Thank God for 5 Years

Wishing you continued good health, Meg. I have read that triple  negative is extremely unlikely to recur after five years and I hope that is the case for you.

I pray you are right that there will be a permanent cure or cures very soon.

Hi Meggy,

I've said it to you before and I'll say it to you again....you are my inspiration!! I hope I am still connecting with you in five years. Just finished chemo on Wednesday, 28 sessions of rads to go.

So happy for you....God bless you always

xxx

YEAH!! We wish you many, many more years of good health!

Meggy,

I hope you don't mind me asking but I was looking at your tx plan. How come you had 2 AC's after surgery and then carbo/taxotere. I see the majority of us TN's seem to just have 4 a/c and then 4 taxol (or 12 wkly taxol). You seem to have had that bit more chemo. Just wondering why?

C x

Meggy: very happy for you. 

Wow, Meggy - I agree with everything you posted.  Thank goodness your doctors let you have the extra medicine and provide you with that benefit.  That is awesome!  )  

An "unhospitable host".  I love that thinking.

What do you eat for snacks Meggy?  I have a hard time staying full.  Can you give us some tips, and maybe tell us what a typical dinner is for you?

The reason why exercise is beneficial for TNBC is because of insulin resistance.  I read that 45 minutes a day reduces recurrence risk 40%, and if you can do it for 75 minutes a day, risk of recurrence is 60%.  As soon as I read that, I went straight back to the fitness room and did the other half hour.  Nowadays, I do 90 minutes a day, so that I have cushion to take a day off.  I wasn't clear if the article said a day off was reflected in it, but they mentioned 8 hours a week.

Meggy-you rock and I wish many more years ahead!!!

Meggy,

Your meal plans sound very similar to mine -- and I do what you do, steam the veggies with only water!

I read recently that cabbage is great, so I've started buying the shredded cabbage from Trader Joe's.  I steam the cabbage just a minute with only water, and then I transfer it to a whole wheat tortilla, and maybe add red bell peppers, roll it and warm it in the oven.  My husband calls it the largest egg roll he has ever seen.  LOL  I know it sounds crazy, but the whole wheat Mission tortilla has a slight sweet taste that makes this a great go-to snack.  I say snack, as I'm always starving.  And I LOVE Trader Joe's cat cookies, but I can't be trusted with them.  My last purchase, I couldn't control myself, and I finally asked my husband to take them to his work.  

Also, I love Trader Joe's Steel Cut Organic Oats for the AM.

You've given us such great insight on here.  I really appreciate it.  I'll be looking for that cinnamon bread too!

I found your thread!  Thank you - it's awesome, I'll contribute some help there too.

For seasonings, you can look on http://nutritiondata.self.com and see which ones are anti-inflammatery.  Cayenne pepper is very anti-inflammatory, and turmeric/curcurmin is also a great spice with benefits.  So I like to use all 3 for seasonings, in addition to ground black pepper and organic garlic powder, or real garlic, if we have it on hand and if I have the cutting board out.  

To anyone starting out, it might seem hard at first to keep up with all this, but if you join http://www.myfitnesspal.com you can keep track of your daily fat/protein/carbs.  It logs all your food items, and many items are in the database.  I've added 2 items.  You can also record a meal, so you don't have to reinvent the wheel each day, and you can record your favorite meal, etc.  It is very handy as it shows you at a glance how much fat/carb/protein/calories you have left to spend for the balance of the day. It records your exercise for that day as well, and factors in your new calories/daily quota of what you can have.  When you first set it up, you can change the default program, for a stricter quota.  So under fat grams, you can go in and change it to 10% if you want, etc and you can always adjust/update as you go!

They also have a smartphone app for their site.

Amazing Meggy. You are so wonderful to have had so much chemo and still care for two small kids. Your kids are so blessed to have such a wonderful mother! At one stage before I had my daughter, my obs suggested I have a fifth bout of AC to bring me closer to my due date but my onc absolutely refused so I guess I shouldn't bother trying to fight her on that one. In saying that I had a pCR to AC. My lump was gone after one bout. It's powerful stuff. Would still love another shot of it.....just to be sure! I guess I am in God's hands now. I have been eating very healthily aswell, I just sometimes crave junk food. I guess a little every now and then isn't a bad thing. Have been walking aswell, although the weather is just so bad here (Ireland), it's constantly raining which makes it tricky to bring baby out.

So happy for you meggy, may we all be here in five years time.

Good job, Meggy!

I'll have my 5 year in November.  I did surgery first, before we knew how bad it could be, then went straight to taxotare and cytoxin for 18 weeks.  Then on to 7 weeks of daily radiation five days a week.  I wanted that beast dead.  I'm told it certainly is, but only time will tell for sure.  I lost 4 lymph nodes of the 14 taken, and I did develop lymphedema in one arm, but a good lymphedema therapist can fix that.  You can have your arms wrapped to reduce the swelling and restore your arms to a normal size, and not necessarily at the same time.  You can learn exercises to keep it from coming back, and you can be fitted with sleeves to relieve the stress on your arms while you live a normal life.  If you haven't done any of that already, you can and should.  Your docs or the local hospital should know who to refer you to.  You need a Certified Lymphedema Therapist.  Part of being a survivor is deciding to live well from now on.  Look into it.  There is no need to suffer unecessarily.   

Good luck!