Newly diagnosed triple negative most current treatments.

You're not being paranoid.  TN lumps seem to come out of nowhere.  I found mine and had a mamo and aspiration biopsy the next day, and was told it was positive and 1.5 cm.  A week later the MRI said it was 2 cm.  The Dr. said that was just because the MRI is more exact than the mamo.  Meanwhile, I could almost feel it growing, and it was hurting.  They chalked it up to being sore from the aspiration.  Two weeks later, I had a lumpectomy, and the path report said it was 2.2 cm, pushing me from 2A to 2B.  I also had an affected node.  I don't believe it was that size all along.  I know it was growing.

I had chemo first, and there are a few really good things about that.

First - you can really have time to decide what kind of surgery you wish to choose.  No rush.

Second - you know whether the chemo is affecting the cancer.  The goal is a complete pathological response.  For me, it was a huge mental boost when, after just three weeks of treatment, there was measurable shrinkage.

Third - from what I understand, surgery first or second yields about the same long term prognosis... but I'm told that surgery second is just starting to show a better long term result.  The hypothesis, as I understand it, is that the chemo is treating potential micromets asap rather than waiting several weeks after surgery.  

Second opinions are GOOD.

I was in a clinical trial.  They took a sample of the tumor, sent it for analysis, assigned me to a sub-class... and then an experimental drug was added to my chemo regimen by random assignment.  The standard in the clinical trial is surgery second...  and they did extra imaging (MRIs) in order to track the response of the tumor to the chemo.  I was in http://ispy2.org/....  My end result was a complete pathological response.

I bring this up because it might be something you'd be interested in.  

Good luck - this is the super hard time... 

Through joyful tears and a concerned heart, THANK You for sharing as an African-American woman recently diagnosis with TNBC the news is depression and a bit dibilatating. I am blessed never the less being a veteran and having a PCP who insist on annual mamograms it was caught very early real small had a lumpectomy on the 23rd of April and have just been told by the surgeon that the lymph-node biospy was negative and so was the margin. I am now preparing to due chemo but have been instructed by my Oncologist that I must now have a cardiograph and a bone scan because of the TNBC it seems like a never ending birage against the psyche so again thanks for the info

Hi there,

Well, I am 65 and was diagnosed Feb 14,2012, Biopsy and the March 19 Mastectomy, now I started Chem on April 26,2012. I am TNIDC, I had rapid growth, between the two visits, My mammy was 2 cm, when they did the biopsy, my surgeon desided to take the whole growth. More tissue to test, better results. Yup, mastectomy and left breast is gone, 3 lymph nodes, negative, but the negative receptors.

So I was told no drugs to target receptors because i didnt have them. A waste, my HER2, 2+, which is just a tease amount, so that gave me a chance to get in a trail for the use of non-conventional drugs. I would be either 1a or 1b, it turned that i am in 1b, which means i give data but no drugs. But i get extra exames and updates.

Of course not the same as drugs, but I am willing to do anything to extend my life. The chemo is not as bad as i remember hearing it to be, the side affects a been tolerable.

I am going in for a blood count and test to see were I am at. May 3,

I hope you get the best which ever way you wish to go.

I am doing AC every 3 weeks and Taxol 12 weeks, the different? 

I am doing 4 dense dose A/C and 12 weekly Taxol (neoadjuvant)

I am a nine-year survivor of TN.  I strongly urge you to have chemo first for all the reasons already given here.  The chemo will stop the growth of cancer immediately and start to eliminate the cancer in your body.  It is important that this is done ASAP.  I was diagnosed on 3/17/03 and 9 days later had my first session of chemo.  I had four AC and then four taxol.  I had a lumpectomy and 22 nodes removed on 8/8/03 with one node microscopically positive.  If you have surgery first you need a few weeks to recover from surgery before chemo is started and in my opinion with TN chemo should be done first and ASAP.  Love and Hugs, JoAnn  

I had two cycles of my six cycles of TAC with epirubicin rather than adriamycin due to the shortage.  Actually, the tumor shrank the most during the epirubicin cycles (based on just clinical exams, though, not scans.) I had residual disease after chemo, though - 2 positive nodes and 2 cm tumor - but the tumor softened considerably and we thought had shrunk to almost nothing. It was measured as 2.5 cm by mammogram and 2 cm by MRI prior to chemo.

I envy you your treatment, Nicole.  We have a similar diagnosis.  When first found, my tumor was 1.5 cm with 1 positive node, but by the time I had surgery one month later, after all the tests and scans, it had grown to 2.2 cm, still only 1 node.  When I asked my oncologist how can we know if the chemo is working, since I already had surgery, she said, "if it doesn't come back, then it worked."  Very Russian roulette, in my opinion.  At the time, my head was spinning, and I just wanted THAT THING out of me.     

Hi. I'm sorry you have to go through this. I see you live in Clermont; I live in Ocala. I went to Moffitt in Tampa and consider it the best decision regarding my diagnosis that I could've ever made. I was diagnosed last year at age 34 and I know how hard it is to go through Triple Negative at a young age. Like you, my tumor was fast growing. Incredibly fast. The original radiologist thought it was "probably benign" and told me to come back in 6 months. By the time I was able to get the lump removed 3 weeks later, it had almost doubled in size. Ten days before I discovered it, I had done a breast self exam and it was not palpable and by time I had surgery, I could visibly see it pressing against my skin when I looked in the mirror. Some forms of breast cancer grow so quickly that it's terrifying. My doctors said with the rate of growth, if I'd listened to the original radiologist and put it off for 6 months, I probably would've had to seek treatment for symptoms of metastatic breast cancer before the 6 months were up. I don't say that to scare you, but I'm now a big supporter of being your own advocate. At Moffitt, my doctors were concerned by the rapid growth. My Ki-67 was 76% and they were concerned about that combined with my young age and the Triple Negative status. I had 4 rounds of Cytoxan and Taxotere. I'm so glad you've got strong support in your husband; mine has been incredible, too and I know how lucky I am. I'm sorry you have to join us, but I'm glad you found us. Good luck to you!

Yes, it's a definite plus to see it the tumor is responding. I wish I could have had the chemo first but my needle biopsy came back non-diagnostic so I had to have an excisional biopsy.  Just curious  - for those that chose to have BMX, what factored into your decision? I  am supposed to start radiation next month but am thinking I may be better off with a BMX.  Thanks    

Hello,

Doctors have varying opinions.... My doctor advised on removing the tumor immediately before it had a chance to grow or spread, so I had a lumpectomy on May 17. Starting chemo on Tuesday, A/C every 2 weeks 4x plus a white cell booster the day following the treatment. Then Taxol weekly for 12 weeks followed by radiation for 32 days. Scared out of my mind, but as prepared as one can be. Wigs, caps, lip balm, smoothie fixings, etc.... We are so fortunate to have treatment, technologies and studies that our mothers didn't have, but it is still sooooo scary. Will be reaching out to those of you who can help guide me through this, and will be there to help my fellow sisters as I gain more knowledge. Glad to have places like this to connect with gals who get it....