to do!!   

And by the way, EXCERCISING ON CHEMO???  I was down for the count for at least 2 days after chemo. 

So, it's comforting to be able to discuss this be able to keep up to date on any new developments. 

I'm a big advocate of exercising while on chemo... even just to walk a few blocks on days you are feeling well.

I participated in a clinical study looking at the emotional and physical benefits (if any) of a prescribed exercise program for women undergoing chemo for BC. While the study is just wrapping up now and is yet to be published, I can tell you that we women who were part of the experiment group did noticeably better -- in weight management, SE management, psychologically, etc. 

While on chemo, I walked 2 miles 5 days a week, skiied every weekend, and did weight training.  I realize I was very fortunate not to have debilitating SEs, but I honestly believe the exercise also helped.      

In the article, she says she took 17 rounds of chemo prior to surgery.  I wish she had spelled that out....what the heck did she take 17 rounds of?  She must have had a really aggressive oncologist...I actually took 14 rounds ...but wish I had done them all in a row.  I wonder if stopping after the standard 8 rounds for surgery gave the cancer a chance to mutate and resist.  Anyone know what she took or whether she got pathological complete response upon surgery?  Maybe that's why she feels cured....but even with that....it's not 100%.  I hope she is cured.  I hope we all are.  Maybe they just kept giving her chemo till it appeared that her tumor was gone.  Anyone know her chemo specifically?  I tried to read her blog but couldn't find it.

barbachat:  Welcome, I am glad you posted for the first time.  It is hard not knowing anyone else with TNBC, that is why I really like this board.  You might also check out the "Calling all TNs" thread as there are a lot of people that post there.  It is comforting knowing others are going through this with us, although I wish none of us were going through this.  Good luck to you!

Luah:  Thanks, I am relieved to be feeling more normal on Taxol.  I am no longer anemic!  I am impressed that you were able to ski and lift weights on chemo.  Was that after you had surgery?  I will have surgery next month and I would love to ski this winter.